Sony's oddball smart straps cost more than an Apple Watch

Sony has been rather experimental with its wearable tech since it stopped building watches for Google's Wear OS Following the e-paper curiosity that was the FES Watch, and in place of the Sony SmartWatch 4 that never materialised, its latest devices are a pair of smart straps designed to be worn with traditional, mechanical watches: the wena wrist pro and the wena wrist active Read next Apple Watches and LCD screens are propping up LG, not OLED.

Apple Watches and LCD screens are propping up LG, not OLED Sony has partnered with Seiko in Japan, and here in the UK Sony's offering a range of watch modules, priced £100 to £400, that can be bundled with the wena straps The bundles with the watch modules cost from £499 to £849 though Matt Oakley, who handles Sony Europe's new business development, says that he expects that the majority of sales will be strap only.

George Jijiashvili, senior analyst at Ovum, sees bulky designs and limited functionality as the main reasons that smart traditional watch straps have remained a niche to date "I believe the saving grace for smart watch straps could be payments," he says Away from the everyday usefulness of wearable payments, it is in advanced health sensors, and not basic fitness tracking, where the most ambitious moves in smart straps are being made, all with the Apple Watch at the centre.

In January, the $89 Aura smart strap for the Apple Watch was announced, promising to use bioimpedance analysis to monitor weight, water, fat and muscle. . Source