sony smartwatch 3 - my first real SW

[gorcorps]

Sam's Club had these on sale for $99 and thought that was inexpensive enough to give Android Wear a fair shake. I've had the Garmin Vivosmart since November or so, and while I liked the battery life and minimal size I was turned off by needing to use Garmin's software (which is a battery hog and had connection issues) as well as a failing screen on the device itself.

I just spent last night messing with it, and finding a watch face I like enough, and have only been wearing it this morning... so this is a VERY initial first opinion.

The device itself:

PRO
+ Good included watchband. I didn't think I'd like the rubber, but it's not bad and the clasp is a good design. Several watches I've tried in the store have worse stock bands.

+ Micro-usb charging, so no proprietary dock and can charge anywhere with any cable you currently have.

+ Seems responsive during navigation, what I'd expect but I don't have much to compare it to.

+ It has NFC included, which right now isn't used for much but I'm HOPING future updates could include Android Pay from the watch

+ GPS on the watch, which is good for runners (which I'm not). I will be using it with golf apps though, so I'll have yardage markers from my watch.

CONS
- It's bulky, in good part due to the flat back which just doesn't lend itself well to a curved wrist. This could just feel bulky because the Vivoactive is what I was used to, or because the SW3 has one of if not THE biggest batteries

- It's a square screen, which isn't what I'd want if I was spending more but I'm actually coming around to it. It looks less 'watch like' because of it, but a square screen actually seems like a better form factor for viewing text.

- Screen quality doesn't seem great, being a cheaper LCD. The blacks aren't very dark, and nothing is vibrant.

OVERALL
+ worth $100, glad I got it

 

[Oyeve]

Is that the watch that pops in the band?

 

[gorcorps]

Is that the watch that pops in the band?

There's several of them that do that, but yes this is one of them.

 

[Oyeve]

Cool, I thought about getting that. My Alcatel One watch is uncomfortable and my Asus Zen is too heavy (metal band). Hows the sony feel on the wrist?

 

[gorcorps]

Cool, I thought about getting that. My Alcatel One watch is uncomfortable and my Asus Zen is too heavy (metal band). Hows the sony feel on the wrist?

It's a little thick, but I haven't worn a full sized watch in years so getting used to anything will take some time. The included band is rubber, which is quite wide and felt hot at first but throughout the day I'm getting used to it. The clasp on the band is good though, and being rubber the watch as a whole doesn't feel too heavy. I do plan on getting a different band for it down the road, but I'm not in a huge hurry right now since this one is good enough.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Congrats on the new watch! I would take one of those over my G Watch any day, they look really slick.

Exciting to hear your eventually experiences with Wear OS once you get more time with it.

 

[basslover1]

Good price. I bought one used like 8 months ago for a bit more than that, and I really had no complaints about it. Of course I "upgraded" to a 360 Sport because they're on sale for a more reasonable price.

As for the screen being washed out, that's because of the transflective display. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to see it outdoors.

 

[gorcorps]

Alright, so I've spent all day trying to figure out what the best method of displaying the watch face is (active screen vs. passive, etc)

I landed on disabling the tilt sensor for the active screen. There was a noticeable delay when I brought my wrist up to when the screen activated, so right now I think I'll keep the passive screen on at all times until I tap the screen. That should keep the battery life up too, as most of the time I can see the time on the passive screen.

Android Wear is a little clunky to navigate, but I'm starting to get used to it. I've been replying to texts via voice on the watch and it's working pretty well. I also like having music controls on the watch, so when I'm listening to something at work and I'm charging the phone I can leave it alone. I'm looking forward to taking it golfing and see how accurate the gps is.

So far I can say the battery life is pretty solid. I've been messing with it all day and it's lasted without issue. Once I get used to it and aren't playing with it all the time I could see it lasting two days (I'll most likely turn it off at night).

 

[basslover1]

Alright, so I've spent all day trying to figure out what the best method of displaying the watch face is (active screen vs. passive, etc)

I landed on disabling the tilt sensor for the active screen. There was a noticeable delay when I brought my wrist up to when the screen activated, so right now I think I'll keep the passive screen on at all times until I tap the screen. That should keep the battery life up too, as most of the time I can see the time on the passive screen.

Android Wear is a little clunky to navigate, but I'm starting to get used to it. I've been replying to texts via voice on the watch and it's working pretty well. I also like having music controls on the watch, so when I'm listening to something at work and I'm charging the phone I can leave it alone. I'm looking forward to taking it golfing and see how accurate the gps is.

So far I can say the battery life is pretty solid. I've been messing with it all day and it's lasted without issue. Once I get used to it and aren't playing with it all the time I could see it lasting two days (I'll most likely turn it off at night).

Yeah I definitely recommend leaving the tilt to wake turned off. Honestly all that does is keep the screen from waking when you lift your wrist, like when checking the time. With the transflective screen on the SW3 you don't need it to wake anyway to see it. Plus even with that off, when you get a notification and lift your wrist the screen turns on anyway.

