Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#160020 20-Dec-2014 14:46
Send private message

After sitting on the sideline watching various OEMs launch smartwatches I finally took the plunge and bought a Sony Smartwatch 3. I had considered the Moto 360, the Gear Live, the Zenwatch, the G Watch R and the Pebble. All other Samsung devices were disregarded because I don't run Samsung phone.

So while the SW3 is not the prettiest of watches here is what helped me decide.

Pros
Waterproof IP68
Good battery size
Up to date processor
Trans-reflective display uses less battery in idle, doesn't suffer burn in and doesn't present you with a blank display when in idle
Micro USB charging.
Slim Profile (added in edit)

Cons
Proprietary strap
No manufacturer companion app
Gadget (not jewellery) look.

The SW3 has GPS, WiFi and NFC hardware onboard but there are few, if any, apps to take advantage of them at the moment.
Now that 5.0.1 had been released for android wear, with better watchface support I have settled in to make a few of my own using Facer.

I turn the watch off at night, but am getting 2 days (6 am to 10 pm) of moderate use easily, and am normally into the third morning before requiring a recharge. When it is left on overnight it uses about 5% battery.
My most useful apps so far have been Wear Mini-Launcher and WearTasker.

Only had it 10 days, so still learning and discovering.




“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996


View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic
 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
benokobi
927 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

  #1201082 20-Dec-2014 14:57
Send private message

Where'd you get it?



Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1201090 20-Dec-2014 15:10
Send private message

benokobi: Where'd you get it?


The Sony Shop. Only arrived about 2 weeks ago. The salesman said they had been selling well considering they haven't been advertised.




“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996


freitasm
BDFL - Memuneh
79310 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator
ID Verified
Trusted
Geekzone
Lifetime subscriber

  #1202310 22-Dec-2014 20:04
Send private message


Sony Mobile Communications has today announced local pricing and availability for the most recent additions to the Sony SmartWear Experience range - Sony SmartBand Talk and SmartWatch 3 are now in store. The Sony SmartWear range offers a special something for everyone, just in time for Christmas.

The new SmartWear Talk and SmartWatch 3 talk to Lifelog, the popular accompanying app designed to help you understand more about the way to live and move, so you can improve and enrich your life.

The SmartBand Talk is a powerful lifelogger, bringing call handling and voice control from your wrist, with an always-on curved 1.4” E Ink display and waterproof design. The SmartWatch 3 is the first smartwatch specifically designed for the latest Android Wear updates. New experiences and further opportunity for personalisation is offered through the desktop web interface and open API for Lifelog app coming soon.

“Life is a journey, and journeys are made up of stories and experiences that define you – this is the underlying principle for Lifelog, the Android app at the heart of our SmartWear Experience. We’re going beyond mere fitness tracking and number crunching, to help you log and preserve those moments that matter,” said Peter McKeon, Managing Director Oceania, Sony Mobile Communications. ”As a pioneer of smart and wearable technology, SmartBand Talk, SmartWatch 3 and Lifelog don’t merely affirm Sony’s leadership in the space, but as the innovators who dare to be different by bringing the world choice through products and services no-one else can, or will.”

The SmartBand Talk is available now from Sony stores, through Sony online and from Noel Leeming, at RRP $299.95.

The SmartWatch 3 is available now in black from Sony stores, through Sony online and from Noel Leeming, at RRP $399.95.






Please support Geekzone by subscribing, or using one of our referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies | Hatch | GoodSync 




Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1202665 23-Dec-2014 14:28
Send private message

Turned location off on the watch. Not sure if that was firing up the GPS or not but anecdotally I seem to be getting almost 3 days of use now before the watch is screaming for power.
Although I downloaded heaps of watch faces, after reading Google's design philosophy for Wear, I have settled on not trying to make it look like a conventional analogue watch. Instead optimizing the 'glance-ability' of the display, especially being able to see the time (without reading glasses) without the back light turning on. I wish you could set the screen timeout though.
Wear Tasker has now added voice commands, but I am yet to try it out.

Interesting that the press release above has them for $400, because the Sony Store has had them at $360 since they arrived.

Edit: typos




“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996


MikeB4
18435 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Trusted

  #1202673 23-Dec-2014 14:33
Send private message

I still feel it's too early for these devices. Next year will see so good progress.

Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1203057 24-Dec-2014 09:19
Send private message

KiwiNZ: I still feel it's too early for these devices. Next year will see so good progress.


I would say early, rather than too early. It really isn't part of the geek ethos to wait until everybody has a device ( attached to their iPhone :-P). What really kicked the smartwatch thing into gear was the Pebble. If only it wasn't so industrial looking (I know the watch that is the subject of this thread isn't entirely pretty either).

