Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Wearables
  3. News

Sony’s tennis sensor tells you how much you suck (or rock) at tennis with data

Williams Pelegrin
By

Do you have a burning desire to measure how well, or how poorly, you perform on the tennis court? In that case, you might want to get cozy with Sony’s newly-announced Smart Tennis Sensor.

Appearing as a small sensor that attaches to the butt cap of your tennis racket, the Smart Tennis Sensor records all your shot data, such as your swing (shot) type, ball speed, swing speed, ball spin, ball impact shot, and other related information. This data is displayed in real-time on your iPhone or Android smartphone, or even your Android Wear device, through Bluetooth on the Smart Tennis sensor app.

Recommended Videos

Interestingly, there’s also Live Mode functionality that lets you record shot data together with live video footage of your mad skills. This functionality would help tennis players with their form and shot placement in relation to their shot data. Finally, you can share your results with others, in the event that you either want to boost or diminish your morale.

sony tennis
Image used with permission by copyright holder

With Bluetooth turned on, Sony says you should get 90 minutes of use with the Smart Tennis Sensor, though that’s based on 500 hits/swings in 60 minutes. You can opt to disable Bluetooth, which should double the battery life. Regardless, the Smart Tennis Sensor is IPX5 water-resistant and IP6X dust-resistance, so you shouldn’t worry about using the sensor in the elements.

Related

According to Sony, the Smart Tennis Sensor is the first of its kind to offer regular tennis players similar types of data that top-tier professionals have access to. Of course, Zepp Labs, which has its own sports sensors for Golf, Tennis, and baseball, would probably disagree.

If you’re someone who wants that kind of access, you can pick up the Sony sensor through Sony or Wilson for $200. The app, which is available for all Android devices running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and up, as well as most iOS devices running iOS 6.1 and up, can be downloaded for free through the Play Store and App Store.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Williams Pelegrin
Williams Pelegrin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
Apple Watch Series 8 temperature sensor: what it does and how to use it
The back of an Apple Watch Series 8.

The most significant improvement to this year’s Apple Watch Series 8 is the addition of a new wrist temperature sensor. It’s the first new health sensor to come to the Apple Watch since the Series 6 added support for detecting blood oxygen levels. It also joins car crash detection as one of only two features that distinguish the new Apple Watch from last year’s model.

However, Apple is only allowing the new temperature measuring capabilities to be used for two very specific areas of health monitoring, and there’s no indication that third-party developers will have any access to it. It’s an interesting contrast to Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5, which also introduced a body temperature sensor that has yet to be used for anything — but for which Samsung has promised to work with developers to build third-party solutions.

Read more
How much storage do you need on your new iPhone 14? Here’s how to decide
The five Apple iPhone 14 colors.

The new iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro are finally available, and Apple is again offering a selection of storage tiers. The big question is just how much storage do you need on your iPhone 14? Similar to last year, the iPhone 14 series lets you choose as little as 128GB and as much as 1TB. This means that if you want to get a new iPhone, you'll need to pick between 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB options. Bigger isn't always better, nor is it always excessive. Only you know how you use your phone, but here's a quick guide to help you pick which iPhone size is the best option for you.

Model
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max

Read more
Twitter now lets you pin DMs, and here’s how to do it
A Twitter logo graphic.

Twitter for iOS, Android, and web now lets you pin as many as six DMs to the top of your inbox.

Until now, the feature was only available to Twitter Blue users who have to hand over a monthly fee of $3 for extra goodies, but now the pinning feature is open to everyone on Twitter.

Read more