Sony has developed a wristwatch with an an electronic paper display. The low-power screen can be viewed in direct sunlight with no artificial illumination. But you can also change the watch face since it’s drawn electronically.

There are a handful of other watches with E Ink or E Paper displays on the market, but Sony’s watch goes a step further: the wristband also uses electronic paper so you can change the look of the wrist strap as well as the watch face.

fes watch

Earlier this week Bloomberg reported that Sony was working on such a device, and now the Wall Street Journal reports that the watch has been hiding in plain sight: It’s the FES watch prototype from Fashion Entertainments, which happens to be a subsidiary of Sony.

The FES Watch hit Japanese crowdfunding site Makuake earlier this month and it should ship to backers around May, 2015.

This isn’t a smartwatch: it doesn’t connect to the internet, run apps, or display notifications from your smartphone. But the FES Watch is a customizable fashion accessory which can help you tell the time. It’s going for about $167 at the moment.

There’s no word on whether Sony and Fashion Entertainments plan to offer the FES Watch outside of Japan anytime soon. But it’s interesting to see someone try to find new uses for electronic paper technology.

via The Verge

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7 replies on “Sony develops watch with E Paper screen… and wristband”

  1. I like it. Seems like refresh is not too bad on this.

    So curved/bendable ePaper is almost ready to ship? How long till we get foldable devices like big eReaders that fold up and fit in a pocket?

  2. I love the idea of a round face E-ink watch, but not even slightly interested in a smartwatch with a non-replaceable wristband.

    1. “This isn’t a smartwatch: it doesn’t connect to the internet, run apps, or display notifications from your smartphone.”

      You read that bit right?!

      1. Oh. Actually a smartwatch IMO needs a +1 month battery life, and I keep hoping someone will just make one with an e ink display, thin body, Bluetooth LE and just display info from an always linked phone. Notif., turn directions, caller id, stuff like that. You could do a lot of clever stuff with that, well, if you’re clever. A phone has plenty of horsepower and it’s not like I’m going to stop carrying a phone around.

  3. If the refresh rate is fast enough to spritz 1,000 wpm, count me in!

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