mbw-100
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Sony Ericsson's new MBW-150 Bluetooth watch rocks AVRCP
Bluetooth wristwatches are all the rage lately -- or at least Sony Ericsson hopes so, because it has a vested interest in most of them -- and just like we suspected, the JV has announced its latest model, the MBW-150, complete with AVRCP support for wireless control of your music phone. This followup to the MBW-100 comes in three styles (Classic, Music, and Executive, pictured left to right) that all perform the standard caller ID / SMS notification thing, while tossing in the highly-desirable ability to change tracks and adjust volume as well as view track info on the face. No pricing or release details were immediately released, so we'll keep ya updated.
The 2006 Engadget Awards: Vote for Wearable Device of the Year
Now's your chance to cast your ballot for the 2006 Wearable Device of the Year! Our Engadget Awards nominees are listed below, and you've got until 11.59PM EST on Sunday, April 15th to file your vote. You can only vote once, so make it count, and may the best tech win! The nominees: Aliph Jawbone Bluetooth headset, HAL-5 robotic suit, Motorola / Oakley O ROKR, Nike + iPod, Shure E500PTH, and Sony Ericsson MBW-100 Bluetooth watch. %Poll-233%
Sony Ericsson MBW-100 unboxing
Yeah, early reviews seem to indicate that Sony Ericsson's MBW-100 Bluetooth (along with its Fossil and Abacus cousins) watch isn't all that, mainly on account of its bulk, its price, and the fact that it only seems to work with Sony Ericsson phones -- but that doesn't mean it isn't still cool. Reader Gareth was kind enough to send us some comprehensive eye candy of his MBW-100's unboxing, and he reports a pretty positive experience with it so far. In pairing it with his P990i, he found that setup was super easy and the controls / caller ID were quick to operate, but the crown jewel might be the "out of range" functionality that notified him quickly when he left his abode sans phone. Click on for the rest of the pictures![Thanks, Gareth M.]
Fossil's Bluetooth watches earn FCC thumbs-up
It pretty much goes without saying that these little morsels of wrist tech were going to be finding their way into the FCC's clutches, but it's still always interesting to browse the documents nonetheless. It appears that this filing represent approvals for Fossil's own FX6001, along with the Abacus branded AU6001 and AU6002 and the Sony Ericsson MBW-100, which makes sense considering the guts are identical among all four variants. Most notable for folks anxiously awaiting the arrival of these timepieces in their friendly local Fossil shop will probably be the user's manual, which while short and sweet, still manages to convey the stuff you absolutely need to know for when you tear that box open. Enjoy the reading material!
Sony Ericsson's MBW-100 Bluetooth watch reviewed
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.
