Sony seems to have come up with this product in a big hurry

Sep 4, 2014 06:54 GMT  ·  By

A few days before IFA 2014 started in Berlin, we found out that Sony was getting ready to unleash its own Android Wear smartwatch, which was pretty odd.

In the past, Sony officials have been known to talk about the company’s commitment to its own wearable platform. Well, it appears that Sony has recognized the need to provide a competing product to penetrate the budding Android Wear niche with.

So, you can now say hello to the Sony Smartwatch 3, which is the first Sony wearable to take advantage of Android Wear.

The intelligent timepiece arrives with a 1.6-inch TFT LCD transflective display with 320 x 320 pixel resolution and has 4GB of internal storage and a built-in mic.

To compare, the LG G watch has a 1.65-inch IPS LCD display, while the Samsung Gear Live takes advantage of a 1.63-inch super AMOLED one. The Sammy one has 320 x 320 resolution, while the LG one offers only 280 x 280 pixels.

Sony says the Smartwatch 3 should offer 2 days of battery life, which isn’t all that bad. We managed to spend a little time with this new contender to the Android Wear throne and we can say we’re quite disappointed.

Sony is known for creating beautiful products when it comes to smartphones and tablets, but the Smartwatch 3 is quite ugly. It’s big and looks quite amateurish and plastic-y, with no premium feel to it whatsoever (have a look at the ASUS ZenWatch for that).

Sure, the Android Wear interface proves to be quite responsive and easily navigable, but that’s a characteristic of any smartwatch taking advantage of the platform. The problem is that Sony doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table.

The company has just taken a blueprint (aka the rectangular smartwatch idea) in order to fabricate yet another clone (albeit not a good one).

Anyway, Sony says that the watch can handle being submerged in up to 1.5m / 4.9 feet of water but they are not advising you to take it out for a swim.

Sure you can take a shower with it or wash your hands real quick, but that’s pretty much where you should stop.

The company also says the watch will become available for pick up this fall. And you should be prepared to pay €229 / $229 for it. For us this seems quite a lot, and for the same amount of money you can pick up the better-looking LG G Watch.

Sony Smartwatch 3 (24 Images)

Sony Smartwatch 3 introduced at IFA 2014
Sony Smartwatch 3 introduced at IFA 2014Sony Smartwatch 3 introduced at IFA 2014
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