Develop Bugs

Sony Smartwatch Review. (Pro's - Con's)

First Impression
Apps
Hardware (Use)
Other post reviews in this tread
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(Mine is black)
The day I got my Sony LiveView, I had one problem: The screen wasn't working.
But this was only 2 months ago, so I got a discount coupon from the store and bought the SmartWatch as it just arrived in store.
1. FIRST IMPRESSION
As usual, the design caught my eye, it looked even nicer then the pictures google image gave me.
As every geeky person would do is to try turning it on but that didn't quite happen as I thought it would, you had to charge it 2 hours before you can start playing it. That of course you had to find out yourself as the paper guide told you nothing about waiting.
Charging it is taking the device of the wristband, opening the clip and placing the L shaped cable between the clip and... god this is hard to explain.
It's like clipping it to your belt, but the belt is the cable. There!
2. APPS
Anyways, Once I installed the necessarily software to connect the phone, the first thing you notice is that you get a menu with all Sony apps designed for the SmartWatch. Quite handy as you don't need to start searching for them on the app store. It even has a predefined shortcut to search for apps with "SmartWatch" so you don't have to start typing it (Yey for the 2.3Seconds win!)
Installing an app is as easy as agreeing with the terms and downloading it. Once installed, the app is active on your mobile AND watch.
You can select any installed app such as Twitter or Facebook, even Find Phone tool (VERY handy for girls and there maze purses between tampax and rocks...) with various settings. Some apps can be defined as gadget on your home screen.
Some apps are being created by cool nerds to enhance the flexibility of your watch. One of my favorite is the VFinder, an app who can take pictures with your phone camera, you see the camera on your watch with around 1-2FPS. (Yes you that lives next door a pretty girl, no more peaking, use your phone and watch!) Or the GPS tool, see how fast your driving, how high your climbing and where the hell on this planet your standing.
Maybe a Maps app? There are two who are being worked on, but you can test it already. They both are really bad for now, the one using google maps is the worst. But it's still in early stage... right?
3. HARDWARE
Now, to how handy this tool really is...
First of all, it reacts as it should with your finger(s), but then again, some buttons are to small.
When you double tab the watch, you have a 70% chance it will turn on.
You are also able to shake the device to wake it, but only a 10-20% chance, and not just a little shake, more like shacking a cocktail!
As alternative, you have a ON button on the side.
So, when you manage to turn on the watch, you get the digital clock, with the day (Mo, Tu,We,Th,Fr,Sa,Su) and the day of the month. You don't get to see the month and year.
Once you tab on it, you get the homescreen. On the homescreen you got the gadgets. Wiping your finger on the screen to the left and right, you get to slide between gadgets. I got mine defined on Twitter, Facebook and Events (missed calls, SMS, MMS, etc). The Gadgets are fullscreen buttons, clicking on them will give you more info. When reading your incoming SMS, you can slide up and down to read the whole thing.
Using two fingers and tabbing them both together on the screen makes you go back, I would have preferred a double tab, as sometimes you just can't tab with 2 fingers when smoking a sigaret (Or something else.)
Once back on the homescreen, you can slide down to get the menu. On the menu you find your installed apps. Sliding left and right again you get to find more of your apps.
I happen to have noticed, some apps freeze the watch (Or phone, still sorting it out) till you reboot the watch or force close the app on your phone. Restarting the app will make it work again.
Quite disappointing tbh.
Now about the device main app. It's missing some things we could all use...
For instance, I'd love to change the Screen Timeout time to 10 seconds, as for now it turns off to fast.
Having a function to turn off or dim vibrate would be amazing so i don't have to take off my watch when sleeping.
Changing the screen brightness would be handy for certain things.
Having an option to add a background, change UI colors and styles would be amazing to have, as it's your special watch, you want it to be yours only.
PROS & CONS
Pro's
Design
Multi-touch screen
Size
Respounds Time
Very cool apps
Con's
Can't see screen well in sun
Music Player volume buttons to small to touch on screen
Menu should be fullscreen menu buttons like Live View (It's to small to work with when driving/biking)
Some apps could use more options
Sometimes screen doesn't show image, but still reacts to touching
Should have WAY more settings. (eg. Screen Timeout, Customizations, Vibration strenght, Brightness, etc)
Shaking it to wake up works 1 out of 10 times only
4. Other post reviews in this tread:
matej1990 said:
First-time-use-charging is pain in the ass. I connected it to the charging cable, but wasn't sure if it's charging or not... no LED light, no response from watch... nothing. In begining I thought I recevied defective one, that is not charging. Also using custom (too) short USB cable instead of micro USB cable is simply dumb. I think charging is the main failure of this watch.
Watch battery indicator is also not use accurate. It was showing about 50%, but next hour it shut itself down.
Apps are not to good, but they are getting better and better. Unfortunately Facebook and Twitter apps are realy bad. Almost just plain text with no forming. Mail notifications are currently bad.
Weather app is very good, but it needs option for current location not just predefined location.
Find phone, Messaging, Missed call, ModeChanger, TicTacToe, StatusView, Counter, GPS Viewer, GPS Map, Slideshow and Battery Level apps are useful and good working!
Music player needs bigger buttons!
I would prefer bigger screen, but i got big hands, so this is not for everybody. Also pixel densiti and screen brightnes is too low.
Also it would be cool it it would have mic and speaker, so I could answer phone calls from the watch.
And one more tip: the easiest way to check your watch is double tap on the alu ring/band. It apparently uses accelerometer to wake up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will update this post once in a while, but not very much.
Thanks for reading. I respect each one of you, so please respect my thread.
PVTD
Oh and You might have noticed my bad wordplay, I ain't native English speaking.

