To face the tight competition of wearable device segment,
Sony releases the second generation of its flagship smartband: SmartBand 2.
Compared to its predecessor, the SmartBand 2 now looks slightly different and
can gather more information.
If seen from the design, the Sony SmartBand 2 still retains
the modular concept that's brought by its predecessor; the core part can be
removed and then attached to other strap with four different colors. The strap
now wears a hook mechanism just like the regular watch, so it looks more
elegant.
Sony SmartBand 2 is also waterproof and dust resistant with
IP68 certification. The battery is expected to last up to 2 days, and its
charging process only takes about 1 hour.
But the most striking update of SmartBand 2 is the presence
of heart rate sensor. So, in addition to monitoring the user's physical
activities, this smarband now will also monitor the heart rate constantly, plus
how stressful/cheerful the user is. Furthermore, there's also a sleep tracking
feature that will be activated automatically, and then wake the user with a
gentle vibration on the most optimal sleep phase.
The Notification feature is also given a special attention
in SmartBand 2, where it will vibrate and emit LED RGB lights every time you
get a phone call, text message or email into your smartphone. SmartBand 2 can
also be used to control the music player application, both in Android and iOS
devices.
There's a bonus for the users of Xperia smartphones or
tablets, SmartBand 2 will provide an alert whenever you are accidentally
leaving the device. Sony SmartBand 2 will be marketed starting in September
2015, to 60 countries for € 119.