An improvement over previous designs

I bought this to replace my Sony Smartwatch 2, which had a cracked screen. I still liked that watch, and simply wanted to repair it but could not find any service willing to work on it. I settled on replacing it, and tried to a Samsung Gear first, and found it to be too entrenched in Samsung's ecosystem. The Sony Smartwatch 3 (SW3), while not quite as user friendly as the SW2, retains most of the functionality that I liked about that watch, while offering several improvements. The gyroscope in the watch makes it possible to turn on the screen's backlight with just a flick of the wrist, so it is not necessary to "wake up" the watch to check the time. It also features some voice controls. I wouldn't necessarily use this feature, but it is good to have. As far as applications go, this use Google Wear OS rather than the proprietary OS used by previous Sony watches. While I am disappointed that some of those Sony applications for the SW2 cannot be used here, overall the change in operating system does not reduce the functionality. This can do everything the SW2 could and then some. My only complaint is that accessing a particular app can take a bit long, as there does not seem to be any way to customize the order of the apps, which was a handy feature on the SW2. I'll have to experiment more with the SW3 to see if I can customize it more, but for now, it seems more restrictive. Cosmetically, it's very nice looking, and I've received several compliments. I've heard mixed things about the long term viability of the band, but it's an improved design as far as I can tell, assuming that it holds up.On the whole, I like this watch, and unlike the Samsung Gear watch I tried, I will be keeping this one.Read full review

Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned