Sony SmartBand 2 To Take On Fitbit | TechCrunch

Will it be enough? Sony just announced a new Sony SmartBand 2. It is everything you’ve come to expect from fitness tracker. It has a silicon band, it can track your steps for daysand it comes with a heart rate sensor.

Everybody is trying to come up with a 24/7 fitness tracker. It seems like it’s not difficult to build one. The Sony SmartBand has all the features you can find in the Fitbit Charge HR or the Polar Loop 2.

At first it’s a fitness tracker with a heart rate sensor built-in. It lets you know how much you moved during your day. But it’s also a baby smartwatch as it lets you receive notifications on your wrist. Vibrations and LEDs alert you when you receive a call, a message or an email.

The company already released the Android companion app, showing that you can pause your music, go to your previous or next track by tapping once or twice. There is also a night mode, which disables notifications. You can also set up an alarm clock.

Sony also created a special feature that lets you monitor your stress level, or your level of excitement. It combines information from the accelerometers with the heart rate sensor so that it can map your heart rate with each activity. Unfortunately, the battery only lasts two days.

Is it enough to compete with Fitbit, a company now worth $9 billion? It all comes down to software. If Sony can create a solid app ecosystem for its smart bands, then it could become a serious contender. The SmartBand 2 supports iOS 8.2 and Android 4.4 (KitKat). It will be available in September 2015 for $130.