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Sony Smartband Talk - 1 month in

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I thought I'd add a one month update on my experience with the Smartband Talk, following up on my initial review here: http://www.intlwatchleague.com/entry...Smartband-Talk

The good:
  • My main requirement was for something I could wear on my right wrist while I have a watch on my left. I've worn the Smartband Talk in that manner everyday for a month now without feeling like a knob or getting any adverse comments.
  • It's really light and comfortable. I've switched the strap for a blue one, which is less prone to picking up lint than the stock black one and is a lovely subdued shade of blue.
  • The functions all work perfectly. Notifications come through instantly and the fitness tracking elements seem to work fine (hard to know with those things if they're 100% accurate, but it's never been obviously wrong).
  • The "wristphone" feature is actually really useful and I've used it a few times.
  • Battery life is as advertised (3 days) and in fact I've been able to extend that by a further day by switching the watch function (which by design refreshes the screen every 60 seconds) as I don't need it.


The average:
  • The additional apps you can load, whilst fun, aren't actually that useful, I'm down to 2 now (music control and quick dialler) and even those I hardly use.



The bad:
  • This thing is an absolute scratch magnet. The curved plastic screen has already picked up at least 7 or 8 scratches and I don't see that stopping anytime soon. Obviously I've been wearing the device a lot, but this still isn't what I'd call acceptable.If and when Sony release the next version an improved screen material will be the first thing I look for.

IMG_1650.JPG by Olly Clarke, on Flickr


  • The e-ink display is a little disappointing, the resolution is low and it doesn't refresh often resulting in ghosting. It's always perfectly readable, but a better quality screen would be a nice addition.
  • The Lifelog phone app is a battery killer and meant I moved from having a phone that would reliably last a day to one that I had to top up at least once during the afternoon. I've disabled logging now (the Smartband still registers steps, sleep, etc, the data just isn't sent to the phone) and my phone's battery life is as good as ever again (despite the fact I now have bluetooth permanently on).


Overall I'm still very happy with the Smartband Talk. It's not flashy like the iWatch, but does exactly what I want it to and does it reliably and well.
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Comments

  1. OTGabe's Avatar
    Good to hear it's still holding up for you. I just picked up a Fitbit Charge HR so I'll be sharing some impressions once I've gotten used to it.
  2. JohnF's Avatar
    Thanks for the update. Sounds like most of the devices out there: close and getting better, but not quite there yet...
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