Really nice review i have ordered mine from expansys.in waiting for it !.And thanks for the review

First-time-use-charging is pain in the ass. I connected it to the charging cable, but wasn't sure if it's charging or not... no LED light, no response from watch... nothing. In begining I thought I recevied defective one, that is not charging. Also using custom (too) short USB cable instead of micro USB cable is simply dumb. I think charging is the main failure of this watch.
Watch battery indicator is also not use accurate. It was showing about 50%, but next hour it shut itself down.
Apps are not to good, but they are getting better and better. Unfortunately Facebook and Twitter apps are realy bad. Almost just plain text with no forming. Mail notifications are currently bad.
Weather app is very good, but it needs option for current location not just predefined location.
Find phone, Messaging, Missed call, ModeChanger, TicTacToe, StatusView, Counter, GPS Viewer, GPS Map, Slideshow and Battery Level apps are useful and good working!
Music player needs bigger buttons!
I would prefer bigger screen, but i got big hands, so this is not for everybody. Also pixel densiti and screen brightnes is too low.
Also it would be cool it it would have mic and speaker, so I could answer phone calls from the watch.
And one more tip: the easiest way to check your watch is double tap on the alu ring/band. It apparently uses accelerometer to wake up.

matej1990 said:
First-time-use-charging is pain in the ass. I connected it to the charging cable, but wasn't sure if it's charging or not... no LED light, no response from watch... nothing. In begining I thought I recevied defective one, that is not charging. Also using custom (too) short USB cable instead of micro USB cable is simply dumb. I think charging is the main failure of this watch.
Watch battery indicator is also not use accurate. It was showing about 50%, but next hour it shut itself down.
Apps are not to good, but they are getting better and better. Unfortunately Facebook and Twitter apps are realy bad. Almost just plain text with no forming. Mail notifications are currently bad.
Weather app is very good, but it needs option for current location not just predefined location.
Find phone, Messaging, Missed call, ModeChanger, TicTacToe, StatusView, Counter, GPS Viewer, GPS Map, Slideshow and Battery Level apps are useful and good working!
Music player needs bigger buttons!
I would prefer bigger screen, but i got big hands, so this is not for everybody. Also pixel densiti and screen brightnes is too low.
Also it would be cool it it would have mic and speaker, so I could answer phone calls from the watch.
And one more tip: the easiest way to check your watch is double tap on the alu ring/band. It apparently uses accelerometer to wake up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had that very same impression at first. I will quote this in my review, as the same thing happened to me. The battery was showing 50% if not more and suddenly, I could not revive the thing. I used it for 1 day and a half and it died already :/
Abou the dubble tabbing, you would need a hammer, as I had to almost hit it
LED and Micro-USB would have been handy. Now I have to order a new cable in case the watch dies while driving/working... Worst case scenario, lose the cable...

