Skip to main content

Sony’s Reon Pocket is a smartphone-controlled wearable air conditioner

With summer temperatures ramping up across the northern hemisphere, temperature-controlled clothes really can’t come soon enough.

Recommended Videos

In the meantime, we’re left having to contort our jaws in a desperate effort to blow air onto our faces, or flap our shirts manically in the absurd belief that it’s actually going to make any difference.

But fear not. Sony is apparently on the case. It’s been working on the Reon Pocket air conditioner, a device that it says can be worn discreetly on your back to keep you cool in hot weather, and warm in winter.

Smaller than a smartphone, the miniature air conditioner slots into an inside pocket in a specially made undershirt and cools the wearer using a Peltier element usually used in cars and wine coolers. Its battery can last for 90 minutes, and needs two hours to fully recharge.

The Reon Pocket connects to a smartphone app, which the wearer uses to control the temperature as they go about their day. Or at least, 90 minutes of it.

While it won’t keep your face cool in direct sunlight, keeping the rest of your body cool under your top could make a real difference for those sensitive to hot and sticky weather conditions. Similarly, it will also come in handy when you have to head outside on bitterly cold winter days.

インナーウェア装着型 冷温両対応ウェアラブルデバイス

The Reon Pocket is the latest product to emerge from First Flight, a crowdfunding platform launched by Sony in 2015. First Flight lets workers at the tech company suggest slightly more offbeat products — like the Reon Pocket — before putting the most interesting ones on its funding site to gauge interest among potential customers.

It’s certainly looking good for the Reon Pocket as in just a few days it has so far raised more than $275,000 from around 1,800 backers.

Sony is aiming to launch the Reon Pocket in 2020, hopefully in time for the Tokyo Olympics, which, if past Japanese summers are anything to go by, is set to be a very sweaty one for visitors and athletes alike. Indeed, you may need to place several of these devices around your body to have any hope of coping with the oppressive heat and humidity.

The Reon Pocket comes with an undershirt and is expected to sell for around $130. It’s currently listed as a Japan-only product, but if it proves a hit, Sony could be tempted to expand sales of the device to overseas markets, too.

If you simply can’t wait for the Reon Pocket to arrive, check out the weirdest cooling gadgets currently available on Amazon.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Sony’s new ultra-wide, ultra-bright lens is the widest E-mount prime yet
sony fe 20mm f 18 g announced f18

Introducing FE 20mm F1.8 G | Sony | Lens

Sony’s E-mount lens lineup just gained a new member. Announced on February 25, the Sony FE 20mm f/1.8 G is the widest prime lens yet for the native full-frame E-mount family. While Sony has zoom lenses that go even wider, the 20mm offers a brighter f/1.8 aperture along with a design that’s ideal for astrophotography, street photography, environmental portraiture, and video, the company says.

Read more
Air Pix is a pocket-sized flying photographer robot, and it’s only $100
airselfie airpix ces 2020 product hand

AirSelfie showed its latest miniature camera drone at CES 2020 this week called the Air Pix, fixing many of the problems that its first drones had -- most importantly being able to fly the damn thing.

Regular readers may remember our first run-in with an AirSelfie drone with our AirSelfie 2 review. It was perhaps one of the most disastrous review experiences that the author has had in 15+ years in tech news. Poor app design and testing initially locked us out of testing the drone at all, and once AirSelfie addressed that issue, the app was so bad it made our eyes hurt. It was like something you'd see on a 2009 iPhone.

Read more
Juiced Bikes offers 20% off on all e-bikes amid signs of bankruptcy
Juiced Bikes Scrambler ebike

A “20% off sitewide” banner on top of a company’s website should normally be cause for glee among customers. Except if you’re a fan of that company’s products and its executives remain silent amid mounting signs that said company might be on the brink of bankruptcy.That’s what’s happening with Juiced Bikes, the San Diego-based maker of e-bikes.According to numerous customer reports, Juiced Bikes has completely stopped responding to customer inquiries for some time, while its website is out of stock on all products. There are also numerous testimonies of layoffs at the company.Even more worrying signs are also piling up: The company’s assets, including its existing inventory of products, is appearing as listed for sale on an auction website used by companies that go out of business.In addition, a court case has been filed in New York against parent company Juiced Inc. and Juiced Bike founder Tora Harris, according to Trellis, a state trial court legal research platform.Founded in 2009 by Harris, a U.S. high-jump Olympian, Juiced Bikes was one of the early pioneers of the direct-to-consumer e-bike brands in the U.S. market.The company’s e-bikes developed a loyal fandom through the years. Last year, Digital Trends named the Juiced Bikes Scorpion X2 as the best moped-style e-bike for 2023, citing its versatility, rich feature set, and performance.The company has so far stayed silent amid all the reports. But should its bankruptcy be confirmed, it could legitimately be attributed to the post-pandemic whiplash experienced by the e-bike industry over the past few years. The Covid-19 pandemic had led to a huge spike in demand for e-bikes just as supply chains became heavily constrained. This led to a ramp-up of e-bike production to match the high demand. But when consumer demand dropped after the pandemic, e-bike makers were left with large stock surpluses.The good news is that the downturn phase might soon be over just as the industry is experiencing a wave of mergers and acquisitions, according to a report by Houlihan Lokey.This may mean that even if Juiced Bikes is indeed going under, the brand and its products might find a buyer and show up again on streets and trails.

Read more