Sony Mobile SWR10 SmartBand Activity Tracking Wristband - Black

Update 25/05/14: Having read other review, I feel I have to clarify what the smartband can do and its limitations. It tracks movement, mainly steps. If you do an activity that does not have recognisable steps such as say yoga, using equipment in the gym, rowing etc it probably won't appear as you might like. The option to log cycling and driving has not yet been rolled out - planned for the summer I understand, so don't expect this to work now. Sleep: It has the option to monitor your sleep. As with all trackers, this is basic. You tell it when you go to bed and when you wake up. During this time, if you move your arms about a lot - you're awake, you move them a little - you're in light sleep, you keep your arms still - you're in deep sleep. It does no more than that. It's a rough guide. Should you go for a run first thing in the morning and forget to switch it to day mode, it simply logs this time as awake, and no steps. It's up to you to switch it back to day mode. If you set it to switch automatically every day to sleep mode say 10pm to 6am, if you stay up one night reading and barely moving, it will probably log this as light / deep sleep. If you're still up working on your computer, ditto. It might be called a smartband but it is not a psychic band :-) Accuracy - for some people it seems better than others. For me personally, worn for the last 20 days alongside by fitbit one, it under reads consistently by about 5%. I can live with that. If you want absolute accuracy for your workout use Endomondo or FitBit One (ie not worn on the wrist). See further info below on some actual figures if you wish. Note - there is a delay between you doing steps and it updating the app showing the steps. Walk 200 steps - it will initially upload say 145. Wait a bit longer and you will probably find that it updates another 50 odd steps. Writing this, I feel I'm being a bit of a sony fangirl, but honestly, I feel it's getting bad press because user expectations are unrealistic in some ways. ------------------------------- Original review below: ------------------------------- I also have a fitbit one so this has a lot to live up to and so far I'm pleased. Advantages over a fitbit one: - It's water resistant. - I don't forget to transfer it from different items of clothing so it is always with me. - Other than not counting floors, it does pretty much all the fitbit one does and then some more. Particularly useful to me is the smart alarm - it works well. If I'm sleeping lightly at 5.30am then fine, wake me up for a run, if not let me slumber until the last minute, thank you. - I love the way I can control music playing on my phone just by tapping it - great when I'm at home and music is on external speakers via bluetooth and I can't be bothered to find my phone / cooking or whatever. - I like the way it knows when you're going for a walk or going for a run - it saves having to remember to press and hold the fitbit button to time a walk etc. (Note it does NOT yet log cycling or driving as per in the advert - this is to come in the summer apparently) - I like the way it uses the power of your phone to augment it - ie tracking your route / location. Save hassle not having to open another app on your phone. - It's good you can auto programme night mode so you don't forget to set it. However, if for some reason these settings end up to be incorrect you can't manually change it afterwards. On the fit bit you can add sleep later the following day for the previous night. - Getting feedback on arrival of messages is great - you can select which apps notify you, though this option takes some finding within the Smartband app. - It automatically turns all vibrations off at night when in night mode. - It uses a standard micro-usb charger rather than a unique fitbit charger. Fitbit advantages: - makes a good "watch" at night (ability to press the button and scroll through until it shows the time) - I miss the display a little - i have to get used to looking at my phone instead. - Fit bit shows each step as you take it - with the smart band there is a little delay - sometimes a couple of minutes - before your extra steps show on the lifelog display - Fitbit battery lasts a few days longer than this one. - I miss the growing flower and the encouraging comments fitbit makes! Fitbit has a sense of humour. Generally: - I use the Life bookmarks as general time stamps as well as for events I want to remember- I work flexi hours so easy to double press when I get to work and again when I leave, just so I remember what hours I did. If my phone is logged on to office wifi I also get a location stamp as well. - The location tracking is good - the default is set to low power - which means that it just uses wi-fi and mobile network to determine location which leads to a rather rough route line, but you can change this to "high accuracy" which uses GPS (although this does mean battery power decreases quicker). It's still not quite as accurate as say Endomondo. - Size of bands - in case you're interested - the small is not uber small - I'm fairly slim built and have it on its tightest setting - but I am by no means skinny. - Looks smart - I love the sony metal clasp. Not having a display somehow makes it seem less gaudy and more classy. - I do wish I could buy the extra coloured bands separately rather than in groups of 3 - I just want a purple one, not pink and yellow too! - Syncing with Android is good - it automatically reconnects after a few minutes if you go out of range and come back again - you don't have to reconnect using NFC. Occasionally it fails but no more than my fitbit one does - same technology I think. They are both on a par here. - The Fitbit one appears to count about 10-13% more steps per day than the sony smartband. I think though the fitbit is probably more accurate of the two though more testing required here. Lifelog app: - A good start here. Needs some social things adding - be able to view friends or link to myfitnesspal or endomondo / withings etc would be good. - Could do with a web app as well. - really annoying that you can only log on to a sony phone with a sony id. if you then try to log on to another android phone you have to use say a gmail account and you can't use the sony id. It would be good to be able to use both ids on all makes of phones. I've set it up to use my sony account but what happens down the line if I defect to say samsung - do I lose all my data and have to start again? - not too sure how useful it is to be able to tell how long you've spent on say emails each day, but still... - being able to see the weather in the background is actually useful. Will it replace my fitbit? Yes eventually, but I will miss my "friends" and the competition element. I really hope Sony build this element into Lifelog. Overall, very pleased. I bought this with a view to trialling it, bearing in mind Amazon's great 30 day returns policy if I don't end up wanting to continue using it - but I think its a keeper! 14/05/14: Edited to add that over the last 8 days I've logged both fitbit one readings and smartband readings. It is reading on average about 6% under fitbit one figures. Fitbit one is considered one of the most accurate fitness trackers (as it is not worn on the wrist). Average steps per day was around 13,000 steps so I'm fairly happy with this difference. It seems to miss out the smaller incidental steps - it is most accurate when out for a "proper" walk. For example - on a 2 mile walk: Fitbit one 3867 steps compared with Sony 3808 steps and on a 10k run FB 11,415 vs Sony 11,364 steps. I was expecting the smartband to over read (being on my dominant wrist) but it doesn't seem to. My only small gripe is that it is sometimes quite hard to get the music player remote element to work - you have to tap very hard. It's actually easier to hit your fist into the other hand to get it to work. There is a slight lag so it's easy to think it hasn't registered so you repeat the tap, and it gets a bit confused. All in all, still very happy with this and recommend highly.