PVTD said:
Abou the dubble tabbing, you would need a hammer, as I had to almost hit it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, no hammer in use!
You just have to get used to it. It works surprisingly good!

One downside is also that it actually is no watch, it's a clip. It is unnecessary bulky because of the clip. 12,5 mm instead of 8,5 mm. So I can easily imagine a scenario where i break the clip by getting cought somewhere since it does not lock in closed position. This would cause the "watch" to be unuseable since you can't charge it properly nor wear it as a watch anymore.
It also not a real watch because it does not show the time without interaction.
I want my MBW-150 back
Nevertheless it has some awesome apps like the camera tool and GPS map "Google Maps for Smartwatch" finally works like a charm.

the sony smartwatch is Waterproof ?, You can splash in the water or surmeger?

It's just dust and splash proof. So... it's not waterproof. No submerging!

Just a little heads up.
Mine stopped working yesterday. It stopped reacting till I placed it back in it's charger.
So, what I now get is a fully charged SmartWatch MN2, who only works when you place it in it's charging cable.
Once every (around) 30 seconds it reboots on it self, then searches for your phone.
Your phone says it's still connected, so the SmartWatch keeps searching till you reset your phone's Bluetooth device list.
Once reconnected, you need to be lucky to be able to use it at least 15 more seconds before it reboots and searches infinitely again.

PVTD said:
Just a little heads up.
Mine stopped working yesterday. It stopped reacting till I placed it back in it's charger.
So, what I now get is a fully charged LiveView MN2, who only works when you place it in it's charging cable.
Once every (around) 30 seconds it reboots on it self, then searches for your phone.
Your phone says it's still connected, so the LiveView keeps searching till you reset your phone's Bluetooth device list.
Once reconnected, you need to be lucky to be able to use it at least 15 more seconds before it reboots and searches infinitely again.
MOD EDIT: Inappropriate language deleted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about the sony live view or the sony smart watch?
because the live view is known to have all such probs! and in this thread we are talking about the smart watch ok

rn9215 said:
Are you talking about the sony live view or the sony smart watch?
because the live view is known to have all such probs! and in this thread we are talking about the smart watch ok
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ment SmartWatch sorry. I read a LiveView topic before and confused myself.
The SmartWatch is what i ment :S

PVTD said:
Just a little heads up.
Mine stopped working yesterday. It stopped reacting till I placed it back in it's charger.
So, what I now get is a fully charged SmartWatch MN2, who only works when you place it in it's charging cable.
Once every (around) 30 seconds it reboots on it self, then searches for your phone.
Your phone says it's still connected, so the SmartWatch keeps searching till you reset your phone's Bluetooth device list.
Once reconnected, you need to be lucky to be able to use it at least 15 more seconds before it reboots and searches infinitely again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is EXACTLY what has now happened to mine! Got to send it to a Sony Repair place now.

It's a little frustrating
I like my Smartwatch so far. I've had it a couple weeks. Music control works great with DoubleTwist & the FindMyPhone app is great (if you're in bluetooth range). The Endomondo app is nice too as I keep my phone strapped to my arm while running.
My main complaint is the actual app buttons. 9 times out of 10, when I tap the icon to launch the app, it thinks I'm swiping and goes back to another screen. So frustrating. Better firmware with slightly larger buttons or something better come quick. I almost chucked the thing across the room. Luckily, the strap was too tight & I had calmed down by the time it came off.

Ok i am so confused .. I wanna ask what is main difference between Liveview and LiveView2(Sony Smartwatch)
I am planing to buy one so which one should i go for and why .. !!!??

o0k00l said:
Ok i am so confused .. I wanna ask what is main difference between Liveview and LiveView2(Sony Smartwatch)
I am planing to buy one so which one should i go for and why .. !!!??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Liveview was Sony's first smartwatch I would say version 1. I have that also no where near as good as the new Sony smartwatch.

