Sony Ericsson LiveView

Need a watch for your Android phone? Sony Ericsson seems to think so. The Sony Ericsson LiveView, in theory, lets you control your phone wirelessly: Leave the handset in your pocket or bag, and check Facebook, Twitter, or even mute unwanted incoming calls right from the watch. Sadly, this thing is more trouble than it's worth.

Availability, Design, and Assembly
The LiveView is available in the U.S. exclusively through MobileCityOnline for $74.95, though you can also order it from MobileCityOnline via Amazon.com. Don't order it, though. Let me explain why.

The LiveView's main plastic body measures 1.4 by 1.4 by 0.4 inches (HWD) and weighs half an ounce. It only comes in black, with a glossy finish on the front and matte on the back. Compared with a regular watch, the LiveView looks thick and blocky, and the included Velcro wrist strap is just plain tacky. Even three-dollar watches can pull off imitation leather. Assembling the wrist strap is difficult, as the two sharp metal pins don't collapse far enough to be inserted into the main body of the watch easily. The manual is no help, either.

I'd say "don't try this at home," but you have to if you want to wear the damn thing. When asked about this, a Sony Ericsson spokesperson said that the company is "determined to provide an enjoyable out-of-the-box experience," and that they are "implementing changes in future shipments to provide the wrist strap with the frame already attached to it."

Phone Requirements, Setup, and Pairing
Sony Ericsson lists about 10 of its own smartphones that are compatible with the LiveView, including the Xperia X10 ($29.99 at AT&T), the Xperia Pro, and the new Xperia Play ($199.99, 3.5 stars). I also counted 13 devices on the "Other Brands" list; it includes some recent heavy hitters like the Samsung Galaxy S ($149.99, 4 stars) and HTC Desire ($79.99, 4.5 stars), but makes no mention of any recent 4G phones or of Verizon's "Droid" branded phones. That said, Sony Ericsson says it should work with most phones running Android 2.0 and up.

The LiveView works up to 33 feet away from a phone. Expect about 10 feet in typical use, which is plenty. Sony Ericsson says the LiveView typically lasts about four days on a single charge, which seemed to mirror what I saw (when it was working, which wasn't often).

The instructions are cluttered and unclear, and imply that you need to do things in what turns out to be the wrong order. After multiple installation and pairing attempts on two separate Android phones?an HTC Thunderbolt ($199.99, 4 stars) on Verizon, and a Samsung Infuse 4G ($199.99, 3.5 stars) on AT&T?I was finally able to figure out the procedure with the help of Sony Ericsson's PR department and support engineers.

In short, ignore the manual, and do this: 1) Grab the Barcode Scanner app from Android Market if you don't already have it. 2) Scan the barcode in the manual to install LiveWare Manager, whose only purpose I can figure out is so that the phone can then install the second LiveView app properly. 3) Pair the phone with the LiveView, and accept the passcode. 4) If things are good so far (and this only happened for me once), let the phone install the LiveView app. 5) Cross your fingers, because if it doesn't work, you will need to uninstall everything, unpair the LiveView, reboot the phone, and start over from the beginning in the above order. Seriously, if you try fixing it from here after an initial unsuccessful attempt, it will never work.

Features and User Interface
Assuming you get this far, the LiveView acts as a remote control for your phone. The 1.3-inch OLED display shows phone battery status and caller ID for incoming calls, along with text messages and RSS feeds. You can set it to show Facebook and Twitter updates, and use it to mute your phone's ringer for any incoming call. Other functions include calendar reminders, a useful find-your-phone mode, and play, pause, next, and previous controls for the music player app, complete with track title display.

When powered up, the color display looks dim and pixelated. Two raised function buttons sit on the top edges; the left one doubles as the power and Bluetooth pairing button. Both buttons are easy to press. The main screen shows a horizontal strip of icons, with the currently highlighted one in the center. To move between them, you don't swipe the screen, you press the left and right borders. That took a little while to figure out.

When a call comes in, it reads "Incoming Call" on the screen along with the caller ID and phone number. You can reject the call using the LiveView, or answer it with your phone. Clicking "find phone" makes your phone beep and display a cute "Here I am!" dialog box. The LiveView also shows missed calls, calendar entries, text messages, and scheduled events by selecting the appropriate icons, although oddly, the Missed Call section was blank at first; apparently it only shows missed calls received while it is connected, which is silly. Once you add the appropriate accounts, you can also monitor Facebook and Twitter updates, as well as track RSS feeds.

Sound good? Pity it's not usable in real life.

Testing, Synchronization, and Conclusions
In practice, the LiveView had plenty of problems. First, there was plenty of lag; I'd select an icon, only to wait four or five seconds before the LiveView would, say, show me a missed call. Worse, after all that work getting the LiveView paired, it still lost its connection too frequently. Reboots didn't always work either; I'd power cycle both the LiveView and the phone, wait, and then find that they still wouldn't pair when prompted. Then, mysteriously, it would all work again an hour later.

Synchronizing Facebook updates is kind of ridiculous; while reading them on the LiveView is indeed cool, you can only set polling frequency between a range of 15 minutes and three hours, and you can only manually update the list from the phone, not the LiveView. This means you'll almost always be looking at old information. At least the Twitter app gives the option of five-minute refreshes. The LiveView runs a few select third-party plug-ins from Android Market, such as Gmail and Weather (assuming they're compatible; Sony Ericsson has a list.)

I could go on, but I'll stop here. I'm having trouble coming up with a target customer for the LiveView. It's not that I don't appreciate the concept. Anyone who has searched frantically for a ringing phone could appreciate the need for something like the LiveView, to say nothing of convenient SMS, Facebook and Twitter updates just by glancing at your wrist. But Sony Ericsson's execution here leaves plenty to be desired. Here's hoping the next go around is better; I can easily envision an all-aluminum, much thinner version that actually works, possibly along with a nice leather wrist strap. For now, avoid the LiveView.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/uuAtiNnubnQ/0,2817,2387897,00.asp

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