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Sony unveils SmartWatch 3 as HTC abandons wearable plans

Sony has announced its SmartWatch 3 with Android Wear, while HTC has seemingly abandoned smartwatch plans

8 Sep 2014

Sony has unveiled the SmartWatch 3 with Android Wear, reports The Verge, ahead of Apple's iWatch announcement and HTC's apparent cancellation of the HTC One Wear.

The wearable is the fifth generation of Sony's smartwatch, and sports a 1.6-inch display held in removable silicon straps.

It has a 320 x 320 resolution, 4GB storage and a quad-core 1.2 GHz processor with 420mAh battery. It runs on Google's Android Wear platform.

In addition, Sony is releasing the SmartBand Talk, a 1.4-inch device with HD Voice support, with the company touting it as the ideal choice for making phone calls and remotely controlling music playing on other devices.

It also boasts various fitness tracking features, and both will be available with Bluetooth and NFC connectivity. They are expected to land on shelves in the autumn.

Meanwhile, according to a report from Pocket-lint, HTC has seemingly abandoned its own plans to enter the competitive smartwatch market with the HTC One Wear.

Quoting "sources familiar with the matter," a delay in the company releasing a smartwatch or smartband is due to a need to save costs and a lack of belief in their offering. The watch was supposed to be a re-jigged version of the Qualcomm Toq, rumours suggested.

Rapidly increasing competition from the likes of LG, Samsung, Motorola and more has seemingly made HTC reluctant to enter the arena with a less than perfect product, and it is thus being reported that the smartwatch has been abandoned for the time being.