Sony Smartwatch 3. Android Wear from Japan
All smart watches on Android Wear are about the same in their capabilities. They usually differ only in the type of screen and build quality, as well as the design, of course. Sony decided to go their usual way - to try to fit their best technologies into a waterproof case. On the pros and cons of this approach and talk.
The full name of the model is Sony SmartWatch 3 (SWR50). It is noteworthy that in the model index there is already a number 3, although this does not mean that the company managed to release three hours, while the rest of the companies released only 1-2 models. Sony did have previous SmartWatch models, but had nothing to do with the Android Wear platform.
The iron of the watch can be envied by any smartphone flagship of four years ago, although for the current generation of smart watches the platform can be called "standard". Inside are hidden: Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor (1.2 GHz, ARM v7); video accelerator with support for OpenGL ES 3.0 and OpenCL 1.2 - Adreno 305 (450 MHz); 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of memory for data storage, as well as GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and NFC modules.
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The battery is modest, only 420 mAh, but the device is also small. The screen from the sky of stars is not enough, but the resolution is higher than that of the watch from the same LG: 320x320 pixels. Auto-brightness is, the light sensor almost never lies. Unfortunately, the display is not OLED / AMOLED, but a regular LCD matrix with a transreflective layer - the watch does not go blind in the sun, but it’s far from the “richness” of OLED models, and there is no opportunity to work with the constantly active screen. All this magnificence of 45 grams weighs.
With what, and with the design of the Sony Smartwatch 3, everything is in order. First of all, they are beautifully packaged: a plexiglass case, inside which lies (or rather, hovers in the air) a device - it looks spectacular, you can donate it right, without hiding the box with the device in elegant wrapping paper. Secondly, they look great on their own.
The display has a slightly curved glass, almost does not rise above the strap. The latter, by the way, is monolithic and made of thick rubber with a plastic insert around the display. In addition, the strap is replaceable.
The clock is removed "inside", therefore, even though the crawl is swimming, even if it hits the pear, it will not fall out. The clasp is made in the form of a classic clip with two arc elements, no buckles, teeth and dangling tails clinging to the sleeves.
The fit is available in a very wide range, so the watch will suit both fragile girls and more long-distance strokes (although the device will look more funny than serious). A choice of four colors available: black, white, coral and poisonous lime. More on the pictures is a metal bracelet, but in the Russian Federation such a model was not supplied.
On the display module itself, there is nothing but a “pin” button (with a push button on the strap) and a rubber plug on the back side. Charging is carried out through the connector MicroUSB, which this plug and closes.
Why is there a stub? The fact is that the watch has an IP67 protection level, that is, it has dustproofness and protection when immersed in water to a depth of 1 meter for an unlimited time.
Spartan grade. In the case, in addition to the clock, there is only a short USB-tail (in short, only Jawbone) and instructions. Everything.
Watches from Sony are on board Android Wear 4.3 with the ability to upgrade to 5.0. First of all the update to 4.4 swings, and then - to the latest version. Unlike LG, where the update took 10 minutes, these hours totally downloaded updates for a good three hours, after which they put them another 40 minutes.
Wear system is simple and effective. On the main screen - the clock, by "tapu" - voice / touch menu. The screen displays hints that you can order the device to do, but all the same actions (except for entering text) can also be performed "manually." The OS itself resembles a hybrid of the Google Now service and a fitness bracelet in terms of functions and way of interacting with them.
The entire interface is very well fitted and addictive in just ten minutes. For pairing with a smartphone, you can use NFC technology or manually turn on Bluetooth in the old-fashioned way, since the clock displays step-by-step instructions that even a baby can handle.
Out of the box, without installing additional applications, the clock can: display the time, work as a fitness tracker (although they do not have a built-in pulse meter, which is strange for a sports-oriented device), show reminders from a smartphone, give hints on navigation, work with a predictive system -and-not-so-help Google Now, control music from your smartphone or listen to it directly from the device (or even Play Music would allow to synchronize music normally)
There is a compass. And thanks to the GPS module, the watch can be used as a GPS tracker, and not necessarily with the participation of a smartphone: data can be synchronized after a run. As a service, you can use either standard applications like Runtastic / Runkeeper / MyTracks / iFit outside, or the Ghostracer application developed specifically for SmartWatch 3.
In general, in many respects all the same functions as any other devices of this form factor and platform: until Google expands the capabilities of the Android Wear OS itself, nothing will change. Oh, and you can always mess with the official SDK, install GTA3 on the clock and play, yes. The watches have more than enough power, the game goes even if it is not fast, but without noticeable problems.
