Only six-months after announcing their next generation fitness tracker, Sony has today announced the Sony Smartband 2 is now available in Australia for $199 from JB Hi-Fi.
The Smartband 2 is a step up from the original Smartband which launched in May of 2014, offering IP68 waterproofing, LED notification lights and a heart rate monitor. The Smartband is a mix of functionality and style with a sleek finish and a new metal clasp to keep it wrapped around your wrist.
John Featherstone, Head of Business Development for APAC and Market Head for Oceania, said of the Smartband 2:
We set out to create the most advanced wearable at this section of the market – SmartBand 2 has the capability to deliver, and make biometric data meaningful for users within Lifelog. Not only does it represent a powerful vision of how consumers can learn more about themselves – it allows us to explore exciting new opportunities with development partners.
Though announced in a range of colours, the Smartband 2 is available in Black and White at launch, but Sony hasn’t said anything about launching other colour options for the silicon bands to slip the modular Core smart sensor into. The Core module contains an array of smart sensors including an accelerometer, as well as heart-rate sensor. The Core module also includes Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC to help connect to your Android device.
The band is paired and activities such as Smart Alarm and Notifications are handled by the Sony Smartband 2 application which is available from Google Play, and your heart-rate, steps and sleep patterns are also logged here. While all the data is included in the Smartband 2 app, Sony highly recommends installing the Sony Lifelog app, also available from Google Play, which adds information gathered from your smartphone into one comprehensive life log.
The original Smartband was quite comfortable to wear and tracked a goodly amount of data, the improvements in the Sony Smartband 2 look to be excellent and at $199 it’s a decent price for a smart activity tracker. If you’re interested in checking it out, head over to the JB Hi-Fi or Sony Websites now.
