So we’ve all heard of smart phones, smart cars, smart houses and now the era has arrived for smart watches. The first time I heard of something like that was SPOT…
It was Microsoft’s attempt at a smart watch – didn’t do much apart from retrieving weather info & news updates. It didn’t connect to a mobile phone either and only worked in the United States and certain parts of the world so the entire project was tanked.
Sony Smartwatch…
When I found out that Sony was releasing their own smart watch – that got me a little excited… especially when it’s meant to be used as a companion with an Android phone!
I want… I see… I conquer 
and it’s MINE!
Works on most if not all Android phones…
One of the misconception is that this watch only works for Sony Mobile Android devices – which is wrong… checkout what I’ve paired it with!
Out of the box experience…
Getting the gadget out of the box was quite torturous to be honest. Either that or I’m just REALLY bad at taking gadgets out of their packaging – I ended up using a combination of a scissors and some precision cutting skills 
Once it’s out, you get a pretty solid looking block with a relatively large touchscreen and chrome finishing on it’s sides – this is the watch. You can choose to use that on it’s own and have it clipped to your bags, belts etc.
Or you can choose to pair that with the provided rubber strap (there are multiple colours available – some girly pink ones too) or if you’re more adventurous, you can always goto any watch shop and hook up a leather strap to the provided ‘aluminium’ case.
The watch charges via a regular USB cable with one end connecting to the custom port beneath the clip area…
Installation…
Getting it hooked up is a very simple 2 step process :
Step 1 – Download the Sony Smart Connect app from the Google Play Store
Step 2 – Turn on the Smart Watch & pair it to your phone – it’s very straight forward
and you’re done…
First time I got it connected, it automatically downloaded the latest firmware through my phone… now that’s smart!
Once the installation is complete, you’ll get see “SmartWatch” in your notification tray…
Tapping on it launches the SmartWatch app!
This is where the magic happens. First, you can download and configure all the apps for the SmartWatch…
If the ones provided by Sony are not enough, there are tonnes from the Google Play Store!
Being a SmartWatch, you can always download new Clock Faces and change them as you like…
So what can you exactly do on your SmartWatch?
Tell the time… duh
Check the current weather…
Get notifications for WhatsApp messages…
Read text messages…
Reply to the text message or call back from the watch…
And loads more like twitter, facebook etc.. checkout this little video I made…
So is it practical?
I certainly think so. It’s one of those things where once you’ve tasted it, you’d feel odd if you didn’t have it.
Notifications for everything – Since having the SmartWatch, I hardly miss calls, text messages, tweets, direct messages… the list just goes on because it notifies you everything with a gentle buzz. Of course, you may turn off certain notifications in case it gets a little too annoying
Best companion for quite places – It also helps loads in a meeting or a movie and in my case even in the studio when the phone has to be in silent mode. If I get an incoming call, the SmartWatch vibrates… a quick glance shows who is calling including the person’s picture (yes it automatically retrieves images too) and I can choose to answer the call or simple hit ‘reject’ on the phone.
Apps is key – With so many apps created by independent developers, the SmartWatch has pretty much unlimited possibilities. There’s even this app that shows Google Map on the screen & if you’ve chosen to navigate somewhere on your phone – the full list of directions appear on your watch… brilliant.
Battery life
Expect to charge the watch weekly. I’ve been using the watch quite heavily and never once worried about the battery. Manual says 330hours of standby and 120hours of talk – which is connected time I believe.
So many pros… are there cons?
Well, to begin with I’m not a big fan of the strap that came with the watch – find it too errr… wobbly. Which is why I took the provided aluminium case and got it hooked up with my choice of rubber strap from a nearby watch shop.
Also, the SmartWatch is like a mini computer and guess what? It has crashed on me once. It didn’t die… just insisting on not connecting with my phone. After a quick 5 second restart, the watch came back to life
In short…
At RM 399, it’s definitely not something you’d buy without thinking twice but for all the tech that’s built into this tiny fella… I think the price justifies it. A definite ultimate gift for any Android owner out there!
looks very cool! all i need now is a android phone :p
Get one BROOOOO… any Android with Jelly Bean coz Google Now ROCKS..
awesome…! hav stalked this gadget for long time, but what to do,, no money T_T REALLY WANT IT!!!
Hahaha Ben, you wrote this review after we spoke to you huh? Sorry we didn’t follow your suggestion… Should have read you blog. Feeling inspired to get one now!
Wayyyyy before that, it was in my TM blog, I ported it here
go grab the Smartwatch, you’ll love it!
Hi, I’m thinking of either buying this or the Pebble watch but I’d like to check on a few things. If lets say you receive three new messages (SMS, email or whatever), are you able to read all three of them? Because the Pebble will only display one message which is the latest one so you’ll miss the two which was sent earlier. What about the Bluettooth connection between the watch and the phone? Is it stable? or does it disconnect once in a while? I also heard that the screen can hardly be seen when you’re outdoors. Is it that bad? Any other problems you encountered recently like shorter battery life or something? Thanks!
Hey Roy,
3 messages – SMS, Email, other notification at one go – yes you can. Just a quick swipe moves from one to another
In fact, you can even read messages from yesterday so long as you have them on your phone.
Bluetooth from watch to phone for me has been a hit and miss situation. Mine is prob due to the constant connection and disconnection from the bluetooth car kit. I’ve got a friend who uses the smartwatch and face no such problems.
Screen? It certainly isn’t AMOLED but it’s generally bright enough for most conditions – I have no complaints here.
Problems? The watch needs a charge every 3-5 days if you’re constantly poking it. I don’t see problems with the watch but I do see a reduction of about 10-15% of standby time on my phone due to the bluetooth connection.
Hi Ben,
Thanks a lot! Might just consider getting this then.
All the best!
Hi Ben,
Finally got my smartwatch! May I know what app do you use to check WhatsApp messages on your phone? Thanks.
Congratulations! I tried IM notifier. It’s 1.99 USD though. Check it out here : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sonyericsson.extras.liveware.extension.uimsmartwatchnotifier
Thanks, Ben!
Hi,
This looks cool! Does the time stay on all the time or do you have to tap it for it to appear? Also, will the time even display if your phone is off? For example if you’re on a plane you have to switch off your phone and stuff. I heard it wasn’t that good when it was first released but Sony seems to have fixed a lot of things.
You can use the watch’s motion detector and ‘flick’ to turn on the screen. Otherwise you’ll have to press one of the buttons to show the time.
Bought the watch a few days ago! Looks pretty cool and so far so good. I tried out this IM notifier for my WhatsApp. I’m able to view the full message on my phone at first but when newer messages comes in, it will just say “2 new messages” or “3 new messages”, etc, and I still have to pull out my phone to view the messages. I was hoping to be able to view the content of all messages sent to me. Is this the same case with you?
Yup! Exactly the same when you get 2 or more Whatsapp messages