Finally, at least some use was found for the 4-core clock processor :)
The device is very pleasant. In normal mode, it works for 2-3 days without recharging, it is not afraid of getting wet, it saves the battery to the “big brother” (you will be less likely to get the main device to see what it “buzzes”), and most importantly - it makes you stay always in touch.
With a smart watch it is very difficult to miss a call or lose the main device, not receive an SMS, a reminder from the calendar or wake up an important meeting: the vibration on your hand signals perfectly that certain events require your attention without annoying those around you with loud melodies or lack of attention (when you are completely immersed in the smartphone).
The device is great. It is mastered in five minutes, without hesitation it connects to modern smartphones, successfully signals everything that it reaches, broadcasts all relevant notifications and significantly affects the autonomy of the paired smartphone (for the better, of course). Cons, too. The strap is very easily soiled (but you can get a metal one and forget about this problem), charging is inconvenient to insert, but you can put up with it.
+ Light;
+ Look great;
+ 2-3 days from one charge;
+ Waterproof (up to 1 meter);
+ Transreflective display;
+ Available strap customization;
+ Upgrade to AW 5.0 without problems;
+ Can work as a standalone GPS tracker;
+ You can play GTA3;
- The strap collects dust, wool, dirt and hair;
- For charging, it is necessary to pervert with tearing out of the watch a rubber plug, there is no wireless or docking option;
- The cap on the microUSB does not look very reliable, there is certainly no spare one in the kit;
- Display is not OLED type;
- Do not measure the pulse;
- Price in the Russian Federation.
At the time of publication of the article, you can buy Sony SmartWatch 3 in the Yulmart store for 9990 rubles. Exactly the same are the watches LG G Watch, which can do almost everything the same, but do not look so pretty, and have less battery life. On the other hand, they are easier to charge and much less dirty.
Do the advantages of a device overwrite its disadvantages? In my opinion - yes. There is only one essential minus - the inconvenience of charging: if the room is dark and you are tired and you want to sleep as a passion, then you will wake up with a discharged clock. With the other shortcomings can be tolerated. Well, the design and full waterproof give you screw models from LG and Samsung.
Our previous reviews:
» LG G Watch
» Transformer Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro
» Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop Suite
» LEGO Mindstorms EV3
» Digital Levenhuk USB Microscope DTX90
Specifications
The full name of the model is Sony SmartWatch 3 (SWR50). It is noteworthy that in the model index there is already a number 3, although this does not mean that the company managed to release three hours, while the rest of the companies released only 1-2 models. Sony did have previous SmartWatch models, but had nothing to do with the Android Wear platform.
The iron of the watch can be envied by any smartphone flagship of four years ago, although for the current generation of smart watches the platform can be called "standard". Inside are hidden: Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor (1.2 GHz, ARM v7); video accelerator with support for OpenGL ES 3.0 and OpenCL 1.2 - Adreno 305 (450 MHz); 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB of memory for data storage, as well as GPS, Bluetooth 4.0 LE and NFC modules.
')
The battery is modest, only 420 mAh, but the device is also small. The screen from the sky of stars is not enough, but the resolution is higher than that of the watch from the same LG: 320x320 pixels. Auto-brightness is, the light sensor almost never lies. Unfortunately, the display is not OLED / AMOLED, but a regular LCD matrix with a transreflective layer - the watch does not go blind in the sun, but it’s far from the “richness” of OLED models, and there is no opportunity to work with the constantly active screen. All this magnificence of 45 grams weighs.
Appearance
With what, and with the design of the Sony Smartwatch 3, everything is in order. First of all, they are beautifully packaged: a plexiglass case, inside which lies (or rather, hovers in the air) a device - it looks spectacular, you can donate it right, without hiding the box with the device in elegant wrapping paper. Secondly, they look great on their own.
The display has a slightly curved glass, almost does not rise above the strap. The latter, by the way, is monolithic and made of thick rubber with a plastic insert around the display. In addition, the strap is replaceable.
The clock is removed "inside", therefore, even though the crawl is swimming, even if it hits the pear, it will not fall out. The clasp is made in the form of a classic clip with two arc elements, no buckles, teeth and dangling tails clinging to the sleeves.
The fit is available in a very wide range, so the watch will suit both fragile girls and more long-distance strokes (although the device will look more funny than serious). A choice of four colors available: black, white, coral and poisonous lime. More on the pictures is a metal bracelet, but in the Russian Federation such a model was not supplied.
