Review: Sony Smartwatch MN2

Now I test a lot of cool gadgets, but I found this gadget just a little bit extra cool. A watch with which you can operate your phone, about then, because it works slightly differently. Do you get that real Inspector Gadget feeling! And secretly quite hip too.

Appearance

The Smartwatch is a square device that works on Android, with a kind of matte chrome edge in which the power button is located on the right. The back is made of plastic (too bad!) And there is also a clip attached. You slide that clip around the strap, a perfectly fitting rubber case. This also means that you do not necessarily have to wear it as a watch, but that you can also clip it in other places if you find it more convenient. The front of the Smartwatch consists of a glass with a black rim (& agrave; la iPad). The screen is a 1.42 inch ultra sensitive OLED touchscreen.

You can buy the straps separately in colors other than black. And, also nice, there is a matte chrome holder for the clip, to which you can attach your own strap. This way you can personalize the Smartwatch even further, for example with a cool leather strap.

Operation

Except that the Smartwatch shows the time – not continuously, by the way, you have to tap it twice on the screen – it can show much more. To get that to work, you must first download the Smartwatch application from the Play Store and then pair your phone with the Smartwatch. How that works is really neatly described in the manual that comes with it. Compliments for that, because it is not even very simple. Once paired, you can install all kinds of mini apps on your Smartwatch and receive notifications from, for example, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, your calendar and much more. You can link it to Endomundo, an app similar to the Nike Runkeeper and to Google Maps (predetermine route on your phone and then track on your phone). You can even view your newly taken photos from your watch.

The Smartwatch is also compatible with many phones from other brands. So you don’t need to have a Sony phone.

Load

Before using the Smartwatch, you must first charge it for two hours. This is also the time he needs to fill up completely after empty weather. Charging is done via your computer, with a USB cable. I found it annoying that the connector is not a standard micro or mini USB cable. It has a kind of corner in it, so it fits exactly under the clip. This also ensures that if you lose this cable, you can’t charge it with anything else. I would have liked to see a more universal solution, although I understand that this is quite difficult from a design perspective with so few cubic millimeters to work with. The battery lasts about 4 days, I even got 5 squeezed out. I found it quite acceptable. I spend a lot of time behind a laptop, so as long as I have the cable with me, the thing will be charged again.

Useful?

The pairing with your phone works with Bluetooth 3.0. That means that your phone must be 10 meters away. This can be useful at home. I often put my phone just out of reach and out of sheer laziness I like to be able to see messages on my Smartwatch. It can also be semi-handy in the office. If you’re in a meeting but you’re not allowed to use your phone, it’s nice to sneak messages on your watch, and, in many cases practical too, you can reject calls with a message, very subtly, without disturbing the entire meeting . The disadvantage is that your colleagues will find out in no time that you have such a smart watch and then you will notice that you are piling with a watch.

Behalve dat ‘ie op bepaalde manieren best nuttig kan zijn, is het apparaat verder gewoon een kekke eyecatcher. Ik heb hem een paar keer nogal en plein publique gedragen en iedereen heeft er een mening over. De meest gestelde vraag: wat kost dat nou?

Conclusie

Wat dat nou kost? De adviesprijs was 110 euro, maar hij is voor minder te koop, al is het een schaars product heb ik gemerkt. Qua prijs is mijn mening niet echt steekhoudend, ik zie mensen hetzelfde bedrag neertellen voor een horloge van een hip merk, dus dan kan het voor zo’n staaltje techniek er ook wel af. Het horloge kan veel laten zien, er worden steeds meer apps voor gebouwd. Het nut vind ik desondanks vrij beperkt, aangezien je telefoon maar 10 meter bij je vandaan mag blijven vanwege de Bluetooth-verbinding. Dan kun je alles net zo goed direct op je telefoon bekijken. Maar ach, het is wel echt een hebbeding, ik hou van dit soort originele gadgets (jaja, ik weet dat er meer van dit soort zijn).

Pluspunten

• Handzaam (klein maar fijn)
• Goed te personaliseren
• Praktische user interface
• Compatible met andere merken
• Snel opgeladen
• Eyecatcher
• Price is not too bad
• Good manual

Negatives

• Back made of white plastic
• Charging cable not standard, so lost = bad luck
• Limited utility