Wow ... very smarter !!
Thanks

hi
I've just orderd a Sony smart view 2 but its sold as a smart watch can anybody tell me the difference please many thanks

Nice
I want to buy one

Scratch Guard
Does this watch requires scratch guard ???

drjamit said:
Does this watch requires scratch guard ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that it does not scratch !

Use cases with the Moto 360

Let's discuss how we use this watch so that we can share ideas with each other to further increase our experiences with it.
1) obviously notifications. I really like the fact that I don't have to pull out my phone to check every notification. I look at them on my watch and I can dismiss the ones that aren't important or choose to take out my phone if it is a notification that needs immediate attention.
2) I play Ingress, so getting portal attack notifications or comm message notifications are really handy. I can then decide if I want to pull out my phone to recharge the portals or simply dismiss the notifications.
3) speech to text is awesome. When people text me, I can reply by voice which it sends through my hangouts. One thing I noticed is that when I say 'OK Google', I don't have to wait for the prompt to show up to issue my command. I simply say all at once, "OK Google send text to (name) mobile." The animation catches up, then waits for my message which then I say what my message is.
Especially handy when I'm driving since I can still read the watch while I have my hands on the steering wheel at the 10 & 2 positions to make sure it got what I said.
I get many different hangouts notifications from different recipients so it's nice that I can pick which message I want to on my watch, then respond to them by voice all from my watch.
4) navigation is really helpful. I can now start Google maps navigation and get turn by turn alerts on my watch while running Ingress on my phone so I can still collect XM while driving and not miss out on navigation instructions.
The notification vibrates on my watch and lights up with the instruction, and even though I'm in the Ingress app, I still get the voice prompts from my phone which tells me to "stay on the second lane from the right" which the watch doesn't show. It only shows me that I need to make a right turn at such and such street. Really handy.
5) I'm very forgetful so before i got the watch, I set reminders with time and dates on my phone. But now, I can simply say "OK Google set a reminder for tomorrow at 12:00 pm to wish mom a happy birthday" all from my watch.
6) I installed the Pebble Locker app which allows me to make my watch a trusted Bluetooth device so I can bypass my lock screen code. And when my phone gets too far away from me (if someone were to steal it), the Bluetooth connection gets disconnected and locks my phone automatically.
These are just a few of my use cases where it's been incredibly helpful to not constantly pull out my phone from my pocket.
What are yours?
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

I can control my Chromecast from the watch. I'm watching a movie through Google play and I have playback controls.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

Mine controls the lights, garage door, nest, alarm, and fireplaces with voice commands. Besides moto360 and android wear, also needed autovoice, tasker, xposed framework, ifttt, homeseer, and zwave.

dolebomo said:
Mine controls the lights, garage door, nest, alarm, and fireplaces with voice commands. Besides moto360 and android wear, also needed autovoice, tasker, xposed framework, ifttt, homeseer, and zwave.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome. I wish I could do that.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

For that Pebble Locker app, can you shorten the distance the phone will lock?
I.e. the Moto 360 Bluetooth range is pretty far and I don't want the phone to be still in its unlocked state if I wonder 25 ft away from the phone.

lanwarrior said:
For that Pebble Locker app, can you shorten the distance the phone will lock?
I.e. the Moto 360 Bluetooth range is pretty far and I don't want the phone to be still in its unlocked state if I wonder 25 ft away from the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I don't see an option for that in the app.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

The_other_ray said:
4) navigation is really helpful. I can now start Google maps navigation and get turn by turn alerts on my watch while running Ingress on my phone so I can still collect XM while driving and not miss out on navigation instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I hate about navigation on the watch is that starting it will turn on the screen on my phone. If I need walking direction and the phone is on my pocket, this will burn a lot battery and the phone is prone to accidental touches.

lanwarrior said:
What I hate about navigation on the watch is that starting it will turn on the screen on my phone. If I need walking direction and the phone is on my pocket, this will burn a lot battery and the phone is prone to accidental touches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I noticed that also. So knowing that, I just turn my phone screen off before putting it in my pocket.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

