Sony Smart Watch 2 for my htc Thunderbolt-Verizon

[TheForce]

I've been eager to try this new paradigm shift in personal digital mobile devices for over a year. Last year it appeared that my beloved htc Thunderbolt would not be able to work with the new smart watches being offered. There were several rumors about these devices only working with specific smart phones and then the rumor that they would only work with the latest phones that had the NFC chip hardware built in. Then of course we were waiting for the Apple iwatch that only has wild guesses it is even in the works.

So, we get an October Surprise! Sony recently announced the release of it's 3rd generation smart watch with thinner profile and larger screen. The first gen smart watch only worked with Sony's own line of phones, the Ericson, then the Smart Watch 1 came out which restricted it to a few Android phones that supported NFC and Android 4.0. Now we have this Smart Watch 2 which is claimed to work with all Android 4.0 + smart phones. It has a really great battery life of 2-4 days depending on the alert frequency. It uses NFC phones, like the htc ONE but thanks to a new downloadable app to connect, that is no longer a requirement. Only Blue Tooth 3.0 is required to complete the communications since that is the version the watch uses!
NFC is only used to pair the watch to the phone for the first time and it triggers an automatic download of the required connect software. If your phone doesn't have NFC, you just have to search for the Sony Smart Watch 2 connect app on the Play Store. Easy! I did it in just a few minutes with voice search. The rest works just like pairing a BT hands free ear piece.

The Smart Watch 2 has over 170 authorized apps to find just about anything you want. But the downside is many of these apps are designed for Smart Watch 1 and consequently, don't fill out the screen 100% on the Smart Watch 2 which is slightly larger. The second thing is, like the really good apps like a GPS Navigation on your watch is not free.

Another feature I liked about this Sony is it works like a conventional watch when it loses the smart connection to the phone. Plus the screen is only backlit in the dark as in bright sunlight is is still visible. The resolution is not as good as the Samsung Galaxy which uses the OLED screen but for a bright sunny day I'll accept the lower resolution. Everything is readable anyway.

The charging port is a universal micro USB too so you only need one charger for phone and watch. Full charge from dead only takes 30 minutes and then you're good to go for a few days. If I find this usage as good as I expect, I will be getting a Titanium bracelet band for it as the supplied rubber one is not to my liking.

Bottom line price is $200 retail.

I'm excited about being an early adopter on this different way of using a smart phone. Of course I was not in the early early stages last year.


http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/products/accessories/smartwatch-2-sw2/

 

[John Kotches]

I've been keeping my eye on the Smart Watch market. I like that it is much less intrusive then a phone is which makes it more discreet which is helpful at times.

I like the look of the Samsung watch more than I like the Sony, but I think Sammy is making a huge mistake by not keeping it open to other phone manufacturers. Maybe that will just be for the first version, and universal support could come with the second iteration. Who knows?

Anyway, as we reach saturation point in the smartphone market, manufacturers are going to look for ways to keep getting dollars out of our pockets.

Does the Sony watch have a proximity alert, so that it can set off an alarm of some sort if the paired phone and the watch get too far apart?

These could also come into play in the Internet of Things, where we could use our smart watches to manage things like the thermostat, the doors etc etc without having to pull our phones out.

Interesting times, and it looks like Google is about to get some competition with glass from a few other manufacturers.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

[TheForce]

Does the Sony watch have a proximity alert, so that it can set off an alarm of some sort if the paired phone and the watch get too far apart?

Yes.

I went to BB today to look at the Samsung. While it is bigger than the Sony, the oled display is, IMO, much nicer. But that is indoors. I haven't been able to compare outdoors. The Samsung has fewer apps and is $100 more expensive. They also have a nice collection of styles., but like I said it is much bigger. About twice as thick and same width but about 1/4 longer. The Sony is about the same volume on my wrist as my regular watch, the Tissot T-Touch Titanium.

 

[TheForce]

Some updates to my experience with this Smart Watch.

The battery life is better than expected. From the initial 30 minute charge, it has been running now for 4 days. And, I've been using it quite a bit in set up and learning the aps.

I have loaded 16 aps and only one doesn't seem to work, or I haven't figured it out. That is the one that helps you locate your phone ( withing range of BT, about 15 ft.) It is supposed to display a little green dot on the screen and as you approach the phone the dot moves to the center of the screen. I've tried it from a distance of 10 ft away and the green dot never moves. Says I'm 12 ft away in the upper left corner even when I get closer and on top of the phone. There is another app that allows you to turn on your ringer to full volume even if it was on vibrate that seems to be a better more functional app. Fortunately this app was free.

I did buy one app that displays your walking or moving speed and azimuth, utilizing your GPS in the phone. I was looking for a compass like I have in the ipad but it doesn't work while standing still just showing what direction you are facing or to orient a paper map. It doesn't work when the phone can't see the sky since it uses the satellite receiver function. I paid a dollar for that app.

While the watch is comfortable to wear, but, it's rubber band causes me to sweat under it. I have been looking for a metal titanium black band without any success. I did order one off ebay for $40 that is black plated stainless. Should be in next week.

I love having caller ID now on the watch display with the ability to tap the watch and answer or reject. There is also a paid app that allows you to just cancel the ring but send the caller to voice mail. I may add that one later.

 

[TheForce]

Just another update on my experience with my Sony Smart Watch 2

The "Navy Seal military issue" Black anodized SS band I got from ebay is nice and fits very well and very secure. A little heavy compared to my other watch which is Titanium but I got used to it.
Sony did come out with their metal band but at $200 it is quite the rip off!


