The big theme of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year is wearables – fitness accessories and smartwatches have been announced from almost everyone. Sony is a newcomer to the field, but their inaugural fitness tracker looks quite promising – the Sony Core SmartBand.
The Core Smartband is actually made from two parts – the tiny Core, which holds the sensors necessary to track your movement, and the smartband which keeps the Core on your wrist. The smartband is actually the first accessory for the Core; Sony plan to develop a number of other products to put the Core in as well.
The Core isn’t just about fitness tracking metrics, either. It’ll also function as a kind of life journal, with a button that will create a bookmark for you in the companion smartphone app to help you find a particular moment during the day. The Core will also vibrate when you’re getting a call, and you can use that same button to mute the call if you don’t want to answer it (because you’re at work or in the quiet carriage of a train, for instance).
The companion app looks really nicely designed, from what’s been released so far. You’ll see a timeline of “moments” along the top – including times you’ve pressed the bookmark button on the Core, movies you’ve watched on your device, music you’ve listened to, exercise that you’ve done and places you’ve been. At the bottom, you’ve got a collection of daily stats that give a good idea of what the Core is capable of tracking: calories, steps and songs. There’s also a count of hours spent walking, running, sleeping, bicycling, driving and traveling by public transport.
The Verge went hands-on with the Core at CES, so check out the link or video below to get a better idea of what the Core SmartBand is all about.
The Core SmartBand will launch in Europe for around €100, but a UK price has not yet been announced. The release date is expected to be the first quarter of this year, so by March. We’ll be stocking the Core SmartBand here at Mobile Fun, and you can register your interest via the link below to receive a notification email once we have a stock date.
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