Other things I have noted with the SW3 is its size means it occasionally catches on things but I haven't experienced the clasp popping open that some have reported. Since it is lower profile than the Moto360, LG GWR and the zenwatch I can only surmise they would suffer more.
Into day four and it has finally said I need to connect it to a charger.




“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996


gjm

gjm
808 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #1203089 24-Dec-2014 10:42
Send private message

I recently bought a pebble on the black Friday sale to see how useful such a device would be in real life. So far I have found it really useful and it's great not to have to pull my phone out constantly to check whether an email is important or not. Not having to carry my phone around at home when Im oncall is also a bonus as all alerts just get sent to the watch. Being sold on the concept Ill probably get an apple watch when they come out depending on the price. The pebble is useful but not very "pretty"




Do surveys for Beer money (referral link) - Octopus Group 

 

Link for buying beer (not affiliated, just like beer) - Good George


 
 
 

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).
tripp
3848 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #1204822 28-Dec-2014 11:05
Send private message

I love mine, only 2 things bug me, when going for a run without the phone it records it as "steps" and not a run in the fitness app (the default google fitness app)
I can't seem to find any good screen protectors (glass ones) have 1 of those dumb wet apply things on it.



Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1206838 1-Jan-2015 13:00
Send private message

I have Facer, Watchmaker and Wearable Widgets all installed on my phone/watch for customizing watch faces. While each has its pluses and minuses I am finding the battery on both the phone and watch take the biggest hit when using WW. That and the inability to display seconds has meant it has fallen into disuse and is about to be uninstalled. I have been using Facer for a while but at the moment it doesn't allow multi time zones (except by using maths) and won't display the phone battery level. I have just installed Watchmaker and am still playing round with settings etc but first impressions are it uses more battery than Facer, possibly because it needs to synch more often for the extra features I am after.

I am interested to hear what others may have found. It applies to all Wear watches so I can start a new thread if that is more appropriate...

Oh and I have discovered WM has Tasker integration as well. So I'm wondering if it runs similarly to WW as a widget driven from the phone rather than as a resident app on the watch like Facer does. That would explain the higher battery drain.




“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996


Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1209431 6-Jan-2015 18:10
Send private message

I see at Sony's pre CES press conference they have announced, amongst a lot of other tech, that they are releasing a stainless steel SW3 and also a new enclosure for existing SW3s that will allow for changing out the existing strap for a regular one. The new SS one looks quite nice but I am intrigued by the possibility of using standard 22mm watch straps.




“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996


Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1260424 16-Mar-2015 16:54
Send private message

An update on the new stainless steel version of the strap. Apparently the strap is stainless steel but the surround that the watch module fits into is silver painted plastic!
Not quite so keen on that option now as people are already complaining how easy it is to scratch.




“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996


1eStar
1604 posts

Uber Geek


  #1260610 16-Mar-2015 20:53
Send private message

Thankyou. This just strengthens my resolve to stick with my SW2.

Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1285442 16-Apr-2015 10:59
Send private message

Anyone managed to get a metal (+plastic) strap for this yet?

At the moment I have decided I prefer the SW3 to my GWR, for work anyway.




“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996


Dingbatt

6758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #1291403 25-Apr-2015 17:44
Send private message

Got excited briefly with the latest Wear companion app getting updated to support Wi-Fi cloud synch. Until I realized that that's only half the story. Will have to wait until the next update of android wear for our watches. Probably well into next month. The other factor of course is that only the SW3, Moto 360 and Urbane have Wi-Fi capability from what I can ascertain. I will be interested to see how big a tax the Wi-Fi is on battery when it is activated.

Edit: Looking at this thread I must be the only SW3 owner still active on GZ.




“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996


1eStar
1604 posts

Uber Geek


  #1291435 25-Apr-2015 18:37
Send private message

Keep posting please.
I'm interested in real user experience. Tech writers do a review of a prerelease item and rarely follow up as the software matures. I think I must be the only SW2 owner on Geekzone, which incidentally is far superior software wise since the release software.
The latest release of Wear is starting to look promising, less 'Now cards centric' and more 'app on watch' like the SW2 is.
I'm currently in a Third World country and Google hasn't been here yet, so a Now based system would not be very useful.
The transreflective screen is probably the biggest plus of the Sony, yet most 'reviewers' fail to even acknowledge it. Just complain: "colors a bit washed out".
I've owned Smartwatch 1 and 2, but will at this stage skip 3 due to several reasons.

 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.