Sony Ericsson has just announced LiveView, a 1.3 inch OLED screen that uses Bluetooth technology to pair with Android devices and gives users the ability to do things such as view missed calls, text messages, Facebook and Twitter updates, even RSS. It’s coming out in Q4 of this year, and no price point has been announced yet, but I’ve got to ask … why? Bluetooth displays are awesome, there’s no doubt about that, but instead of releasing it as a dedicated watch it’s nothing more than an iPod Nano that can talk to the device that’s already in your pocket. Applications will have to be rewritten to support LiveView and Sony Ericsson plans on releasing an application that will scan the Android Market and show users which apps are compatible with their new toy. Kind of like a LiveView Store within the App Store.
Anyway, are you interested in such a device? It charges via USB, should last up to 4 days, and is 35 mm x 35 m x 11 mm, meaning it isn’t exactly the thinnest thing in the world. The iPod Nano for example is 8.8 mm thick, and that includes the clip. Now yes, an iPod Nano isn’t the exact same thing as this device, which uses wireless technology to talk to a mobile phone, but are there really that many use cases where one can honestly say they’d need such a thing?
Remember the Palm Folio, and how it was supposed to be the ultimate smartphone accessory? It was a little too early and a year or two later the netbook space exploded. Maybe the same thing will happen here, and micro wearable displays will become all the rage by the time Android hits version 5.0 and iOS is up to version 7.0. By then they’ll be ultra low power Bluetooth in more devices and we’ll now have to worry about people fiddling with their wrists at the dining room table, while driving, in school, etc.