Sony Unveils Future Lab With Next-Gen Wearable Protoypes At SXSW

By Ellen Fraser, | March 15, 2016

Sony's Future Lab ensures that the technology is always in line with the needs of the public and its consumers.

Sony's Future Lab ensures that the technology is always in line with the needs of the public and its consumers.

Sony recently unveiled a new program called Future Lab at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Conferences and Festivals featuring new set of prototypes including a new wearable device under a working name Concept N.

The first project of the Future Lab is a hands-free headphone that may appear like LG’s Tone Infinim Wireless headset, but with some differences including voice control. The wearable device is equipped with open speakers and responds to voice prompts, The Verge reported. It does not require any earpieces and it also features a camera, sensors, and a GPS. Project N ties up with Strava, AccuWeather, and Yelp as content partners. 

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The design sports a premium Sony device and does not give off a cheap feeling. The neckband-like device audio quality is sharp, and the voice technology is created by Sony as well which can be activated when user says “Listen Up Arc.” Users can wear the device while running, biking, or driving without needing to worry about safety issues and it includes motion sensing capability.

Sony plans to create as well a pair of earbuds with a unique twist, which is called open-ear earphones. It consists of a driver with a small tube going off of it and ends in a small open circle when putting on the ears. It may be a bit weird but it provides very good job of transmitting the audio from the driver into the ears while still letting the user hear everything around them.

Concept N has also the ability to take pictures just like the Google Glass by using the command “Listen up Arc, take photo”. Upon hearing the instruction, the lens will then rotates to appear in the window on the left side of the device, which is likely built to ease the privacy concerns of the users.

In addition, Sony launched other prototypes of two concept projectors. The first one could make an interactive table top by displaying a screen on any surface that user may engage with. The second one described as “multi-axis moving projector” that lets the users to move the screen onto any wall without worrying the content and sound quality.

Future Lab aims to support the research and development arm of Sony. Its main goal is to make sure that the technology is always in line with the needs of the public and its consumers, according to Venture Beat. Showcasing the concept products under the early stage development will help Sony to receive feedbacks that will be used to improve the products until the end. 

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