14 DAY TRIAL // Announced on its own crowdfunding platform, First Flight, Sony made it clear that it tries to offer a more elegant alternative to the screen-heavy modern smart watches.
Called Wena, which definitely is not an acronym to Wear Electronics Naturally Speaking, it combines the normal clock aesthetic with the SmartWatch features of your everyday bracelet. Started on First Flight by a guy called Tsushima Teppei, he wanted from the start to combine the classic clock aspect of the old analog watches with the new high-tech features that smart watches come with.
Sony's project team plans to help Wena users receive information via an LED screen about incoming notifications and also give him details and information of his recent activity. Its third function will be to have the smart-analogue watch synchronized and support the Japanese pay system, the FeliCa.
Wena is half analog, half fitness bracelet
Battery-wise, the watch is split in two, the "bracelet" battery and the watch battery. While the bracelet battery needs to be recharged every once in a week, which is pretty impressive, the watch battery can last for about three years, just like any other vintage analogue watch. The chronograph version is even more nigh-immortal, being able to keep time for you for around five years easily.
On First Flight, there are four different versions of the Wena, and all four variants work on quartz electronic oscillators, so nothing too advanced, and the only difference in price and aspect comes in the dial colors. The simple silver dial model will cost around $325 and the black dial model will cost $414. Later chronograph versions will cost $493 for the silver models and $571 for the black models.
In order to sync all your data to your smartphone, the Wena will use a Bluetooth 4.0 LE and will operate on iOS 8.0 versions and later. The new watch is also IPX5 / IPX7 water resistant certified and weighs around 55 grams.
