yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I hope this isn't too far off topic, but I have two MBW-150 Executives and one MBW150 Classic, all with dead displays.

When I used Windows Mobile phones and SmartWatch, the MBW-150 battery would always last a week or more. Now that I'm on Android and OpenWatch, I can only get about seven hours before Bluetooth shuts off on the watch. (Without the display, the only way I can tell is that the watch vibrates when it turns Bluetooth off, and the phone shows that it's not connected.)

Thanks to another forumite's hint, if I delete the watch from the phone's Bluetooth, reset the watch and pair it with the phone again, I get three or four days on the battery, but then it's right back to seven hours again. I even bought two new batteries, but they didn't help at all.

There have been several reports of this on the OpenWatch thread, so I'm wondering if you guys are seeing the same thing. There's no sense replacing displays if the battery won't even make it through the work day.

The Android phones I have used are the HTC Evo 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G Touch. I wonder if the battery issue is caused by OpenWatch, but moneytoo seems to have moved on to other things. I also wonder if it was more than coincidence that my displays died on Android, after working fine for a couple years of Windows Mobile.
[General Accessories] Gadgety:
On the off-topic battery question. My wife uses her MBW-200 with an Android SonyEricsson Mini Pro (2nd gen, just out), and the OpenWatch software. She is not experiencing any battery trouble afaik.
[General Accessories] noob 911:
i dun understand wat is going on here,,,plz help...
[General Accessories] paulcw1:
MBW-150 Music Edition Source

Hi Folks,

I too have an MBW-150 and the OLED has faded and finally died. I've been lurking here and following this thread for about 6 months in the hopes that someone would find a solution, but no luck yet. So, I started doing more searching and, for those of us in the US, I think I have a potential solution. I found a site that claims to have a ton of the Music Edition of the MBW-150 in stock (the website says 100+). It says that they are new and the price is only $59 with free shipping. Sooooo.... I took a chance and ordered one. It arrived yesterday and GOOD NEWS!, it looks to be new and the OLED works great. It arrived in a plain brown box (the watch was in the nice small leather looking original box but it was not in the large fancy box that my first one arrived in). It had all of the accessories but no instructions (which I still had from my first watch). I charged it up and the OLEDs are nice and bright and there is zero signs of wear on the watch and or band. I'm not affiliated with this distributor and do not stand to make a penny from any sales and can only vouch for what I received in the mail (only took a few days to arrive). I'm not sure if I can post the URL here but, let me know and I'll post it if anyone in the US is interested in what appears to be a new MBW-150 Music Edition for $59.
[General Accessories] leobg:
Could you PM me a link? I am in Canada though, hopefully they ship over here too. I wonder if I can "transplant" the electronics over to my Exec edition. (Swap hands and back so except for the non-white display it still has the Exec look)

Swapping the display only is out of question - trying to desolder it for sure will kill it.
[General Accessories] abeln2672:
Would anyone with the instruction manual be so kind as to scan an post a copy or email it to me? I orered one of these two days ago and like the poster above, it arrived without insructions. I'm slightly perturbed, as I can't seem to find them ANYWHERE online, including Sony and SonyEricsson.com. Ugh.
[General Accessories] paulcw1:
I found it on line here: //safemanuals.com/user-guide-instructions-owner-manual/SONY%20ERICSSON/BLUETOOTH-%20WATCH%20MBW-150%20CLASSIC%20EDITION-_M

just add http at the beginning.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Here's the link I posted in the OpenWatch thread: http://www.expansys-usa.com/s.aspx?search=mbw

That's a good idea about transplanting the electronics. Let us know how that works for you. I have already removed the hands from one of mine and unsoldered the display, hoping I would be able to find a replacement, but to no avail.
[General Accessories] Ninjarider:
Email sent to Osram Opto semiconductors

Hello

This is my first post on xda..

I am on my second mbw-150 (a replacement.) and the display is already starting to fade right out of the box.

My wife have a mbw-200 and it shows not fadeing yet. Still crisp bright.

The 200 have a smaller display and my guess it probably is of a better production.

I have located the osram superconductor Oled 96x16 as shown here previously and sent them mail today.

We will see what they respond to the matter.

I will def try to solder this myself.

brgds

Nicholas
[General Accessories] CyberDemonVZ:
If you, or someone else, finds company that still sells displays that work on MBW-150, you could order 2 more (2 white OR 2 red) for me.

I am willing to pay price for display + shipping costs + shipping to my address (Croatia, Europe) + some $$ for your effort ;)
[General Accessories] Ninjarider:
Need specs of mbw-150 display

Hello folks

Im getting emails from mfg co. There are some small variations on displays from mfg co.

