Sony’s New SmartBand 2 Has a Heart Monitor

PHOTO SOURCE: COOLTECHTRENDS.COM

Sony unveiled its new SmartBand 2 on its website, confirming earlier leaks’ suggestion that it had a heart-rate monitor. The new upgrade increases the device’s activity-tracking capabilities.

WHAT THE SMARTBAND 2 CAN DO

Aside from fitness, the SmartBand 2’s heart-rate monitor can keep track of stress levels. And along with monitoring your sleep, the activity tracker can also wake you up with a vibration at the optimal time in your sleep cycle. It is waterproof under three maximum meters and it can be charged in a single hour.

The SmartBand 2 can also inform users of text, call, e-mail and social media notifications sent from iPhone or Android if they are coupled with the device. Sony is calling the new activity tracker a “multi-sensor lifelogger” because of the way it uses fitness data and is powered by the Lifelog app.

MEANINGFUL BIOMETRIC DATA

In the press release, Sony Mobile Communications Senior Vice President and head of UX Creative Design and Planning Kaz Tajima said: “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.”

Lifelog gives the SmartBand 2 user a clearer picture of how they spend their energy by measuring data like the calories they’ve burned and the total times spent running, walking or sleeping.

“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,” said Tajima.

The first SmartBand was released in the middle of last year. Like the first SmartBand, it’s incapable of telling time. Aside from the addition of heart monitor, the only major change in the new activity tracker is its lack of a screen.

Some information about the device was leaked in June when the Japanese tech giant accidentally released some of the details on the Google Play Store.