 

[gorcorps]

Battery update: depending on use, two full days is definitely doable IF you don't have wifi enabled when not needed, and you fully power down overnight. Compared to other smart watches that's pretty good.

One annoyance I've found: the OK Google trigger only works if the screen is active. So you have to tap the watch to wake it up before you do any voice commands. Not the end of the world but I was hoping that it would here me with the screen off too.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I've had my gen 2 moto 360 46mm silver/cognac leather watch for two months now making it my 3rd smartwatch and I absolutely love it. I started with the Samsung gear live but it wouldn't charge right and the cradle was horrible so it went back. Then I tried a refurb gen 1 moto 360 and it had issues with charging and rapid draining so it also went back. I was stoked when I was able to get my current watch and I can't wait for wear 2.0 to appear soon to add even more functionality. I look forward to future devices

 

[gorcorps]

Battery life on the watch today has been abysmal, and I don't think it'll get through the day even though I charged it last night. Previously I saw 2 1/2 days out of it, and nothing has changed.

Battery life on my phone itself has been pretty bad since running Android wear too. Android OS and Android System are now far and away the biggest battery hogs when it normally it's the screen, meaning the Bluetooth connection to the watch is keeping the system awake more often than it normally is.

So far the initial enjoyment has worn off and the issues are beginning to show themselves. The watch is not useful enough to warrant the battery drain on the phone, and the battery life on the watch itself has been wildly inconsistent. I thought I could charge the watch every other day, but now it's going to have to be charged nightly.

Android wear 2.0 better change some things as right now I wouldn't recommend it at any price point. I still haven't tried the golf tracker using the GPS, but I can't imagine that'll be useful enough to warrant the battery drain I see on both devices. I'm honestly considering taking it back to Sam's Club as I don't know if the battery issues are a fluke, or something fairly common.

 

[RockinZ28]

Had a Sony SW2. Was working in a light drizzle, got water under the display or something. Threw it in the trash as it was still jacked up after drying out. Did like some of the capabilities and have been wanting a newer SW, but nothing grabs my attention.

I'm hoping the next gen products will meet my wants, although prices seem to be crazy high already.

 

[basslover1]

There's a GPS bug with the sw3 where it won't shut off no matter what, that may be your problem. Try rebooting the watch and see if it fixes that.

As for the phone, that's my biggest gripe about Android wear as well. With a watch connected the phone won't sleep and just kills battery life. Lately I've just been wearing the watch as a watch and I'll turn Bluetooth on if I'm in a situation where I won't be able to look at my phone for a while.

 

[gorcorps]

There's a GPS bug with the sw3 where it won't shut off no matter what, that may be your problem. Try rebooting the watch and see if it fixes that.

As for the phone, that's my biggest gripe about Android wear as well. With a watch connected the phone won't sleep and just kills battery life. Lately I've just been wearing the watch as a watch and I'll turn Bluetooth on if I'm in a situation where I won't be able to look at my phone for a while.

Yeah that's what I ended up doing with the Garmin, but hoped android wear would be more efficient.

I did restart the watch in the afternoon but it didn't seem to help. I ended the day at 23% when the first day I used it I was over 60% at the end of the day. We'll see what happens today...

 

[gorcorps]

Battery life is better today. The only thing I did different is I powered down the watch before I plugged it in to charge last night.

 

[holden j caufield]

is there an xda rom for this thing? Does it have double tap to wake the watch? $99 seems reasonable to me.

 

[basslover1]

is there an xda rom for this thing? Does it have double tap to wake the watch? $99 seems reasonable to me.

The screen wakes when you touch it or if you have the lift to wake setting on

 

[gorcorps]

is there an xda rom for this thing? Does it have double tap to wake the watch? $99 seems reasonable to me.

I don't know about a rom, but it does have a custom kernel that helps some battery issues. I might try it if I have any other problems.

You touch the screen to wake it up. If you want you can set it to turn the screen on when you lift your wrist to look at it, though I turned that off and just touch the screen when I want it. Works pretty well for me that way.

 

[gorcorps]

Alright, so my experience with this smartwatch (and android wear in general) has ended for the time being. I got a new vivosmart HR+ from garmin in response to a warranty request from my vivosmart that had dead pixels. For me, the activity bands are a much better wearable for me than the full blown smart watches.

After the initial fun of changing watch faces died off, I landed on one I liked best. Once I found my favorite, I didn't feel the need to change it. By far the biggest negative is the incredible battery life hit I saw on both my phone and the watch itself while connected. It was so bad that I ended up keeping bluetooth off most of the time because my phone needs to get through the day. When you keep bluetooth off, you no longer have much of a smart watch so it quickly became a "why am I using this thing" when wearing it. I had to charge the watch every other day at least, so it just became one more device I had to keep tabs on the battery life. The fitness bands in comparison last several days at least, or possibly even a week depending on use and the band.

Basically in the end I found I have zero use for a smartwatch. It never felt that useful, and the hit to battery life on my phone was not worth keeping it connected. Android wear still seems inefficient and IMO needs some work to warrant using. Maybe others will find some use for it, but it'll be a while before I bother with a full blown Android wear device again.