On the display module itself, there is nothing but a “pin” button (with a push button on the strap) and a rubber plug on the back side. Charging is carried out through the connector MicroUSB, which this plug and closes.
Why is there a stub? The fact is that the watch has an IP67 protection level, that is, it has dustproofness and protection when immersed in water to a depth of 1 meter for an unlimited time.
Equipment
Spartan grade. In the case, in addition to the clock, there is only a short USB-tail (in short, only Jawbone) and instructions. Everything.
Work with the device
Watches from Sony are on board Android Wear 4.3 with the ability to upgrade to 5.0. First of all the update to 4.4 swings, and then - to the latest version. Unlike LG, where the update took 10 minutes, these hours totally downloaded updates for a good three hours, after which they put them another 40 minutes.
Wear system is simple and effective. On the main screen - the clock, by "tapu" - voice / touch menu. The screen displays hints that you can order the device to do, but all the same actions (except for entering text) can also be performed "manually." The OS itself resembles a hybrid of the Google Now service and a fitness bracelet in terms of functions and way of interacting with them.
The entire interface is very well fitted and addictive in just ten minutes. For pairing with a smartphone, you can use NFC technology or manually turn on Bluetooth in the old-fashioned way, since the clock displays step-by-step instructions that even a baby can handle.
Out of the box, without installing additional applications, the clock can: display the time, work as a fitness tracker (although they do not have a built-in pulse meter, which is strange for a sports-oriented device), show reminders from a smartphone, give hints on navigation, work with a predictive system -and-not-so-help Google Now, control music from your smartphone or listen to it directly from the device (or even Play Music would allow to synchronize music normally)
There is a compass. And thanks to the GPS module, the watch can be used as a GPS tracker, and not necessarily with the participation of a smartphone: data can be synchronized after a run. As a service, you can use either standard applications like Runtastic / Runkeeper / MyTracks / iFit outside, or the Ghostracer application developed specifically for SmartWatch 3.
In general, in many respects all the same functions as any other devices of this form factor and platform: until Google expands the capabilities of the Android Wear OS itself, nothing will change. Oh, and you can always mess with the official SDK, install GTA3 on the clock and play, yes. The watches have more than enough power, the game goes even if it is not fast, but without noticeable problems.
Finally, at least some use was found for the 4-core clock processor :)
General impressions
The device is very pleasant. In normal mode, it works for 2-3 days without recharging, it is not afraid of getting wet, it saves the battery to the “big brother” (you will be less likely to get the main device to see what it “buzzes”), and most importantly - it makes you stay always in touch.
With a smart watch it is very difficult to miss a call or lose the main device, not receive an SMS, a reminder from the calendar or wake up an important meeting: the vibration on your hand signals perfectly that certain events require your attention without annoying those around you with loud melodies or lack of attention (when you are completely immersed in the smartphone).
Results
The device is great. It is mastered in five minutes, without hesitation it connects to modern smartphones, successfully signals everything that it reaches, broadcasts all relevant notifications and significantly affects the autonomy of the paired smartphone (for the better, of course). Cons, too. The strap is very easily soiled (but you can get a metal one and forget about this problem), charging is inconvenient to insert, but you can put up with it.
Advantages and disadvantages
+ Light;
+ Look great;
+ 2-3 days from one charge;
+ Waterproof (up to 1 meter);
+ Transreflective display;
+ Available strap customization;
+ Upgrade to AW 5.0 without problems;
+ Can work as a standalone GPS tracker;
+ You can play GTA3;
- The strap collects dust, wool, dirt and hair;
- For charging, it is necessary to pervert with tearing out of the watch a rubber plug, there is no wireless or docking option;
- The cap on the microUSB does not look very reliable, there is certainly no spare one in the kit;
- Display is not OLED type;
- Do not measure the pulse;
- Price in the Russian Federation.
At the time of publication of the article, you can buy Sony SmartWatch 3 in the Yulmart store for 9990 rubles. Exactly the same are the watches LG G Watch, which can do almost everything the same, but do not look so pretty, and have less battery life. On the other hand, they are easier to charge and much less dirty.
Do the advantages of a device overwrite its disadvantages? In my opinion - yes. There is only one essential minus - the inconvenience of charging: if the room is dark and you are tired and you want to sleep as a passion, then you will wake up with a discharged clock. With the other shortcomings can be tolerated. Well, the design and full waterproof give you screw models from LG and Samsung.
Our previous reviews:
» LG G Watch
» Transformer Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro
» Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop Suite
» LEGO Mindstorms EV3
» Digital Levenhuk USB Microscope DTX90
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/365953/
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