IFA 2014: Sony Launches Two New SmartWear Products – Android Wear Smartwatch 3 and Fitness Tracker SmartBand Talk

Android Wear Smartwatch

Along with the Xperia Z3 family of smartphones and tablets, Sony also announced its new wearables at its IFA press conference. The new wearable line includes Sony’s first Android Wear smartwatch – SWR50 SmartWatch 3, and the SWR30 SmartBand Talk fitness tracker with an E-ink display. Both devices can function as standalone devices as well as sync with your smartphone for greater functionality.

The SWR50 smartwatch comes with a 1.6 inch 320 x 320 transflective LCD display with capacitive touch and hardened glass surface for maximum scratch resistance and durability. The body is made of stainless steel and is also IP68 certified dust and water-resistant. That is actually the same level of waterproofing as on the Xperia Z3 series of products. It comes with a Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A7 chipset of unknown make running at 1.2GHz. We’re not sure why Sony has not released information on the exact make and model of the processor. It also has 512MB RAM and 4GB eMMC storage. The sensors on board include an ambient light sensor, accelerometer, magnetometer and a gyroscope. In terms of connectivity it has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and also a built-in GPS module for tracking your movements. There is a 420mAh battery inside, rated for typical usage of up to 2 days and 4 days standby. It is also extremely light weight at just 38 grams. Four colors are being offered – Black and White with classic wristband version, Pink and Lime with sport armband version.

The SmartBand Talk SWR30 is the successor to the SmartBand that Sony launched earlier this year and was also bundled along with the Xperia Z2 in many markets. It monitors your body movements and interacts with the paired smartphone to generate data about your life and habits in the Sony LifeLog app. It comes with a 1.4 inch E-ink display with a resolution of 296 x 128. This display shows you the time, notifications and the status of monitored activities. More features can be added by downloading apps compatible with it from the Google Play store. The processor inside is an ARM Cortex-M4 32-bit processor. There is 256KB RAM and 2MB internal embedded memory, with additional 128MB external flash memory. There is an accelerometer and an altimeter on board. There is no Wi-Fi connectivity like the Smartwatch 3 but it does have Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC. A 65mAh battery is used to power the device and is rated for talk time of up to 1 hour with 3 days standby. It comes with a microphone and a loudspeaker so you can use it to make and receive phone calls and also record voice notes. Like the SWR50, it is also IP68 certified dust and water-resistant. So no matter where you go, you can take SmartBand Talk along. It works as much more than just a fitness tracker. It can count your steps and record data about almost all your physical activities while you sleep, walk, run or jump. There is also the ability to set goals and track your progress as your work your way up. It is extremely light too, at just 12 grams for the module only. The module comes in two colors – Black and White. You can get a wrist band in 6 colors though – Black, White, Red, Blue, Pink, Lime.

Both smart wearable devices will be available from this Autumn. Exact dates haven’t been revealed. Same goes for the pricing information.