New Sony smart watch leaks, expected early 2014
Another Sony smart watch has been approved by the FCC in the US, and is expected to make its debut at CES in January.
Sony was well ahead of the pack when it comes to techy timepieces. It launched its first smart watch, aptly called the Sony SmartWatch, last year, but even before then, it was releasing similar devices under the name of Sony Ericsson. Then last summer, it released the SmartWatch 2 (pictured), ahead of Samsung's Galaxy Gear. And now it looks like it has another smart watch up its sleeve.
A filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), spotted by Ubergizmo, has let slip details on the new watch, named the SWR10 -- which is quite similar to the SmartWatch 2's model name of SW2. The device is referred to as a "BT Wrist Notifier", which sounds to me like a rather roundabout way of saying smart watch.
The FCC has approved Sony's SWR10 device, and the documents confirm it'll have NFC and Bluetooth. But apart from that, details are rather thin on the ground.
Sony's SmartWatch 2 had NFC and Bluetooth as well, but that wasn't enough to save it from being a thorough disappointment. It scored just one star in our review, thanks to its buggy software, and the fact it was terribly sluggish to use. The Galaxy Gear, on the other hand (or other wrist, rather), whizzes along nicely, with menus moving as fast as you'd like.
LG is also rumoured to be throwing its hat into the wearables ring. The other day it confirmed that it's working on wearable tech -- thought to be a smart watch called the G-Arch and a fitness tracker called the G-Health -- though it didn't confirm any details. Samsung is also thought to have a fitness tracker in the pipeline, called the Galaxy Band. I'm sure all will be revealed at CES in January.
Do you use a fitness tracker? What should Sony change for its next smart watch? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.