Sony Smartband SWR10

Sony Smartband SWR10 is wearable device that can make your life smart and easier. It is tracker type tool that can track your steps, your daily activities and give you graphics view through Lifeblog application. This device comes with Sony Xperia Z2. You can still buy this outside for $100. Called as life blogging accessory, this can be just a simple plastic bracelet in looks. But it is more than that. We all carry our phones with us. We do not use it for fitness purpose; neither have we tracked what we are doing in our day to day life. Smartband is designed to organize that. Some might not like to have a constant tracking of their daily activity, while some would prefer to go with this device for fitness tracking purpose. Whether you are cycling or walking, Smartband make logs of time. You can increase that to get more fitness. The band comes with minimum features. At first when I saw it, I thought it would be some kind of smartwatch. But it is just a tiny tracker tool which has no independent functions. It relies on the Smartphone and its Life Blog app to function. One simple benefit you can get is an audio remote. There are only three controls available through which you can play/pause a song, or change to previous or next. Also you can mute the alarm through this. It would be a lot better if we can have a tiny smartwatch with tiny screen to see notification, messages, etc. Smartband operates through NFC and two apps. They are smartband app and lifeblog app. It has a very harsh vibration. You can feel that on your wrist if the device has any pending notification. Lets checkout how helpful it is.

Features:

• LifeBlog: Track your movement, communication and entertainment with day to day activity like walking, running, cycling, etc.
• Life Bookmarks: Capture special moments through lifeband.
• Supports Accelerometer sensor.
• Gets vibration alerts about notification, sms, alarm, etc.
• Water Proof.
• Upto 7 days of battery performance.
• Compatible with various android devices.

Package:

Design:

Sony Smartband SWR10 has a simple design. There is a rubberize band that fits well and a tracker type of device which is tiny and fits in the center of band. You can buy different colors of your choice. The one that we are testing today is black. In the box you will get two bands like this with single tracker device.

The above is a black band in which the tracker device fits. It sits in the center and remains covered from the top side. The notification led is not visible from the top but from the sides.

The above is the tracker device. It is a small device with power button and there are three notifications led on the same. The power is in the center. You can turn the device on by holding it for few seconds and then it vibrates. The lights will blink and you have to bring the device near to the NFC icon to connect. There is a micro usb port at the side. This is used to charge the band. It takes around an hour to charge and once fully charge you can use the device for a week.

After connecting you can see above how it looks. You can wear that with your watch or any other ornament. It is less disturbing. It is very light and does not really feel on the hand. But you can feel a harsh sensation when the device vibrates. There is simple tapping gesture that you can use on the same to control audio and simply record a few events.

Setup and features:

To use the smartband you have to turn on NFC and bring the band near to the NFC icon at the back of phone. You will get notification on screen to install two apps. The first is SmartBand app that helps you to configure the settings of smartband. You can customize the way smartband reacts with the phone. And the second is Lifeblog App. It will store your day to day activity. You can get an interactive look of your life in visual phone.

Smartband App:

The Smartband app helps you to configure the settings. You can also check the amount of battery left in the device through the app. Through the app you can enable night mode where the phone is set to silence when you are sleeping. You can turn on notification. The device will vibrate if there is any message or notification on the Smartphone. You can also enable smart wakeup. Here when your alarm rings it will start vibrating until you wake up. A bit annoying but good way to get up. The same goes to other settings. Similarly, you can check all of the features below:

• Auto Night Mode: The band goes to silent mode when night mode is on.
• Notification: Device will vibrate if there is any notification on the phone.
• Smart Wake Up: It will vibrate for 4 to 5 minutes depending on the time interval you had configured.
• Alarm: Vibrate when the alarm.
• Out-of-range alert: Device vibrates if the band is out of NFC range.
• Incoming Call: Vibrates when there is any incoming call even if your phone is on silent.
• Application: You can set the application control on the same. By default it is Media Player. You can use the band to play/pause or change song. Volume control does not work.

Lifeblog App:

This app is bit simple to use. Once you had connected smartband with your Sony device the app starts and collects day to day log on your activity and it does this on the basis of your Smartphone usage. Like if you listen to music or play games a lot the app will make a visual image of the activity. It also includes your physical activity like running, walking, etc. Lifeblog is capable of tracking your communication, entertainment and physical activity. You don't have to do much in that. The UI is nice here. It is colorful with simple time chart. You can see what you were doing the most in a day and you can get these results in weeks and months also. It tracks many things. You might take time to get used to it. It is a good solution for those who want to have a complete fitness tracking device.

Conclusion:

Sony Smartband SWR10 is handy tool. Sometime, if the battery is low you might face connectivity issue. It is not easy to use the smartband for the first time, but you can get used to the same by understanding how it works. Lifeblog app is quite impressive. I was expecting a few more app support on the same. Like using a third party fitness app to track more things. But it usually works with Lifeblog only. The device is optimized to work with Sony Xperia Z1 and Z2 device. There are different colors available that you can choose to go for. It looks to be the first device by Sony under wearable tracking tool. And in future we can expect a lot better than this. It is durable and works under all condition. Being a waterproof device you don't have to remote it when you are outside in bad weather. I had faced connectivity issue with the same. I just kept on getting smartband disconnected message. Sony can make it better by adding few more controls on the same like if someone is calling and you don't have to pick the phone, it can be disconnected through the band. This device only gives notification. That's it. But you cannot control your Smartphone with the features which I had tested, it keeps the band limited to alarm and life blogging app only.

Pros

• Wearable Fitness Tracking Device
• Water Proof
• Life blogging

Cons

• Less features
• Less Customization.