Sony has announced a range of traditional watches designed to work with two new Wena Wrist smart straps, moving the likes of activity tracking and notifications away from the watch face.
The company will offer two versions of the Wena Wrist - the Pro and Active - with both able to fit onto five traditional watch faces: Mechanical, Solar Chronograph, Solar Three Hands, Quartz Chronograph and Quartz Three Hands.
Hands on: Sony Wena Wrist Active and Pro review
Anything from the new range is able to be mixed and matched, meaning, for example, one of the Solar watch faces could be paired with either the silicone Active or metal Pro (which comes in either black or silver). Both will be a 20mm band that comes with 18mm, 20mm and 22mm lug attachments.
As shown below, smarts such as phone notifications instead appear on the back of the smart band, with users able to customize buzzes with the colored LED lighting, too. Sony also indicates that to allow for ease in contactless payments, the NFC chip is also placed on the underside of the watch.
Sony Wena Wrist smart straps: (left) Active and (right) Pro
Those looking for the new Sony range to track their activity also get a fairly deep experience, considering the smarts are held entirely within a strap. Steps and calories burned come as standard in both, though the Active, as the name suggests, goes a bit further - GPS tracking and a heart rate sensor is built into the band.
Sony unveiled its first Wena watch back in 2015 as one of the ideas that came out from the company's Seed Acceleration Program. The biggest differences from previous models is that you now get a bigger display to view more data, new smarts and a slimmer design.
The collection is available from 13 February, but unfortunately will only be available in the UK to begin with. Sony notes that the Wena Wrist Active will set you back £349, while the Pro will be slightly more expensive, coming in at £399. However, that's just for the smart strap element - the prices for the watch faces range from £100 - £400.
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Conor moved to Wareable Media Group in 2017, initially covering all the latest developments in smartwatches, fitness trackers, and VR. He made a name for himself writing about trying out translation earbuds on a first date and cycling with a wearable airbag, as well as covering the industry’s latest releases.
Following a stint as Reviews Editor at Pocket-lint, Conor returned to Wareable Media Group in 2022 as Editor-at-Large. Conor has become a wearables expert, and helps people get more from their wearable tech, via Wareable's considerable how-to-based guides.
He has also contributed to British GQ, Wired, Metro, The Independent, and The Mirror.