How to obtain, setup and use a Sony wena 3 Smart watch band in North America
In this repository, I will keep all information gathered in my effort to use the Sony wena 3 smartwatch band in the U.S.A.
Read more about Sony here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony
The Sony wena 3 is the third iteration of Sony Electronic's "smartwatch band" product. (Preceded by the wena wrist and wena wrist pro/wena active) Wena is a portamanteau of Wear Electronics Naturally. It is essentially a limited-function smartwatch in the shape of a folding clasp found on traditional metal watch bands. It integrates a number of features including bluetooth, allowing it to connect to an iOS or Android device via the wena 3 app.
Read more about wena here: https://wena.jp/ (Google Translate does a great job if you're using Chrome or Edge browsers)
The wena 3 product is available only in Japan and is intended for the Japanese market only. The device's display can be switched to English, however, making it useable for non-Japanese speakers. The wena 3 app, however, is currently only (mostly) Japanese.
I prefer mechanical watches because of their utility, craftsmanship and ease of use. The wena 3 appeals to me because I can wear a mechanical watch and still get the limited smartwatch features I want. (Notifications, mostly)
Despite the wena 3 being a Japanese market only device, it's relatively easy to get your hands on one. Doing a simple Google Shopping search for "wena 3" will result in eBay auctions and electronic stores around the world that will ship to the U.S. The prices of the wena 3 are fairly low right now (and oddly lower than the earlier versions of the device) and I was able to order one, new in box, from Japan for under $250, with free shipping.
Most of the challenges I've encountered thus far are due to the wena 3 being intended for the Japanese market. As I encounter and overcome them, I'll add details below.
The first obstacle was installing the wena 3 app. Details about installing the app can be found on the details page here: https://github.com/TheRiflesSpiral/Sony-wena-3/blob/main/getting_the_wena_3_app.md
Like most apps these days, in order to use the wena 3 app you must set up an account with wena. I had major issues with this and ended up using my Apple account. Details about that process are here: https://github.com/TheRiflesSpiral/Sony-wena-3/blob/main/setting-up-the-wena-3-app.md (Further details about my troubles setting up a wena account with Sony are here: https://github.com/TheRiflesSpiral/Sony-wena-3/blob/main/setting-up-the-wena-3-account.md)
The wena 3's default language is Japanese, but it can be switched to English fairly easily. See how to do that here: https://github.com/TheRiflesSpiral/Sony-wena-3/blob/main/setting-up-the-wena-3-language.md