By Accessories for devices these days are usually run-of-the-mill. Aside from a few cool ones from Samsung – such as the keyboard dock for the Galaxy Tab and the USB-HDMI out for their Galaxy S devices – they are always pretty much the same. Sony Ericsson’s come up with a cool one for their Xperia phones, however, called LiveView. This isn’t the official marketing term, but I like to call it a “bundle of joy the size of a pocket watch.” Too corny for you yet? I know, it’s early and I haven’t had my McDonald’s roasted coffee.
Anywho, LiveView is a small LCD screen that – at a glance – shows you a count of notifications on your device from different sources such as email, Twitter, Facebook, calendar reminders, missed calls, and more. It even allows you to control your device’s music. Take a look at the video above to get the full gist of things.
It communicates with your device using Bluetooth and it’s said that the battery will last four days on a full charge – not too bad. They list official support for all of their Xperia devices, of course, but profess that it works with many other brands with Android 2.0+ so a long list of those of us without Sony Ericsson phones don’t get left out. I hope this wasn’t the exciting announcement Ericsson’s CEO was talking about last week. I still want my PSP Phone. Nevertheless, this is still pretty cool. Anyone looking to snatch one up?
Meh, it honestly seems like they are trying to be the next Bose and just make accessories to keep their business afloat.
Hmmmm….honestly at first glance I didn’t see the point of this device. Then I thought about it. For those working in the Bmore/DC metro area working on government sites like NSA etc, you can’t have a cell phone in the building. So this might be ideal.
Then I thought, wait a minute, bluetooth? Well that’s out there’s no way in hell you’ll get bluetooth reception in a government building with your cell phone in your car.
So again what is the point of this? If bluetooth has a limited range then you’re phone will already more than likely be within reach. So why do I need an extra little screen?
Maybe I haven’t thought it all the way thru so anyone with a reason please share.
@derrickISONLINE – It could be useful if you’re in meetings a lot and don’t want to be rude to pull out your phone when you get a text message in order to read it.
–
Also, where I live, it is illegal to drive and text. I wouldn’t do it anyways, because I value my life, but if you had a text come in, you could glance at it as if looking at a watch, and the cops would be none the wiser. Of course, you can’t respond, and you shouldn’t while driving anyways. (my public service announcement for the day)
–
The only other reason I can think of is laziness. You’re tired of pulling your phone out of your pocket just to see who is calling/texting you.
derrickISONLINE,
dude it is just like a desktop widget, you need to look at info quickly without opening an application, this is just that. But a hardware one, intriguing
Hm. For a decent price, i’d consider it. When I’m at work Remote Notifier can be intrusive on occasion, and when I’m walking to or from work my phone is deep in my pocket and attached to a headphone cable under my shirt, so it’s a bitch to read messages or change tracks on the move.
Is it sad that I actually like this idea? Knowing Sony, it probably won’t be cheap, and I fear the market will be an extremely small one.
I’d love to see this as a “watch accessory” to make it that much more functional…sorta like the device BB promised awhile ago.
I could see this being useful if you keep your device in your bag or on your desk and then have this thing clipped to your pocket. You carry the much lighter device around. Some of these smartphones are pretty heavy, like my Cliq.
I kept hearing LieView
Works but pretty pointless, too small to really read anything on it.
They should at least make it an mp3 player.
At first I was really interested. This could be a nice way to check the data from My Tracks for Android while cycling, without taking the phone out of my jersey back pocket. Then I realized that most likely this is not water-resistant. So no protection from the weather or sweating. Also, the phone battery is going to run out of juice fast with constant Bluetooth data transfer…
Maybe I’ll stick with my separate cycle computer.
looks like it can be worn as a watch….significantly increases it’s usefulness…
http://www.dailytech.com/Sony+Ericsson+LiveView+is+a+Remote+Control+for+Your+Android++/article19737.htm
My bad, couldn’t see the video from work :) But I think being able to glance at your watch to see who’s calling and being able to silence it would be handy….and controlling music…overall a good accessory if you normally wear a watch anyway…
This would be very handy if it looked a bit more watch-like. Particularly if it could control music players, and perhaps vibrate for an alert (in a meeting its a lot less obtrusive to peer at a watch than to whip out $smartphone to see who just called/texted). Combined with a customisable notification setup this could be quite useful. Of course, knowing Sony its probably 100% compatible with their stuff only and sheds functionality when paired with other vendor’s hardware.
