Rumor: Sony working on innovative e-paper smart watch
Looks like Sony could be dipping their feet into some uncharted territories of the wearables sea. The company is reportedly working on an e-paper smart watch for 2015. While e-paper watches are nothing new — the Pebble comes to mind — Sony’s idea would utilize e-paper in the wrist straps to allow folks to change looks at a moment’s notice. The project apparently spawned from a company initiative that rewards employees for innovative ideas.
An e-paper smart watch comes with a few negatives, though the benefits could balance it out just enough to make a purchase more worthwhile. On the downside, an e-paper watch doesn’t sport the display technology needed to run a smooth operating system like Android Wear without a great deal of hiccups. On the upside, e-paper doesn’t draw nearly as much power as color LCDs, and it’s easy to see in sunlight with or without a backlight.
According to the report, Sony is less worried about function and more about how it looks and feels. It sounds like they won’t be looking to rival the likes of Android Wear or Apple’s iWatch in terms of functionality, but given a good enough set of APIs and features it could be just enough for folks to take notice. Unfortunately there isn’t much to go on in terms of Sony’s exact plans for the smart watch, but you can bet we’ll be keeping an eye out for more information as we head into 2015.
[via Bloomberg]