The_other_ray said:
Yeah I noticed that also. So knowing that, I just turn my phone screen off before putting it in my pocket.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This creates extra steps for me:
1. Say "Ok, Google. Navigate to Starbucks"
2. Get phone out of my pocket
3. Wait till routing calculations is done
4. Turn off screen
5. Put phone back in pocket
Kinda defeat the hands free feature of Android Wear, isn't it? [emoji12]

lanwarrior said:
This creates extra steps for me:
1. Say "Ok, Google. Navigate to Starbucks"
2. Get phone out of my pocket
3. Wait till routing calculations is done
4. Turn off screen
5. Put phone back in pocket
Kinda defeat the hands free feature of Android Wear, isn't it? [emoji12]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I'm totally with you.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

The_other_ray said:
2) I play Ingress, so getting portal attack notifications or comm message notifications are really handy. I can then decide if I want to pull out my phone to recharge the portals or simply dismiss the notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also play Ingress and I have had attack notifications off since i got my Black Gaurdian long ago, but i turned them back on the day i got my 360 and i love seeing them pop up. I can hit "Open on Phone" and when i pull the phone out of my pocket Ingress is already loading/loaded so i can recharge and/or @ the attacker in Comm.

The_other_ray said:
5) I'm very forgetful so before i got the watch, I set reminders with time and dates on my phone. But now, I can simply say "OK Google set a reminder for tomorrow at 12:00 pm to wish mom a happy birthday" all from my watch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One thing that annoys me, and this is more of a google now problem, is the card that shows up for an hour before reminders. I wish there was a way where you can either keep it from showing up early at all, or at least make it 10 min or something. For most reminders, I don't need it to cover my watch face for an hour and if I swipe it away I don't even get reminded at the correct time. Has anyone else noticed this?

PsychDrummer said:
One thing that annoys me, and this is more of a google now problem, is the card that shows up for an hour before reminders. I wish there was a way where you can either keep it from showing up early at all, or at least make it 10 min or something. For most reminders, I don't need it to cover my watch face for an hour and if I swipe it away I don't even get reminded at the correct time. Has anyone else noticed this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I noticed that as well. That doesn't make any sense.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2

The_other_ray said:
Yup, I noticed that as well. That doesn't make any sense.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I rather use Any.do for reminders but I won't be able to set it as a default app. At least I don't think.

I got my Moto 360 yesterday and tried my primary use case this morning. Wife and I run marathons and like many (some? ) runners we obsess over our stats. We've been using Garmin 410s to record our runs. My problem with that is that the pace is reports while running is really noisy - not useful for helping me to maintain my goal pace. The other issue is that the HRM gets bad readings later in my rn, probably because I perspire heavily. I got a bluetooth chest strap and it works great on my phone. But the phone is a relative PITA to use on runs. I have to keep it in a zip lock bag in a pocket and pockets are few in running gear. It's great to have an accessory on my wrist that can give me instant stats w/out digging my phone out of wherever I stowed it. Better yet, a tap on the phone starts recording when I'm ready to run, not before I stick my phone in my pocket. And when I'm done, the phone uploads my stats automatically.
good stuff

Received mine today

The software seems a bit flaky. New SMS does not display message details......still investigating
I eventually managed to download music tracks to the device and they played okay over bluetooth headphones. Not tried the GPS yet
Any questions I will try and answer

tmn0004676 said:
The software seems a bit flaky. New SMS does not display message details......still investigating
I eventually managed to download music tracks to the device and they played okay over bluetooth headphones. Not tried the GPS yet
Any questions I will try and answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you run my tracks via the start on the phone (offline mode) that used watch GPS and let me know if the music stutters? It seems to happen when bluetooth and internal GPS are enabled...im on 2nd device and same issue
download my tracks to phone, then go to apps on watch and run that app, then start music via watch memory

gs05 said:
Can you run my tracks via the start on the phone (offline mode) that used watch GPS and let me know if the music stutters? It seems to happen when bluetooth and internal GPS are enabled...im on 2nd device and same issue
download my tracks to phone, then go to apps on watch and run that app, then start music via watch memory
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please could you provide more detailed instructions
thanks

tmn0004676 said:
please could you provide more detailed instructions
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure...
Download My tracks (google) from play store. Get google music (if not already) and download some songs to your watch...do this by downloading to your phone first (offline) and then selecting in music options to download to android wear. Let a few songs load over.
Go outside. Go to the watch (make sure far from phone and disconnected). Start tracks with the start menu. Then do start on that
Now do play music from the same menu as start.
Go for a jog