Anyone having specs on our oled?

Nicholas

Ps I have found size of our Oleds.......
[General Accessories] azhaxi:
This is very good news.
[General Accessories] CyberDemonVZ:
Waiting for news

And Ninjarider, any news? :)
[General Accessories] Ninjarider:
Hi

I have made initial contact with Truly and they say that our displays are not in stock but they can be reproduced.

Question is the MQO.....

I explained him that we are a community that seeks resolution of our case and that there are many watches out there who deserves a second chance.

I got ctc with Elcodis.. they seem to have the same Oleds that Truly made.

Same part nbrs... Initially they say no orders under 50 usd...

No info if thay have stock or not...

Waiting replay on that . maybe they have old stock somwhere.

Osram OP have not yet responded....

Thats all for now folks
[General Accessories] CZroe:
I ordered two MBW-150 Music Edition units and an MBW-200 last month. I wanted the second MBW-150 to extend the useful life but I waited to order it until I was sure that the price was for real and the item was in stock (found it at Expansys and ordered before the rest of the world seemed to notice ;)). Anyway, I ordered the MBW-200 for a coworker who decided that it was too feminine for him and ended up getting my second MBW-150 instead. It's a bit too feminine for me too so I was thinking that I'd just swap components when the time comes. Is that possible? It's a much smaller watch.

That said, I've used the "wave" method for soldering such things before so I would be willing to take a crack at installing one of the Truly displays received by the OP when the time comes.

Now, I see you guys are talking about poor battery life on Android, but I only experienced that with the experimental iOS support. The first charge died in less than a day when I was using Jailbroken iOS on GSM iPhone 4. It lasted three days with the next charge and I got an Android phone after that (SE Xperia PLAY 4G R800at), so this watch is the whole reason I ended up finally getting an Android phone and registering here!. I would have soon anyway since I put CM7 on my HP TouchPad. ;) Anyway, I got almost two weeks between charges with OpenWatch on Android. Is it fixed for you guys too?
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I always got two weeks between charges with SmartWatch on Windows Mobile phones: HTC Touch Pro and Touch Pro2, both running several different custom ROMs.

Since switching to Android and OpenWatch on an HTC Evo 4G and now a Samsung Epic 4G Touch, both rooted and on several different ROMs, if I delete and re-pair the watch, I can get two to three days for about a week.

After that, I get seven hours, almost to the minute, before the watch vibrates and shuts off its Bluetooth. This is with three different MBW-150s, so it's not a problem with an individual watch.

I wonder if your great battery life is because you're running an SE watch with an SE phone?
[General Accessories] general forceps:
No.

I get 2 weeks solid with a MBW-150 with SGS2, Dlev ROM, Siyah 2.2 kernel.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
It looks you two are on GSM Android phones, while mine are CDMA. I wonder if that could be the difference?
[General Accessories] CZroe:
I would expect Bluetooth to be isolated and agnostic of the CDMA hardware, considering that Android tablets with no cellular device in them still include functional Bluetooth. It doesn't mean that there is no interference glitch of some kind, so you may be on to something.
[General Accessories] damonous:
Note of caution: cheap "new" MBW's

All, I'm as big a fan as you of the Sony MBW series. When they work, they are fantastic. Perhaps one of the coolest things about them are the way they are such discreet tech gadgets ...because they look like regular, high-class watches. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll eventually have to go the MetaWatch way.

I've previously owned the MBW-150 Executive (about 1.2yrs OLED life; now a dust-catcher on the shelf), and currently wear the Music version (less than 10months before initial dimming).

So, although I hadn't seen this thread till now, I was as excited as you when discovering the Music version and the MBW-200 on Amazon (via Expansys) for such a low blowout price.

BIG word of caution: while the other poster might have been lucky with his purchase, I am in the process of return for my MBW-200. Clearly, these are either refurbs or (worse) second-hand units with new casings & bands. Straight out of delivery, mine came with an OLED that was DIM but for a very bright bottom row/line of the display. <bummed>:(

Perhaps just as well. The amazon user review said it was pretty 'manly' for a women's watch. While it's clearly not 'dainty', it's clear that the user never wore a monolithic, ode-to-testosterone MBW-150.:D

What's really bugging me about this whole mess is: What is this infernal insistence upon these watch manufacturers using OLED displays? Even the analog-style MetaWatch uses not one but TWO OLED displays. YIKES! (Maybe that's so you have an automatic backup/replacement display when one dies, as we know it will?):confused:

So, the only valid choice is the kiddy-like MetaWatch with full-screen LCD.:rolleyes:

If there's one mixed-blessing out of this for us here, I think it's that we will be spared of being SUCKERS for the eventual full-size multi-thousand-dollar flat panels based upon this ridiculous/crap technology.
[General Accessories] Gadgety:
I understand the dimming is due to the oled becoming damp.

