The Android Wear section of the Google Play Store is starting to look a little crowded. When Google launched its platform for wearables earlier this year there were only two Android Wear watches: the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live.
Now there are 6… including two new models that launched this week.
As its name suggests, the Sony SmartWatch 3 is Sony’s third wristwatch which can pair with your phone to display notifications on your wrist.
But this $250 watch is the company’s first to run Google’s Android Wear software. It’s also the first Android Wear watch from any company to include built-in GPS which lets you use maps even when you leave your phone at home.
The SmartWatch 3 has a 1.6 inch, 320 x 320 pixel display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, Bluetooth 4.1, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage, and a 420mAh battery and the watch has an IP68 water and dust resistance rating.
The $200 Asus ZenWatch is a slightly more affordable option which has a 1.63 inch, 320 x 320 AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 400 processor, Bluetooth 4.0, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of storage. This model has a 1.4Wh battery (Asus doesn’t give us a mAh number).
It has an IP55 water resistance rating.
Asus hopes its watch manages to stand out thanks to its curved glass design, stitched-leather wrist strap, and custom watch faces and features including cover-to-mute and remote camera, and presentation control apps.
“This model has a 1.4Wh battery (Asus doesn’t give us a mAh number).”
It is however extremely likely they’re only using one cell, so you can work it back. 1.4Wh/3.7V = 0.38Ah or 380mAh.
Wait… you can’t see the time without being tethered to a phone, but you can use GPS? I’d probably replace my Pebble with the Sony, if it had a 4-5 day battery time and a sunlight-readable always-on display. For now I’ll wait till screen technology and/or batteries catch up to what I expect of my smartwatch. Also, if there were a Pebble with a built-in mic and Google voice search/assistant function, I’d keep it indefinitely.
“you can’t see the time without being tethered to a phone”
I don’t see that in the article. Which watch are you referring to?
Wasn’t that an “Android Wear” thing? Maybe I’m mistaken, but I remember it being mentioned somewhere…
That’s not a thing. I have a Moto 360, it does need to be paired with a phone once (in the device’s lifetime I mean) but after that you can walk away from the phone and the watch will continue telling the time, reminding you of calendar events, tracking fitness data etc. It will just show a little ‘no cloud’ icon to tell you it has no connection, and it won’t get new unexpected events from the phone like email notifications.
Yes, you can see the time without being tethered to a phone.
No, it doesn’t have a 4-5 days battery life. Battery lasts 48 hours, however.
Yes, it has a sunlight-readable (transflective), always-on display.
I moved from a Pebble to a SW3, and I find the shorter battery life an acceptable trade-off.
Please let us know your experience with the watch so that it might help somebody to make a decision. Can you make a call with the sony watch? Also, i heard there is a remote control feature for tv in the watch; did you try it?
It doesn’t have a speaker or a IR blaster, so it’s a no on both counts.
To avoid fragmentation, Google don’t allow oem customizations of the operating system. So, the user experience and software capabilities of all android wear smartwatches are similar.