After drawing our attention back at the CES in January with its cool looks and functionality, Sony’s SmartWatch is finally up for sale and might well become popular among gadget lovers, as it is not very expensive.
While looking as your ordinary wristwatch at a first glance, the SmartWatch is much more than that. The micro display accessory can establish an active Bluetooth communication with pretty much any Android-based smartphone out there. In other words, you can connect this gizmo via Bluetooth to an Android handheld, so that you can receive email and SMS notifications, manage calls, keep tabs on your social networking accounts, as well as control music and snap pictures on your phone.
The SmartWatch comes pre-loaded with 15 apps, including Facebook, Twitter, Calendar Notifications, Gmail, and a Weather widget, but you can also download a bunch of other compatible apps from Google Play.
The 1.3-inch OLED display with 128 x 128 pixels resolution is crisp enough and offers pretty good viewing angles (considering its size), being very easily mountable to any standard watch band. Furthermore, the SmartWatch is very sleek, measuring a mere 0.03 inches thickness, as well as functional, with a robust, but elegant dust and splash resistant aluminum casing.
As far as autonomy goes, you pretty much risk forgetting when you last powered the gadget, as manufacturers claim that it can go for up to three or four days of “typical usage” between charges.
The gadget can be purchased right now at Sony’s online store for $149.99, which, if you ask me, is a decent price for what this little guy can do. It also comes with its own black rubber strap and clip, so you won’t have to worry about buying that separately in order to enjoy the device’s functionality.
I personally like very much the fact that the gadget is not only compatible with the Japanese’ line of Xperia smartphones, but also with a whole bunch of handhelds from HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and others. I’m not sure if there’s a complete list of devices that work with the SmartWatch, but the guys at Sony stated in the press release issued earlier today that the gizmo is compatible with “most Android (2.1 and above) smartphones”.
So, how about it, guys? Would you fancy such a gadget for those moments when you need a subtle way to check out your Facebook or Twitter accounts? Or for when you simply can’t handle a smartphone with enough care? Please hit us with a comment and let us know! And also, don’t forget to check out the promotional video clip below!
