Sony Ericsson's MBW-100 Bluetooth watch reviewed
By Conrad Quilty-Harper 
posted Oct 28th 2006 11:45AM
posted Oct 28th 2006 11:45AM
The concept of a watch that does anything more than just display the time and date has so far been a commercially unsuccessful one. Plenty have tried to make gadget phones that people actually want to wear, but all have failed. The most recent attempt to do a gadget watch properly is Sony Ericsson and Fossil's MBW-100 Bluetooth watch, which PC Magazine recently reviewed. Rather than going all out and designing a watch with full PDA functions, the partner companies decided to design a watch that could display simple information -- caller ID, text messages -- sent to it from a Bluetooth enabled phone. It's this "watch first, gadget second" approach that gives the MBW-100 immediate appeal to non-geeks, but unfortunately this particular watch isn't going to usher in a new era where everyone wears such a device. The MBW-100 is too expensive ($399), too limited (it currently only works with Sony Ericsson phones), and is too bulky for mainstream appeal (men with skinny wrists need not apply), although it's the closest that anyone has come to successfully integrating gadget functions into a wrist watch without sacrificing style and the whole displaying-the-time thing. Hopefully future iterations will really get it right: watch this space for more.
Last I checked bulky watches were "in" right now.
battery life? Who's gunna want to recharge their watch every night :-(
Recharge every seven days actually, or 14 days for watch functionality!
First of all, look at the metal band. They copied almost the exact metal band design fom NIXON's watches.
http://www.nixonnow.com/watches/mens/the-banks-A060.html
Second of all, if your going to buy an expensive watch make sure the company is a good watch company that has been making watches for years. Eg. Guess, Fossil, Kenneth Cole, Swatch. Not Sony Ericsson.
"First of all, look at the metal band. They copied almost the exact metal band design fom NIXON's watches.
http://www.nixonnow.com/watches/mens/the-banks-A060.html
Second of all, if your going to buy an expensive watch make sure the company is a good watch company that has been making watches for years. Eg. Guess, Fossil, Kenneth Cole, Swatch. Not Sony Ericsson."
- Sony Ericsson made this with Fossil (read before you judge)
Talk about ignorance. Nixon is owned by Fossil.
kenneth cole, guess, fossil? good watch companies? If you're in the 400 dollar price range citizen, seiko those are good watch companies. Don't shoot your mouth off when you don't know what you're talking about. Oh and metal bands weren't invented by nixon buddy.
Why not make a wristwatch with a SIM card slot in it and bluetooth to make a wristwatch cellphone. Then I can connect my bluetooth headset to it and talk without carrying around some nasty huge device in my pocket. I HATE carrying around my cellphone in my pocket, it's enough to make me buy a man-bag. Watches are ubiquitous, so add bluetooth and a SIM card, a screen that can show numbers, and digit and name recognition voice dialing will take care of the rest. With a good enough screen it could take care of my daily calendar, also. When the phone function is not in use it will display the clock, much like most cellphones these days anyway.
Simple idea, why does no one think of it. One could even add a speaker phone behind the face if you're really desperate to not wear a bluetooth headset.
Simple: batteries. You can't give it respectable battery time yet with those features.
Simon, people used to (and still do) wind their watches every day, it's really no different. So you take the watch off at night and set it on its charging base or whatever. It's not like you dont do that with cell phones, PDA's, Laptops, etc. now as it is.
GioNYC, your pretty dumb, if you read the article you would notice that Sony Ericsson realized that they have no experience in making watches, so they called up Fossil and created something called a joint venture and this watch is the product which they made... together.
I'll buy it when the binary edition gets out :)
Gil: I think Conrad made his comments on it being big because the PC Mag article says this:
"You have to like big watches to like this sucker, but it has a classy, professional look if attached to an equally manly wrist.
The phone comes in one size, macho. So if you're a scrawny little wimp like me, you'll need to get a jeweler to remove a few links from the band."
I would definitely fall into that category. Also, I think Sony really botched it by not including the ability to display song info. Perhaps due to battery life?
Bottom line: slimmer, song info, and non-SE compatibility and I would probably bite.
Wow I paid less for my SE W300 off contract then This watch I want how retarded... If they drop price then ill pick one up.
"men with skinny wrists need not apply"
I guess that rules out 99% of the male readers on this site! ;)
Firstly, this watch is not for cheap/broke people. There's a lot of things out there most of us can't afford. That's the reason most are limited. That is not a detriment to the idea of this watch so stop commenting like everything that comes out that is cutting edge should be affordable by the masses.
Secondly, anyone who thinks Fossil is a quality watch brand needs to do some research. "Guy" and "Alain", I thank you for your comments but Gio is even further from the point he's trying to make than he thinks. Kenneth Cole? C'mon. Those are all fashion watches, pretty outside with average parts inside. They went to Fossil because SE doesn't have the assembly line to crank out watches and because Fossil watch buyers are into contemporary/ fashionable/futuristic watches. Two birds, one stone.
This watch is meant for business professionals who don't want to be rude in front of clients by going through all the motions involved in pulling their phones from pockets or bags while discussing business. A quick glance at your watch tells you who may have called, if you have messages without oissing off your client. That's it.
Oh yeah, and style is in the eye ...blah, blah, blah.
If you ask me, that watch is pretty slick looking IMHO. I'd wear it. Of course, that is if I had extra money lying around and I owned an Ericsson phone, both of which I don't.
Apparently, Conrad's statement about the watch being too bulky clearly shows his lack of contemporary style.
Also, regarding GUY's comment to GioNYC:
"- Sony Ericsson made this with Fossil (read before you judge)"
I'd like to say to Gio...You might as well change your name to CD-R 'cause you just got BURNED!
Sony should include this watch in their new VAIO 007 briefcase package.
from what i understand, there are plans for cheaper versions. i believe engadget had images of a cheaper version with a plastic strap and "sporty" front that will show up later on.
there is also a company around now that sell induction pads for charging. if this watch had a built in coil, it would a simple thing to drop it onto the pad at the end of the day and have it charge over night.
if one is lucky it can use the same charger as most SE phones, and comes complete with a splitter or something so you can change both phone and watch at the same time.
in the end im glad SE tries something like this as so far all we have seen that comes close to this are some old concepts from motorola and similar.
I still have a Beepwear pager watch. It's a useless gadget, but I still feel like the ultimate uber nerd for having a watch that has it's own 800 number.
No Thanks.
When does this explode?
For once they design a watch that looks decently professional with a suit. I don't want to have to cheapen my look by wearing a Timex or a Casio. But even without BlueTooth functionality, there must've been any number of other information once could've displayed in that cool blue LED screen -- so why haven't the watch manufacturers targeted this space before?
P.S. I want mine with an RSS feed and a stock ticker.
About battery life; I'd expect that the time-keeping runs from a watch battery, that will last a year, while the Bluetooth enchanced features will need power from a rechargable battery. If you don't charge it for a week, you still see the watch, but not know when somebody calls you. (I'm not going to RTFA because there is no service).
Will this work for the sony V800 / 802SE?
I will deffinetly take one if it works wid my noki e65 or else bt not only SE..... kindly help me out wether i take one or nt???