Largely useless. The notification alerts are great and the wake up alarm. That bit is fine. But as an actual activity tracker IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY WORK. Unfortunately it struggles to tell the difference between walking, cycling and driving. so very often at the end of the day it reckons I've done about 20 minutes walking and a couple of hours cycling when in reality i haven't been anywhere near a bike. This means it is useless as a step counter too as it doesn't count steps while you're 'cycling' or 'driving' only when you're walking, and as it seems unable to tell the difference, most of your days will end with what appears to be a pitiful number of steps regardless of how far you've actually walked. It looks nice, and the notifications are cool, but it really really doesn't work as an activity tracker. At all.

For starters I personally feel that sony products are of high quality and I haven't been disappointed yet. I got the Sony smartband as a cheaper introduction into smartwatches just to see if they were worth the hype. I have had the band for about 3 weeks now and for the first 2 I thought I had wasted my money as the system was playing up a great deal even getting to the point of me throwing the band across the room. However after reading the online instructions more carefully I reset the system by holding down the button for a long period of time. Since then the system has been fantastic and I feel performing better than other people's comments my suggest. The lifelog is still in beta for some functions and I feel that this should be sorted by now. Overall from feeling frustrated to being wowed I can say with confidence that if you don't want to spend smartwatch money but want to track your day this product is the perfect go between with plenty of customization features. It has not got in my way at all and the vibration feature is handy as you can leave your phone on silent but still know when you have a call/text/notification useful if at work or in a meeting and stops you checking your phone for updates. Final sentence is another great sony product that still has work on going in terms of the app.

It's a great product. I like sony gadgets, and i also have an Xperia Z2 phone. There are so many smartbands to choose from, i just wanted something simple to start with... and the sony one was the only solution... and the fact that it's from SONY and goes well with the xperia phones, it's a plus! It's very limitless as some will say, but in it's simplicity , very handy, depending on what you will want to do with it! I personally didn't care too much about the steps, running, and other functions... as i heard, it's not so precises.. But even it's 30% less than the REAL number that's good, it makes you work more for your steps and running :)) For me the fact it can monitor my sleep it's something, and it can wake you up with a vibration (it's a little too strong for me:) , but it's something! i like it... (not sure yet if it wakes me in the right moment possible, but tunning the settings, in time... i can get there!) I have a lot of alarms on my phones, and hourly chimes and :30 , chimes... I can hear my phone or my band will vibrate... Maybe sounds stupid... but i know then what time it is, how productive i am, or if i didn't do something i will do it now... or just START doing stuff :) ... it can get annoying, but it's motivating me... YES it disconnects often, but it has a 10m range maximum... so that's not too much. The WALK away function it's useful too... vibrates when your phone is behind or you forgot about it! The band is hard to secure for the first time... but after you get used with it... it's OK ; It's also there to stay... It may fall down in your sleep... and it's also water resistant ! AND there are crazy functions that can be implemented... It's a simple device, it's a sony, looks good, feels good, but always is room for me... AGAIN, in it's simplicity is very good -> great... for me, it's about keeping me on track, motivated and remind me from time to time i have things to do :) YOU can't wear a thing like this and procrastinate ... The price is just right now. Probably i wouldn't have paid MORE or the original price...

I bought this for 2 main purposes. 1) for the media player remote function, and 2) to use as a pedometer. I have used it in conjunction with a Sony Xperia M2 Aqua. As a remote the band is quite clunky but works okay once you get used to it. As advertised it does 1 tap to pause, 2 to skip and 3 to skip back, however it does require you to push the power button before each action you try to take. There is also a delay of about a second before it does the requested action. I feel this feature is yet to be perfected but I will continue to use it as it is still marginally more convenient than getting my phone out of my pocket each time I need to pause/skip, etc. As a pedometer it isn't particularly accurate, I note others state it underestimates by around 5%. I admit that my primary source of exercise is walking (for which the band is fine) and playing football. Due to the inconsistent start/stop nature of team sports the band is pretty useless. I played for 2 hours and it recorded that I had walked for 30 mins. I imagine for jogging/running it is more accurate due to the regular nature of the motion. Other things to note; the band (and associated functionality required to use it such as NTC/Bluetooth) do rinse the phone's battery. I can normally go 4-5 days before needing a charge. With the band/bluetooth activated I need to charge by the end of the second day. I can't comment on the sleep recording function as I tend to take it off at night. The notification function for sms, email, etc. is useful. the band vibrates lightly when you receive notifications so you won't ever miss a message. Overall, I think this is quite a cool device but I'm not sure if it is worth £25. It feels like a work in progress and expect that it's appeal will increase once the various functions are perfected and made more user-friendly and precise.

I've been waiting for this product ever since it was announced back in January and it's finally here! I received the SmartBand on May 1st and I've been using it since then. the packaging is fairly simply, you get the core which is the computing unit, two black bands, one small and one large, a Micro-USB cable to charge the core and you're ready to go. it comes charged but i like to give my electronic all the juice they need for the first charge as it lengthens the battery life. after charging the core and pairing in it to my Xperia Z1 through NFC, it downloaded some software and before i know it, it was working as advertised! logging my activities from calls, to the music i'm listening, my internet activities and all that. how many steps was i taking was spot on. it vibrates when i get a call or message which is cool but what's great is THIS - IT VIBRATES IF I GO TOO FAR AWAY FROM MY PHONE, so no more of forgetting or losing your phone! great feature. then I decided to take a shower with the smartband on, to test it's waterproof capabilities, as the Micro-USB port on the core isn't covered and doesn't have a flap but still waterproof. after i had my shower surprisingly, IT WORKED! this is my sixth day with the band and the battery hasn't died on me yet, so i'm gonna have to trust Sony with their 7days battery life promise. the thing i love about the band more than anything is the fact sleep functionality, it tracks your sleeping patterns and decides what's the best time to wake you up! I LOVE THAT! it works and it made my life a lot better, no more of waking up knackered! the only thing that is missing in my opinion is integrated applications with other platforms that would sync with the Lifelog app on your phone, like an app on my PS4 to know how much i spent gaming and such. not a major feature but it would be great if it's added in the future all in all, this a great product and highly recommended, i'll update it whenever something good or bad comes up.

