LIVE FROM CES 2014: Sony Mobile became the latest vendor to jump on the wearables bandwagon, with Kunimasa Suzuki, president and CEO, describing such products as “an important part of our future”, as the company also showcased a pair of new smartphones.

The company outlined its “SmartWear Experience vision”, which comprises an upcoming range of SmartWear products, with Xperia smartphones, and a new Lifelog application. Leading the way is a SmartBand (wrist band) which “offers life empowerment by logging daily activities and representing them visually in Sony’s Lifelog application”.

The device features a removable Core unit, which will provide the brains for other wearable products and can be worn in “countless different ways”. The vendor said it is “forging new in-market partnerships, to offer consumers more choice”.

“In 2014, we will deliver new and exciting wearable products and experiences that will make our daily lives more fun,” Suzuki said.

Discussing the Core unit, he continued: “This could be the tiniest gadget Sony has ever made, but it is at the heart of our vision. Through the Lifelog application, this tiny waterproof device will let you capture and analyse many aspects of your life, and then provide you with the information you need to explore and enjoy the world around you.”

Acknowledging the lack of detail in some areas of his presentation, he noted: “I know my talk today is a bit general and an outline only, but I look forward to bringing you more details very soon,” as an image of Barcelona (home to next month’s Mobile World Congress) was projected onto the screen.

Z1 CompactMoving onto its smartphones, the company confirmed the release of the anticipated Xperia Z1 Compact, which it described as “the world’s best premium compact smartphone”.

It is powered by a 2.2GHz quadcore Qualcomm processor, includes LTE connectivity, and has a 20.7 megapixel camera. It has a screen size of 4.3-inches with 1280×720 pixel resolution, compared with 5-inches and 1920×1080 pixels for the Z1.

And also unveiled was the Z1S, an T-Mobile US exclusive.