This past week Sony listed a huge number of new apps approved for the Smart Watch 2.

I now have an analog compass but it is a little sluggish and takes a couple seconds to catch up when you make a turn in direction.

I also got a nice calendar that is sharper looking than the older first generation I had before.
The stock market streaming ticker is real handy for me. I loaded up all 30 of the stocks I trade and it is real convenient if I'm out away from the computer and I see a move on one of them and wish to buy or sell, I get the visual, but then to execute the trade I have to pull out my phone and execute the trade with my TD Ameritrade app.
I also got the web browser by Google. While you can use it, the display of facebook pages is a bit sluggish. It's much faster just doing lookups of information. Typing in a key word search is not to bad, faster than I thought it would be.
Got a couple of games too. Solitare, tic-tac-toe, Blackjack
Weather radar works nicely too.

There are several health feedback apps, such as pulse monitor, running monitor, but I haven't tried any of these.

The spy apps look interesting too, such as a remote control for your camera and voice recorder on your phone.



I could never get the phone locator screen to work so I dumped it. If in BT range you can make the ringer sound so you can hear it which works much better than the screen locator.

 

[Poke]

Hmm thanks for the info Don. I always liked Sony products my B-Day coming up soon and looks like the watch is down to $179 might have to try one out.. Sound like its better than Samsungs as well.

 

[LER]

see my thread I just posted on the Galaxy Gear SmartWatch. I like it, but then I seem to be getting hooked on Samsung stuff in general

 

[TheForce]

Sad news!

I have been very happy with my Smartwatch 2 since day one. Lots of Apps and it has worked well making my smart phone use far more convenient.

But yesterday I got a message on the watch face that said installing new updates. When it finished, it had a slightly different look on the watch but none of my apps would load. Only those built into the watch firmware. So I checked the phone and it now has a different Smart Connect app installed. I repaired the watch through BT and it paired then after it loaded all the aps the watch rebooted and went back to the factory default. Now all it does when paired is endless loop rebooting. I can use it as a basic watch, flashlight, alarm, calculator, stopwatch, and timer but that's it. It connected to the phone while loading all my apps but then reboots and disconnects. I have a feeling that the new connect app is not compatible with my older android Thunderbolt. Not sure how to revert to the older connection app that worked great! Dad day!

 

[TheForce]

Update- Got it working but required a factory reboot. Ugh! Now I have to restore all my stuff on the phone. Seems the backup program doesn't work and I didn't know that. It worked with the previous version of Android.

I guess something caused a corruption of the connection by BT section of the OS. I got a clue when I got in my car and the BT connection in the car began to recycle over and over too.

 

[TheForce]

Spent a long day and most of this afternoon reinstalling everything. What a job but we're back in business. I guess the OS just loses integrity every so often.

 

[Ronnie-]

Just ordered one Don, you still pleased for the most part?

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

 

[TheForce]

I got everything working except the phone number caller ID notify. I get a vibration that I'm getting a call but the Caller ID doesn't show. Not sure why. There are several apps for this but none seem to work since that last update. What phone are you using? That may make a difference.

Considering my Thunderbolt screen has lots of dead spots and power button is wearing out, I'm ready for a new phone. I may go iphone 6 this fall and switch to the iwatch. I know I don't want another Android phone again.

 

[John Kotches]

I just got one for a gift and I'm learning how to get the notifications under control.

A couple of apps have had to be tweaked and I am happy with the results. I have used it for less than 24 hours and there us still more to do, but overall I am quite pleased.

I am surprised at how easy it is to integrate and use.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

[TheForce]

John- I think lots has to do with the phone. I had several problems with my older Thunderbolt, but after getting the Samsung Galaxy S5, everything works great and it even has greater range.

As you know I follow stocks every day and there is a great app that tracks every stock in my portfolio. I can just glance at the watch and see the prices and then open each up for additional info. If I need to trade, I still have to pull out the phone. "Watch Stocks" I also tested Global Stocks but it only tracks 6 and I needed to track 32.

For mail I use K-9 as it seems better than a couple of the freebee's I tried.

For call handling I use "Call Handling Pro"

 

[John Kotches]

Don, I ended up returning it because I had to reset 3x in a week.

Its a good product, but for someone like me that gets hundreds of emails a day, the resets and the notifications were too cumbersome to deal with.

I freely admit I am a corner case when it comes to volume of notifications and I didn't have time to deal with each notification being dismissed individually. Then there would be notifications I just couldn't remove.

I'm glad to have tried it and for me it was a very near miss.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

[TheForce]

Should have asked, I could have told you where you can set the type of notifications and the polling of email frequency. I have my phone calls notify with a vibrate and a screen lights up to accept or reject. But, I shut down the email alerts. Instead, the little icon just posts the most recent count received that I hadn't looked at number. I have the text alerts turned on but I don't get that many. I need to go in and turn off the Facebook alerts. My BIL spends all day posting nonsense on it and his post and pics vibrate me several times an hour. I wish he would get better and go back to work! Typically I let email go to 30-50 before I scan through them. Then if I see something I need to respond to I whip out the phone and take care of it. As the emails are reviewed on the phone, the little number is updated. If all emails are downloaded the watch resets automatically. Each of these notification styles is set in the one basic system app on the watch in a hidden menu.

Resetting the phone is usually a pairing issue that some experience. I had the same issue as you with my old Thunderbolt. The New Samsung S5 never needs to be re-paired/reset. Fascinating what a different phone made. Basically, with the Samsung, everything I use works perfectly.


Sorry, you got frustrated with it. I'm really enjoying the idea of having the alerts on my wrist, especially when driving.