OP's can help us all (please; this is a suggestion not a criticism) by listing what they are pairing with :good:
Sent from my D6653 using Tapatalk

I've had mine since Friday. Have you found any way use the running apps without the phone and use the watch gps? I bought this to replace my motoactiv but stava and runtastic won't allow me to start a run without being connected to the phone.

oddoreven said:
I've had mine since Friday. Have you found any way use the running apps without the phone and use the watch gps? I bought this to replace my motoactiv but stava and runtastic won't allow me to start a run without being connected to the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same problem.. Nothing uses the watch GPS that I have found. Also is your screen yellow when it should be white. Mine is terrible.

runningwarrior08 said:
I have the same problem.. Nothing uses the watch GPS that I have found. Also is your screen yellow when it should be white. Mine is terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download google tracks to your phone.
It will work in offline mode and give you distance and time via the watch GPS. Start it via the start menu and select tracks. The running apps are still through the phone currently.

gs05 said:
Download google tracks to your phone.
It will work in offline mode and give you distance and time via the watch GPS. Start it via the start menu and select tracks. The running apps are still through the phone currently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It didn't work for me yesterday when I tried during my run. Started it from the watch when I was not with my phone and the distance just stayed at 0

runningwarrior08 said:
It didn't work for me yesterday when I tried during my run. Started it from the watch when I was not with my phone and the distance just stayed at 0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give it a minute and you should see a little location google stake on the top left. It worked for me and i could see my entire mapped run via tracks afterwards. Make you start it, give it a minute and then try. It took mine about .15 of a mile to kick in

You can also go into GPS test under Settings- Developer options - manufacturer - GPS and press start to check time to first fix.

runningwarrior08 said:
I have the same problem.. Nothing uses the watch GPS that I have found. Also is your screen yellow when it should be white. Mine is terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got mine today. The screen definitly has a yellow tint to it. Can othere people please test this?
Did you replace it?

bookat said:
I just got mine today. The screen definitly has a yellow tint to it. Can othere people please test this?
Did you replace it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think this is a defect. It is the trade-off for the tft tech making it fully daylight readable. Mine also has this. I'm torn on the trade-off, on the one hand, it is leagues better than even the moto 360 for reading in direct sunlight (it's almost like a mirasol display), but on the other, the 360's screen was very pretty. I'm leaning towards being "ok" with it, since I don't think I'm going to watch any movies on my wrist, but I will probably want to deal with notifications in unideal lighting, but it is definitely an adjustment.

I don't mind the yellow. Its actually not that bad and the screen is definitely visible in the daylight. I am really liking this watch alongside with my Microsoft Band.

legend921 said:
I don't mind the yellow. Its actually not that bad and the screen is definitely visible in the daylight. I am really liking this watch alongside with my Microsoft Band.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is the health tracking on the band? This watch has some great features, but none of the android wear watches do true health tracking very well yet, and even if it had a heart rate monitor, I've been unimpressed with the ones on the 360 and gear live, so I've been thinking about adding something purely for the health side of things.

Khidr said:
How is the health tracking on the band? This watch has some great features, but none of the android wear watches do true health tracking very well yet, and even if it had a heart rate monitor, I've been unimpressed with the ones on the 360 and gear live, so I've been thinking about adding something purely for the health side of things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The band is great. Its not big and it definitely doe fitness better than the Android Wear. The 24/7 heart rate tracker gives you a better count on how many calories burned, and the only feature that you lose when not using the Windows Phone is Cortana. When I was using it on the 5K run that I had participated with the GPS on, the band was able to tell me where I was running fast and where I had slowed down and so fourth and it was very accurate along side the path that I was running on. The 5K reported that the run was 3.2 miles which was pretty dead on to the 5K. The pedometer is more accurate too compared to the android wear since mine will count steps even if I am pushing a shopping cart so all in all I really like the band for fitness with smartwatch duties as secondary. I can read everything just fine from the notifications when not using the Smartwatch 3, but at least now I can let the band do all my fitness stuff when I go on the run and have the Sony Smartwatch stream my music for me to run with. That way I don't have to carry the phone.

