You Can Now Check Facebook On Your Smartwatches

Sony has officially announced the SmartWatch 2, its third-generation watch accessory that pairs with  your Android smartphone. This comes on the heels of previous rumours of Apple, makers of the  iPhone, releasing an iWatch, which supposed to be its own version of this new class of  smartwatches.

As said before, the watch connects with any Android smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth and can show text messages and incoming calls, as well as give you Facebook and Twitter updates, show calendar entries and act as a remote for the music player.

Sony claims that the SmartWatch 2 is significantly faster than its predecessor and is also resistant to  water splashes. There are a few hundred apps specifically designed for the experience that the SmartWatch 2 provides, according to Sony.

“The future of wearable devices is incredibly bright with analyst research predicting 41 million  ‘smart’ watches will be sold by 2016,” said Stefan K Persson, Head of Companion Products at  Sony Mobile 

Communications. “We have over 200 unique apps dedicated for Sony SmartWatch with over one million downloads to date and we are continuing to work with our strong developer  network to deliver ever more compelling smartwatch experiences.”

These experiences include the ability to answer calls by touching your wrist, take photos with your  phone remotely via the SmartWatch and control presentations remotely using Sony’s “Presentation Pal.”

People may find it easy and convenient to access notifications from your wrist such as messages,  calls, email, Facebook/Twitter, Calendar, or use it as a remote for your digital media player. It is ideal  for pairing with large-screen devices in situations which call for discrete usage. That is, in cases  where a mobile phone is not allowed one can still stay connected by receiving text message, email and other important notifications via this device.

Sporting an aluminium body and stainless steel wristband, the watch features NFC (near-field communication) connectivity for easy pairing and connecting and microUSB port for charging. It has a 1.6” display with a resolution of 220 x 176 pixels, which Sony says is very good for reading and offers great sunlight legibility.

The Sony SmartWatch 2 will be available worldwide from September, this year with a wide variety of standard 24mm wristbands as well as new Sony watchstraps. Pricing is yet to be confirmed.

During the 1980s, Casio began to market a successful line of “computer watches”, in addition to its calculator watches.

Seiko, a Japanese watch company, was one of the first to develop wrist computing technology. The first digital watch, which debuted in 1972, was the Pulsar manufactured by Hamilton Watch

Company. “Pulsar” became a brand name which would later be acquired by Seiko in 1978.

In June 2000, IBM displayed a prototype for a wristwatch that ran Linux. The original version had only 6 hours of battery life, which was later extended to 12. It featured 8MB of memory and ran Linux 2.2. The device was later upgraded with an accelerometer, vibrating mechanism, and fingerprint sensor.

However, Sony are not the only ones with currently in the production of smartwatches. There is also the Pebble smartwatch. This watch has video games, and changing watch faces. The watch uses Bluetooth for texting and calling, has seven days of battery power. Updates may have two to three weeks of battery. The watch is currently under mass production.