Sony Doesn’t Join Android Wear Partners
This month, Google officially announced Android Wear, a platform dedicated to wearable devices such as smartwatches. Google also mentioned that it already has many partners that will develop hardware for Android Wear, partners such as: ASUS, Broadcom, HTC, Intel, LG, MediaTek, Imagination Technologies (MIPS), Motorola, Qualcomm and SAMSUNG, two of them, Motorola and LG already announcing Android Wear powered smartwatches. LG will be the first to release the LG G Watch (you can see a picture of it by following this link) by the end of the year’s second quarter while Motorola will release the Moto 360 smartwatch this Summer.
However, Sony will not be among the companies that will support Google’s Android Wear platform. Even though Sony does support the Android mobile Operating System, it won’t support the newly announced Android Wear platform. For those of you that don’t know, Sony was among the first companies to enter the smartwatch market, even before Pebble’s famous Kickstarter success (the company behind the Pebble smartwatch managed to raise $10.2 million through crowd funding). Sony’s smartwatch is named simply the Sony SmartWatch and it is able to connect to an Android smartphone and can display Twitter feeds, SMS, among other things. The Sony SmartWatch is compatible with most Android phones, unlike the Samsung Gear smartwatches that are only compatible with Samsung devices.
Sony announced that it would rather continue using MicroC/OS-II in its wearable devices as it already invested time and money in making it work with the current Sony SmartWatch 2. The MicroC/OS-II (which is an acronym for Micro-Controller Operating Systems Version 2) is a priority based pre emptive real time multitasking operating system kernel for microprocessors and it is powering the Sony SmartWtach 2. However, Sony did leave a door open to a possible transition to Android Wear in the future, especially since Sony’s smartwatch work in tandem with Android based smartphones.
Not long ago, in late September last year, Sony released the SmartWatch 2 after officially unveiling it at the IFA (Europe’s biggest tech show) event that was held in Berlin. However, despite the name, which includes the number two, the Sony SmartWatch 2 is actually the fourth generation of smartwatches from Sony, each generation refining not only the hardware, but also the software of the previous generation. This makes it easier to understand why Sony would rather stick to its own platform, after investing so much time and money in perfecting it.
The Sony SmartWatch 2 features an aluminum body and offers the choice between a silicone or metal wristband; you can also you your own custom 24mm wristband if you like. The Sony SmartWatch 2 is 36 mm x 36 mm and 8 mm thick and weighs 0.8. It also features a multi touch color OLED display capable of a resolution of 220 x 176 pixels. The Sony SmartWatch 2 connects to Android based smartphones using Bluetooth, and supports NFC for easy pairing. It is also worth mentioning that it is dust and water proof, being rated IP57. Even though the official webpage only mentions compatibility with the Xperia line of devices (Live with Walkman, Xperia active, Xperia arc, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro, Xperia neo, Xperia neo V, Xperia P, Xperia PLAY, Xperia pro, Xperia ray, Xperia S, Xperia sola, Xperia U, Xperia X10, Xperia X8, Xperia X10 mini pro, Xperia X10 mini, Xperia acro S, Xperia go, Xperia ion HSPA, Xperia ion LTE, Xperia J, Xperia miro, Xperia neo L, Xperia T, Xperia tipo dual, Xperia V, Xperia arc S, Xperia SP, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1, Xperia ZL, Xperia Z) the Sony SmartWatch 2 is actually compatible with most Android based smartphones.
As we mentioned, Sony did not rule out a possible collaboration with Google for the company’s upcoming generation of smartwatches, which will imply the transition to Android Wear. However, this would most likely depend on how Google’s recently announced platform for smartwatches evolves. We will see the first Android Wear smartwatches very soon, with the LG G Watch scheduled to be released by the end of this year’s second quarter and the Moto 360 scheduled for this Summer. Android Wear integrates a lot of Google services, including Google Now, into the smartwatches that use it and that makes it very interesting. We would like to know what you think about the recently unveiled Android Wear platform, so leave a comment in the dedicated section below.