Thanks for confirming this. I guess there is no perfect solution out there for smart watches yet. The screen does bother me some times specially because i had the moto 360 and returned it. but that watch had its own set of problems.
guess i will be keeping this.

From the patent at http://www.google.com/patents/US8208104
It states "a change in chromaticity caused by wavelength dispersion due to the λ/4 plate."
---------- Post added at 08:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:13 PM ----------
As for on device tracking I hope that Sony and others will include support for just released google fit api on device.

My screen shows whites correctly. I don't see the yellowish problem here.

My screen is unimpressive (pale, low contrast) but OK. A colour tinge is normal for a transflective display, and it depends on the colour of the light you shine on it...the nice thing is that I can read it without the backlight in most situations.
What bothers me is, that some things that work on Google Now on my phone don't work via Wear Voice input. Setting alarms for example. It works fine on my phone, but not on my SW3. Why? On the Watch it always understands, but then just throws up a web search card...
Also, the "wrist flick" to activate the display is a bit weird. It works about 1 time out of ten, but if I just move my arm around randomly, then I often trigger the backlight. That's also a bit weird. I'm trying to get used to it. With my Pebble, I mostly just glanced at the watch without moving it in front of my eyes. That worked fine. I had actually turned off the auto-backlight on Pebble and would probably do the same on the SW3 if I could.
The most annoying thing is the weak vibration of the SW3. With my Pebble, I feel (and hear) the vibrating alert, with the SW3 I miss it frequently even when I'm not moving around. That's unacceptable and might be the main reason for sending it back. I haven't decided yet.
Is there a way to increase the vibration intensity and length? That would be cool.
And one last thing, not directly related to the SW3...On my Pebble I get notifications for every email in my Gmail account, apart from SPAM. With Android Wear, I think not all labels are signalled. How do I change that? I tried to set it up in Gmail, but I think I still don't get all emails announced on the SW...

Marshmellow update problems

So I was hesitant to proceed with the update since my 360 has been working so well and the battery life increased tremendously when I got my Note 5.
After a few days of the update pestering me I decided to go for it.
Now there are 2 things that are very annoying.
The first, whenever the screen comes on, there is a slight delay in the watch face.
It lights up with a black face and the hands are white, then it switches to whatever face I have and respected dials.
I'm not using facer or anything, just the stock moto Dials 2. This is very annoying and makes the watch seem slow.
The second thing is that the watchface doesnt turn on when I receive texts anymore.
The vibrate function still works, but the screen won't light up.
Is there a setting that changed making this the default? I would prefer the screen turn on when I receive texts.
Thanks

Make sure 'card previews' turned on from the android wear app, other wise your experience with the faces sounds buggy! A factory reset would help on that.

Factory reset doesnt work, this also happens to me since the update, looks like this is a firmware problem.

Damnit, I wish I didn't update.
Battery is also noticeably worse.

airjordan223 said:
So I was hesitant to proceed with the update since my 360 has been working so well and the battery life increased tremendously when I got my Note 5.
After a few days of the update pestering me I decided to go for it.
Now there are 2 things that are very annoying.
The first, whenever the screen comes on, there is a slight delay in the watch face.
It lights up with a black face and the hands are white, then it switches to whatever face I have and respected dials.
I'm not using facer or anything, just the stock moto Dials 2. This is very annoying and makes the watch seem slow.
The second thing is that the watchface doesnt turn on when I receive texts anymore.
The vibrate function still works, but the screen won't light up.
Is there a setting that changed making this the default? I would prefer the screen turn on when I receive texts.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same exact two issues here and I'm shocked I haven't seen more people complain about them. The first one is a nuisance but the second one completely devalues the purpose of the watch making it useless. Not seeing the text/email/etc... and only having a vibration on your wrist is pointless. I could keep my phone on vibrate in my pocket if I wanted to be notified of a new text/email without seeing the actual message. Please post a fix if one is found!