Design : Prefer it to fitbit, it's not quite as bulky, looks more like a normal sort of band and doesn't stand out so much. Very light and more comfortable that the fitbit. Music Control feature is okayish, a bit hit and miss but it does work 7-8 times out of 10. LIke I say it's really handy for controlling your music from across the room Sleep Monitor : Not sure about this at all, apparently I only managed 1.5 deep sleep a night, which is just nonsense. The fitbit is MILES better in this department, i can honestly say that the fitbit nailed my sleep patterns so well it is unreal. Steps and exercise : This isn't too great either, I played five a side football for an hour, which involves a lot of short sprints etc, the fitbit was pretty good with this and nailed it with the fact that I was doing high intensity workouts, the sony on the other hand really doesnt seem to get it. Picks most of this time up as walking, which is nonsense really. This is paired with my sony z1 compact, and the lifelog app, which to be fair is a brilliant idea, i'd go as far to say ground breaking, but again, this really isnt implemented as well as it should be, a lot of mistake and inaccuracies that could do with being sorted out. Check out reviews on the google play store, a lot of people agree, It's not a bad bit of kit, at the moment though I think it's overpriced for the finished product (which I think is rushed out and really not as complete as it should be) If they iron out the kinks it really could be something. UPDATE : Had it a week, am sending it back, it's really not very accurate at all, shame because the actual hardware is really nice :(

I really like this band it's seems to be pretty accurate with me, except the map showing where I have been, on my dog walk everyday it shows I walk miles in the totally wrong direction! Works perfectly with my sony xperia xz phone. It's great for letting me know if I've got a message, email or phone call. I can pause and skip my music easily. The smart wake up scared the life out of me as it's not a gentle vibration, but it does work at waking you up! The sleep record is accurate, shows every time you wake up in the night. Such a great price as well! I don't really care how many steps or calories I have burned in a day but it is a motivation to move to beat the previous day or week and makes you feel lazy if you see no steps for hours!

Battery drains very fast. No app available on apple and play store. Can't even return since I will be shouldering the courier charge of the item.

No pude encontrar una app para usarlo, así qje nunca funcionó

Le bracelet fonctionne très bien, les 2 applications nécessaires pour l'utiliser sont toutes les deux très faciles d'utilisation et optimisées. Bon rapport qualité/prix, le seul bémol est que la batterie tient moins de 5 jours (peut être 12/15h de moins, à verif), pas grand chose. Je ne suis pas déçu de mon achat, celui-ci a air bien plus fiable que le smartband 2. Dommage tout de même que cela coûte cher si on veut remplacer/changer le bracelet (pas le capteur), et que celui-ci ne soit pas beaucoup dérivé comme le fitbit flex où il existe beaucoup de personnalisations.

I purchased sony smartband SWR10 from Amazon.in on 24/09/2014 and i am writing this review on 08/10/2014. After nearly two weeks of usage i am pretty much satisfied with my purchase. I am using this smartband with Moto e and it is pairing and functioning to my complete satisfaction.The lifelog app is excellent and the pedometer function is spot on. Looking at the goals motivate me to walk more and burn still more calories. I am really loving my band. I didn't activate call and message notifications in my band and the battery charge comes nearly for 5 days.Comfort of wearing this device is excellent and it adds to my style statement as well. Only thing i wanted more is there should have been some vibration alert once we reach the goals. Overall i am enjoying my association with Sony Smartband.

Very fast shipping put my order in Friday morning and received my package today!!! thank you my brother will LOVE it for Christmas (PS my other brother has this and says it's really good and a life saver)