Sony Smart Watch

The Sony Smart Watch fits into the recently started Bluetooth theme. As a matter of fact I predicted the year 2012 would be the year of the Smart Watch. And as I still stand by my thesis that smart watches will rule the world, my prediction has failed. The timing was all wrong.

Apple has not released a smart watch. Google has not released an integrated Android smart watch API. The Kickstarter Pebble Watch project I backed personally is delayed again. No smart watch for me this Christmas. Or may be?

Here comes Sony to wipe the tears. Actually the Sony watch is a surprise. Or a couple of surprises. The first surprise is it works out of the box with ANY Android phone. Yes you read this right. It is not tied to Sony platform. It works with my Samsung Note and there is no reason why it would not work with just about any other Android device. All it requires is the Sony application installed. The second surprise is it uses the Bluetooth classic, not the Low Energy. Why - I will post next week. The third surprise is Sony did not put much effort in making the watch a state of the art gadget. It is thick, thanks to a strange plastic clip, something that could have easily been avoided. The display is poor too, far from the retina - class displays that are now common across phones and tablets.

Having said all that, from my two - week long period of actually wearing the watch it proves the original point. Smart watches will rule the world. Phones get bigger because we want bigger displays. And as they get bigger we tend to leave them more often on tables or desks or even carry them in bags. The watch is on a wrist all the time. A phone rings, you look at the watch and see who is calling. A message arrives and you can read it on the watch. You can control the music player, check the weather and do just about any other thing that is enabled via the watch API. If it was thinner, powered by Bluetooth LE, with higher resolution display and system - level API, I would recommend it to everybody. Currently it is thick, requires everyday charge and special apps. But considering it is the first generation smart watch - class device, I can't wait to put my hands on the Pebble or Apple or Google X watches when they hit the stores.