antknee2016 said:
Same exact two issues here and I'm shocked I haven't seen more people complain about them. The first one is a nuisance but the second one completely devalues the purpose of the watch making it useless. Not seeing the text/email/etc... and only having a vibration on your wrist is pointless. I could keep my phone on vibrate in my pocket if I wanted to be notified of a new text/email without seeing the actual message. Please post a fix if one is found!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you found a way to fix it?
Enviado desde mi SM-N920I mediante Tapatalk

The first issue is because the watch now comes on in ambient mode first. Even if you don't use ambient mode. It sucks. Luckily i use Watchmaker for my watch face so I went in and made all the parts (hands date etc...) to be visible in ambient mode.
I have noticed that if I wait a couple of seconds the notification does appear on my watch screen but it is after the vibrate, not immediate. I thought it wasn't showing up at first too. Still, I wish it was quicker as I look right away.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk

I went back to using Facer for my watchface and the delay is gone.
Also did they completely remove the restart option? Now it's just power off, and then press and hold the side button.

I'm experiencing both issues as you do on 6.0.1.
Also yes, reboot option is gone from update.

The renamed reset with "unpair from watch". Not gone, just to mess with us.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk

frenziedfemale said:
The renamed reset with "unpair from watch". Not gone, just to mess with us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reboot is not reset...

I've also noticed that theater mode does not work after the mm update (unrooted, ota). I usually set it to theater mode at night to avoid burn in and just because I don't want it on all night. Now, it looks like it's blacked out, but when I wake up, the charging screen is lit up. Anyone else getting this?

I have the exact same issue after the update. Theater mode will not keep the display off if the watch is being charged. Off the charger, it works as expected. Quite an annoying bug.

If I turn ON the theatre mod with double press the power button before I put the clock on the charging dock, after that screen continue charge with screen off.
For me it's work.
Can anyone try it?
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app

Just tried that - doesn't work for me. Screen turns off but once I put it on the charger, it comes back on after a few seconds. I'm watching it and it's still on a few minutes later.

Same here. Screen always turns back on

I'm getting the first bug the OP mentioned havn't noticed the second one though.
However the first bug is annoying enough, hopefully there'll be a quick patch.

Little patience, update to Marshmallow is great.
Here's what I mean with screen off when charge:
So in the morning until you take it out of the dock and go to work.
Sent from my D6503 using XDA Free mobile app

still on 5.0.1
man i just boughjt it 2 days ago and battery sucks,now i am trying to update cause i heard batter improved,but i cant ,watch start download but take too long and then show me a message charger to update blah blah but phone is charger is over 90 percent i have reset phone and uninstalled app many times this is ridiculous now i know why motorola was giving away this pos when yopu buy the 64gb moto x pure edition arrrrgggg

Srandista said:
Reboot is not reset...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I read wrong...but wouldn't you just use the power off option and then turn back on to reboot?

Is OK Google hot word detect hit or miss for anyone else?

I have to at least once every week retrain my voice so it recognizes OK Google in every scenario (screen off, screen on, inside Google now).
No one else uses my phone and no one around me uses okay Google hotword detection so I don't think it's getting confused.

I also find it seems to forget what I sound like after a while and becomes less effective at picking me up. It's super annoying.

Same here, it forgets my voice or something.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

When you train your voice try training with the phone close up, medium distance, and from far away. Since I did this the detection has been working perfectly for me.

PhontomF said:
When you train your voice try training with the phone close up, medium distance, and from far away. Since I did this the detection has been working perfectly for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesn't really explain why it would work and then suddenly not work.
I do varying distances, levels of background noise, the speed and inflection in my voice. Nothing sticks.
Okay google was night and day more consistent on my Note 7, one downside being I had to have it plugged in to recognize with the screen off.

Yeah not sure whats up with it losing this function after some time. Does it start working again after a reboot or you need to train it again to fix?

PhontomF said:
Yeah not sure whats up with it losing this function after some time. Does it start working again after a reboot or you need to train it again to fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reboot didn't seem to make a difference. Always end up doing a retrain