This morning, Sony is announcing that their SmartBand has finally made it into the US. This is the SmartBand that they showed off alongside the Xperia Z1s at CES back in January. It’s basically a fitness tracker, which seems to be all the rage these days. It is water-proof, however we expect that from Sony since all their smartphones and tablets are IP67 water-proof already. It’s also compatible with just about any Android device, it just needs to be running Android 4.4 KitKat or higher, which is a huge plus for Sony here. Additionally, the LifeLog app – which is what you use as the companion app for the SmartBand – is available on Google Play right now for free.
Right now, Sony is only selling it in black, but they say that other colors will be available later this month from the Sony Store. The SmartBand is going for $99.99 right now and appears to only be available in the Sony Store for now. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see it pop up at Amazon, Best Buy and a few other places. For those interested, we have the full press release down below.
live smart with the sony smartband, now AVAILABLE in THE U.S.
WHAT: The Sony SmartBand SWR10 is available beginning today for purchase at Sony Stores and online at store.sony.com for $99.99.
SmartBand is designed to be worn all day, every day. It’s waterproof, comfortable and stylish, with a removable core unit inside an adjustable silicone wristband. The core’s accelerometer technology tracks your motion and sends the data to the Lifelog application in your Android smartphone.
Lifelog collects data from both the SmartBand and your smartphone to tell a broader story of what happens in your life – fitness, location, weather, photos, music, personal notes (life bookmarks) and more. Lifelog displays the information in a colorful, versatile interface that helps you reflect on what you did each day and set goals for the future. Lifelog displays your activity in a colorful, multi-faceted interface that lets you view your information in various ways.
In addition to tracking your walking, running and sleep motion activity, SmartBand also works as a useful, unobtrusive extension to your smartphone with functions that include smart alarm and vibration notifications for incoming calls and messages, calendar events and more. With the smart alarm feature, SmartBand can silently wake you up at the best time in your sleep cycle without waking up everyone else.
When listening to music on your smartphone, SmartBand can also be used to play, pause and skip tracks through a combination of pressing SmartBand’s power button and tapping the band.
You can also think of SmartBand as a wireless leash for your smartphone. Whenever you get to the limit of Bluetooth range between the devices, SmartBand will warn you with a distinct vibration pattern. You won’t have to run back to the restaurant in a panic because you left your smartphone there.
Setup is easy with one-touch NFC pairing, or you can use the standard Bluetooth pairing process.