Gadgetory

Android Authority what is going on my name is Kevin aka the tech ninja and today I'm reviewing the Sony SmartWatch 2 ready or not here comes the smartwatches it seems that people are not yet ready for smartwatches even in the technology sector well as we all know technology waits for no one the market is still trying to figure out what a SmartWatch should do some watches are just Notification centers some have cameras in some even have SIM cards and microphones to make and receive phone calls sony tossed their hat into this arena last year with the sony smartwatch one which was for all intensive purposes a prototype for the SmartWatch 2 the SmartWatch 1 was made out of plastic and had chintzy hinges and springs that could easily break the screen was a miserable 128 by 128 resolution and it made images and text grainy the software was convoluted and just overall a poor experience here is the SmartWatch 2 Sony's brand new revamped second try at a SmartWatch just in time to compete with the Galaxy gear and it's $100 cheaper - coming in at a reasonable $200 the SmartWatch 2 is a very sleek looking device it is 1.6 2 inches long 1.6 inches 4 for the width and 3.5 inches thick light as a feather but still feels extremely sturdy it also features a 1.6 LCD screen 176 by 220 pixels and it's all encased in aluminum and plastic construction which is also dust proof and water resistant the watch also includes a black wristband which is replaceable the watch band is made out of silicone and remains comfortable during long usage it is equipped with a live polymer battery it is rated for seven days of light use but in my experience I was able to get somewhat between three and four days on a single charge it also has a covered USB micro port for charging and data transfers the watch face can be easily seen in daylight situations although the reflection on this watch is extremely intense there has never been a where I had issues seeing the screen as a watch where I'm accustomed to large face watches the size of the Sony SmartWatch 2 is perfect for me big enough to easily see but yet not a distraction it honestly feels like a normal watch once it is on your wrist before you're ready to use your watch it first needs to be paired to your device if you have an NFC enabled device then this step is pretty simple simply tap the NFC chips together and it launches the Play Store then it takes you to install the smart connect software the smart connects software acts as a hub of some sorts for your Bluetooth devices more on this later if you do not have NFC enabled then you connect the old-fashioned way using your phones or tablets Bluetooth settings this watch is more of a Notification Center type of watch that allows you to install small applications like a stopwatch a picture viewer and other apps that are designed to run on this watch these applications are called smart extensions or smart extras and here's where some of the problems begin there are a lot of inconsistencies with the functionality of this device for example some of the watch applications allow for a long press to access the options just like a normal Android but other times you do a long press and nothing happens there's also a menu button on the face of the device but for majority of the applications this button is not even active and these are applications that are built by Sony out of the box the SmartWatch 2 supports notifications for the following applications Gmail SMS default music player Twitter thankfully there are dozens of applications that are built by third-party developers that fill in some of the gaps even with that I am still missing a true hangouts application there are applications that push through all notifications and you can filter out what you want to display which is an OK workaround but I feel missing some of Google's core applications is a huge problem and I'm not sure if that's something that can be swept aside general navigation on the watch is done with simple swipe gestures when you see the time on the face we can consider this the lock screen press on the large button on the side of the watch and swipe to the left or right to view the home screen the home screen stores all of your applications and a familiar grid view there is a notification bar that acts similar to Android but it's missing a clear all button after reading an email or responding to a notification on your mobile device or computer the watch still shows it as unread that will end up leaving you with dozens of unread notifications every time you look at your watch when a new notification comes up the watch lights up and there's a slight vibration that occurs after this vibration happens the application pops on for a few seconds and it shows notification from there if you do not interact with the watch it goes back to the time which is a dimly lit clock there are a few different ways to use the Smart Connect software the first usage is the application allows you to pair your SmartWatch to your phone secondly it manages all your Bluetooth peripherals that has been paired to your device and what I mean by manage is being able to set up profiles that launches tasks when you are connected for example when I plug in my headphones launch my music player I'm not sure why this is there since it's not as complete as other automation software's and it seems somewhat out of place and the last action is actually the most useful this is where you can actually manage your SmartWatch and applications on it from this location you can find applications that work with your watch even though it just launches the Play Store it filters out applications that are just made for the watch and are compatible once the application is installed on your device you're able to go in each specific watch applications and make adjustments and configurations that directly affect the watch for example you use the Smart Connect software to authenticate to Facebook Twitter and Gmail this prevents the user having to find a way to type on the device directly to log in the Gmail all in all I feel this watch hardware is top-notch the aluminum and plastic design is elegant sleek and the screen although may not have the highest resolution in the world is still viewable in all scenarios please understand that there will be an initial setup period to get the watch to behave in a matter that works best are you smartwatches are not a very popular item nor are they seen as a necessity the Sony SmartWatch 2 will not change that point of view for some people however we cannot forget that a SmartWatch is still new to the game still trying to figure out its niche in this ever-changing world some people aren't ready for smartwatches and I get that but smartwatches will never catch on unless they become easier to set up but all in all this Sony SmartWatch 2 might be the best SmartWatch we've seen today just a quick update Sony released an update to their software that should alleviate some of the issues I was having in the review they said that it should fix the scrolling issue between pages and also the choppiness of scrolling between the list of icons so we'll see how that works out any updates further we will post those on android authority comm thanks if you like what you see here go ahead and drop us a like below and make sure you're subscribed to our channel if you're not subscribed already so you can be up to date with all of our greatest videos reviews and giveaways I'm Kevin aka the tech ninja you can find me on youtube and on google+ here we are Android authority your source for all things Android peace