I use a bluetooth caller ID watch that I got off of Think Geek and I love that it notifies me of calls since I never have my ringer turned up and I like to be able to see who is calling before I go fishing into my pocket, especially when I’m sitting down or driving. I can also accept or reject the call using buttons on the watch. This is the next step I’ve been waiting for!
Useless piece of junk accessory.
Having this as a watch is actually really useful. I think I’ll pick one of these up when they come out, if they reasonably priced.
I’d pay $30 for the band and the device.
This is actually very cool. It would do the similar function of the new iPod Nano (which I was disappointed with) and more. This has a lot of potential, depending on how much it will cost.
This is dumb….
Why would you rather look at a tiny screen to see notifications that you will have to pull out your cell phone to respond to? And now you have another device to carry, keep track of, and remember to charge.
Not for me.
No interest.
This actually has some potential.
While exercising (jog/bike) it can be real inconvenient to dig your safely secured phone out to change a song, check your progress, or what time it is. Plus who want to handle their nice expensive phone when they’re fingers are all dirty and sweaty.
Multi Tasking with this would be great. Don’t navigate away from that email your composing to look at your calendar/txt message/etc. Also, no need to stop playing a game to check out the latest facebook post.
Depends on the price, but I’m a sucker for a fancy watch.
Being someone who NEVER wears watchs. This is the only watch I would wear. I WANT IT BAAAAAAAAAAAAAD.
Add speakerphone/headphone and i’m sold
Rikard Skogberg says:
September 28, 2010 at 11:28 am
Hi all!
What will it cost?
That will depend a lot on which coun you’re in and if it’s sold stand-alone or in different packages. We expect the retail price for the stand alone unit to be somewhere around the 60€ mark.
id pick one up for school… easier to hide this the a nexus
This would definitely come in handy at work when I can’t pull out my phone to see who txted me. Then I can decide if a trip to the restroom is necessary to reply to the txt or not. :P
I sense a moving trend toward wrist-augmented computing (my own made-up term)… but follow me… a few weeks ago an HP/Palm exec tweeted a picture of new Palm devices with the devices redacted from the pictures and one of the redactions was around his wrist. Then we have the trend toward wearing the new iPod nano on ones wrist. And now we have this. It’s actually quite logical since the there’s already a rush to expand personal computing beyond the phone to the tablet, so why not in the other direction as well — the wrist? Question is, is there any demand for wrist-augmented computing? My guess is no, but looks like we’re about to find out.
This would be the perfect companion for my dell streak, it would be great for galaxy tab as well. How would I use it? Glance through information quickly without taking your tablet out of your pocket or suit jacket, check caller ID before answering via bluetooth headset etc…
The irony is that most people in the younger generation don’t wear watches at all anymore. They just check the time on their phones. I wonder if they will be interested in watches now
I like the idea. Nothing worse than digging your phone out to respond to a call or text that you have no intention of replying to. If it works, if it’s not glitchy and if you’re able to send atleast one preset response to an incoming text like: “I can’t text right now, I’ll get back to you later”, then I WANT ONE. Oh, and one more wish, if it can caller ID not only the phone numbers but the names from your contact list, then I’ll take two thank you very much.
@KAG: Why make it a mp3 player, when its connected to your android phone ? That would really make it a stupid device. I find it pretty handy, but only if the pricetag isnt going into the sky…
I’ve got a SonyEricsson BT watch (the analog with a tiny digital panel). The really great function is the vibrating alert. My phone is always on silent, but when the wristwatch vibrates, I can read incoming e-mails, sms’s, or just check who’s calling, all very discreetly which can be very handy e.g. in meetings. I love it. The panel is weak though. So the Live View could be a great piece of kit. Don’t know if it has vibrating alert, though.
If I want to see information updates from my phone…I’ll look at my phone.
This would be okay for a clam shell handset, but what’s the point of it for devices with large, high resolution, touch screens? I mean, the whole idea of having a great screen is so that it looks good and interacts well when you use it, not to be ignored while you check your updates with the eye-strain-o-ma-jig shown above.
I like the ‘worn as a watch’…i think it would be quite useful as people say (jogging, gym etc..)…
but I prefer wearing a nice analogue watch.