With all the media furor over the Pebble, Samsung's Altius and Apple's iWatch, a few companies at the Mobile World Congress, which began Monday in Barcelona, are pre-empting all three with their own smartwatch creations.
Sony's model is called the MN2SW, TechHive reports, uncreatively dubbed SmartWatch. Its screen is 1.3 inches with a resolution of 128 x 128. It weighs about 6 ounces and comes in several colors. The watch reportedly works best with Sony's Xperia line, but with Bluetooth 3.0, it can answer or reject calls, check status updates, read texts and mail, as well as control music on an Android smartphone.
The watch charges via USB and even has a function to set off a smartphone camera remotely, for easier group pictures with friends. It is slated to start shipping on Wednesday for $130, and has about 200 apps in the store.
Hama's phone was designed in France and it uses Bluetooth 4.0. It has a traditional analog display, but also has a digital display. The Cookoo, as it's called, can connect to your smartphone, notify you of incoming and missed calls, display Facebook notifications, calendar events and alert you when your smartphone is out of range. Its other functions are pretty similar to Sony's, but the Cookoo runs on a CR2032 battery, which can be easily bought at stores and replaced, eliminating the need for regular charging. It sounds great, but will run you $349.
The i'm Watch (really?) claims to be the first "real" smartwatch. It connects to both Android and iOS devices, and has functions similar to the other two — the fun part comes when you need to reject a call: simply shake your wrist. If out of range of your phone, the i'm Watch shuts down automatically, and you can also adjust the time before shutdown. It has about 50 apps that can be installed, and can connect via Wi-Fi or personal hotspot to conserve its battery, which lasts about 48 hours.
A headphone jack and i'm Cloud connectivity also gives the i'm Watch functionality as a sports device. It has a curved HD screen and even an instant message-type option, which operates mostly on emoticons. The watch starts at about $349 and can rise into the four-figure range with the Tech and Jewel models.
We're still waiting on the iWatch, Altius and Pebble, but for anyone who's impatient, these three sound like solid smartwatches to us.
