Sony was one of the first manufacturers to launch a smartwatch, choosing to use its own customised version of Google's Android operating system for the Smartwatch and Smartwatch 2 while rival Samsung pursued Tizen. The newly announced Smartwatch 3 makes the switch to the more widely accepted Android Wear, so we made sure to try one on and see if it has what it takes to beat stiff competition from Samsung, LG, Asus and Motorola.
Sticking with a square display, rather than experiment with a circular screen, the Smartwatch 3 is a safe, if slightly plain looking wearable. The stainless steel rear is a nice premium touch, but it's a shame it's covered by the rubberised plastic strap, which surrounds the watchface entirely. It's a shame as Sony has used metal for the clasp and it looks rather sleek, but sat side by side with the competition we can't help but think it looks a little cheap. At least it's ideally suited for getting wet, and as the entire watch is IP68 water resistant you won't have to take it off when getting in the shower or going for a swim.
The 1.6in transflexive LCD display is virtually unchanged from the SmartWatch 2. It's designed to be legible even in bright sunlight, but we aren't convinced LCD is the way forward for wearables; power-saving OLED technology makes much more sense when battery life is critical, but Sony is sticking to its guns for the foreseeable future.
It was perfectly legible inside under bright lights, and the 320x320 resolution is ideally suited to Android Wear's short and simple notifications, but we'll have to wait until we take one outside to see how it copes in direct sunlight. A button on the side enables and disables the screen, which should help reduce battery consumption when you aren't looking at it.
The 420mAh battery should be capable of up to two full days of use on a single charge, according to Sony, even when powering that LCD display and the 1.2GHz quad-core processor, but we'll withhold judgment until we've been able to give it a proper test.
At least Android Wear felt perfectly smooth, with screens swiping without stuttering and notifications dismissing as soon as we swiped them away.
According to Sony, the Smartwatch 3 will gain a dedicated Walkman app for playing back up to 4GB of music with a Bluetooth headset, even when you aren't paired to a smartphone, as well as a remote app for controlling playback on another device. While this should help it stand out from other Android Wear smartwatches, neither feature was available for us to try out at IFA, meaning we walked away fairly nonplussed.
Android Wear is what you make it; with the ability to add apps, customise watch faces and come up with novel uses for a screen strapped to your wrist, it has plenty of potential, but without these tweaks the Smartwatch 3 felt all but identical in use to LG's G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live.
Even so, it has the edge in terms of looks over LG's watch and Sony seems to be concentrating on Android Wear, unlike Samsung which is splitting its time between Google's operating system and its own Tizen OS. If Sony can deliver a set of unique Wear apps, the Smartwatch 3 could still be in with a shot as your first/next wearable.
The Smartwatch 3 should be going on sale throughout Europe later this year, with prices expected to be €230 - meaning roughly £180 here in the UK.
