Sony SmartWatch 3 Review: Android Wear's First Generation Champion

Sony is both early to the smartwatch game, and late at the same time. The SmartWatch 3 puts aside some of the lessons of Sony’s previous wearables, but manages to learn some valuable lessons from the competition.
Two things stand out for me with the Sony SmartWatch 3. The first is Sony’s use of Android Wear. The two previous numerical efforts (and the Sony LiveView watch that came before those) all ran proprietary operating systems. They all tied in heavily to Sony’s Smart Connect software on Android, and gave Sony the ability to determine its own wearables strategy.
And back in May 2014, Sony implied that Android Wear would not be used in its next smartwatch, before the remark was rapidly clarified back to a ‘we’re not ruling it out’ stance.
Sony’s SmartWatch 3 uses Android Wear.
The Best Of The First
Secondly, while Sony is later to the game than Motorola, LG, and Samsung, the SmartWatch 3 still feels like a wearable that belongs in that first wave of Android Wear devices. It suffers from many of the flaws that you will find in the existing Android Wear devices, although it does address two concerns that (just about) lift the Sony SmartWatch 3 to the lofty heights of ‘best Android Wear smartwatch’.
Interestingly, both concerns are to do with power. The first is the battery. At 420 mAh, it’s the largest battery I’ve yet seen on an Android Wear device. This will comfortably get through a full day of use, and for normal use (a mix of alerts, notifications, and some voice commands and searches) you will reach the 48 hour mark before it starts asking to be charged.
This is where the second advantage of the SmartWatch 3 comes in to play. It charges directly from a microUSB cable. Other smartwatches have a proprietary cable or a charging dock to supply the power. Sony has went with a vertically mounted USB port on the back of the watch, covered by a tight-fitting rubber gurney flap. The flap is used to keep the watch integrity in place. With dustproofing and waterproofing (to IP68 standards), the SmartWatch 3 should be comfortable immersed in water for up to thirty minutes.
Otherwise, the Sony SmartWatch 3 feels much like every other Android Wear device out there. The screen resolution is 320×320 pixels, on a 1.6 inch transreflective screen. This is not going to win any awards for clarity, and the resulting images on the display do exhibit some pixelation under normal viewing conditions. Of course a smaller screen with fewer elements means better battery life, so the current technology has found the compromise. It’s a good one to make, if I’m honest because I would rather more information and more battery rather than fancy display, HD graphics, and less battery life on my wrist.
Sony has let the side down on styling. The SmartWatch 3 consists of a standalone square unit, encased in a rubber wrist strap. It’s incredibly function, and feels like it was designed by engineers to provide a solid strap, protection for the electronics, and would never be worn on the red carpet at a Hollywood awards ceremony.
You can be sure that’s not the approach that Apple will take, but more on that as the year progresses.