#SONY ERICSSON MN2 LIVEVIEW SMARTWATCH ANDROID#

The SmartWatch interface is now fully touch-based, rather than relying on the bezel controls that made for an imprecise and frustrating experience in the LiveView. The color depth is decent, especially for something so small - Sony’s specs say that it’s capable of showing 65,000 colors - but it's difficult to look for detail in the color amidst the pixel noise. The display itself is bright, clear, and astonishingly sharp, though its low 128 x 128 resolution makes images and text grainy and jagged. This is a neat design in that there aren’t any flaps or exposed ports on the device, though if you lose or break the cable it could be difficult to find a replacement.

Underneath the clip are four golden metal contacts, used to charge the device with a proprietary USB cable. There’s an obvious distinction between the bezel and the display, which is slightly disappointing - it breaks up the otherwise glossy black face when the backlight is switched off.Īn aluminum frame wraps around the edge of the display, broken only by the aforementioned power button, and the sprung clip and bottom casing are made of white plastic. A power button is placed where you’d find the crown winder of an analog watch, and a Sony logo is printed on the bezel beneath the glass face. The SmartWatch’s main feature is a 1.3-inch OLED display fitted into a case reminiscent of the sixth-generation iPod nano, measuring 1.5 inches across its square face, and a half-inch high when locked into the integrated clip. Are phone-connected watches finally growing up, and is the SmartWatch worth the extra cash? Read on to find out.

Sony has made plenty of changes in this iteration, but the price went up too - the SmartWatch comes in at $149.99, almost double the $79.99 of its predecessor. The older model offered similar features, but was critically panned for being unresponsive, unreliable, and utterly useless if it lost connection with the phone. The SmartWatch is the latest in this line, a follow-up to the LiveView that was released around a year and a half ago.

#SONY ERICSSON MN2 LIVEVIEW SMARTWATCH ANDROID#

Sony’s range of LiveWare accessories certainly offer a unique take on connected headsets and wearable interfaces for your Android phone, but they've previously been hit-and-miss-affairs, generally seen as great ideas that don’t quite fulfil their promise. There's been a growing trend for products like this over the past few months, from the WIMM One to Fossil’s MetaWatch, but Sony’s is one of the first of this latest wave (along with the inPulse) to make it to the general public. It’s also able to show you who's calling or texting, control music, and even tell the time. The Sony SmartWatch is an intriguing device - a secondary display for your Android-powered handset that provides quick access to notifications from select apps and services on your phone.

Sony ericsson mn2 liveview smartwatch