I've gone through two MBW-150 Music Editions in about 4 years or so. The second one didn't last long. My wife's MBW-200 with the updated display has lasted 2 years without any dimming. I'm surprised the Evening Classic versions on Expansys are dim out of the bag.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Where did you get that information? I bought my first Executive model brand new and it was on my wrist for almost two years before it started fading. I bought a used Classic cheap on eBay, and found another used Executive before that one arrived.

Both of the replacements were as bright as new when they arrived. I kept the Classic in the box and wore the Executive. Both displays were completely faded within 2-3 months. I still think the fading has to do with either the physical age of the displays or when the watches were assembled.

Either way, none of us are happy about spending this much money for a device that fails, and then to have Sony-Ericsson completely deny responsibility and refuse to replace or repair them.
[General Accessories] CZroe:
I think mine is fading (1.5 months) and I have seen condensation inside when I ride the motorcycle on very cold days.
[General Accessories] parsifal56:
MBW-150 rubber band

Hi, do any of you know where I can get a replacement rubber band for my mbw-150 music edition watch? The display is ok, but the band is not... Thanx!:(
[General Accessories] Ninjarider:
Now on order

Hi all folks.

I have recieved two music editions off Amazon.de at really good price in November. Working great(besides fade issue)

When I compare these two with my wife 200 "evening" the white oleds are brighter and actually suits my "eyes" better. I therefore attempt future oled replacement with white.

I have now 3 x Music editions. One in guarantee service after DOA battery issue.

I am now ordering 4 oleds (MI9616AO) (white) off Displayfuture.com They are rated at 22usd each and shipment at 70usd from HK I think.

Mr. Sudhish Aggarwal is most helpful at :

BusinessDevelopment Manager

email:sales.eu@displayfuture.com

Glasgow company (retailers of Truly i think)

I tried to shop direct with Truly but they could not of course.

although they were at one point to send me 3 samples for free.

The watch Iam using on daily base is showing fading tendency and I guess I will attemt change of Oled in Feb/mar.

One contact previuosly says that it is not the Oled itself that suffers from humidity/air leaks. Its is the IC . I can not confirm this.

So fellow SE watch owners. Your watches will most likely have a life after battery and oled change.

Some of you are already Metawatch owners I guess

I will revert you with my progress.

So Long

Ninjarider

---------- Post added at 11:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:11 AM ----------

I dont thik you will be able to get original band.

There are tons of 24mm rubber band at ebay
[General Accessories] fiveseven808:
Holy bajesus! I love that previous post! What's the total price you paid for all 4 displays? I don't think I'm looking at the same displays on the site as they seem a lot cheaper when I look at them...

If the displays actually come, I may be interested in doing an order myself! Let me know if the transplants are successful!

I've just ordered a MBW-200 as my music edition 150 is fading pretty quickly :\

These things are getting pretty cheap on ebay (around $80-90usd) at the moment. I'm starting to wonder if the steady supply of these things is enough to keep me just buying new ones every time a display burns out :P I've scratched up the front glass pretty bad on my watch unfortunately, and I figured for nice occasions, I'll use the MBW-200.

Side note (pure speculation): That note about the IC being the problem could be a real possibility :\ It appears that the OLED Driver Supply voltage is 9v (step up from 3v-3.7v li-ion?). Now, I'm of the opinion that SE engineers aren't the brightest bunch (case in point, SE LiveView) and if they didn't design the boost circuitry with large enough tolerances (not that easy to do inside a watch to their credit), it is possible that ripple and feedback could cause damage to the boost (or OLED driver circuitry).

I don't have anything to back my speculation up as the picture posted by JimSmith94 doesn't show signs of any substantial voltage step up circuitry. I mean, the tiny SOT-23 sized bits could do the job as well, but I have my doubts about them being large enough to power the display :\ (unsubstantiated claim).

If anyone has one of these watches apart and lying around, super clear large pics of both sides of the watch would be amazing ;)
[General Accessories] Ninjarider:
Hi Fiveseven

I can send you pdf with details on MI9616AO Pm me your mail.

4 x 22usd + 70usd ship..

rgds Ninjarider
[General Accessories] vaevictus_net:
I had given up hope! I still wear my mbw150 ... if i'm in a perfectly dark room i can still see the display a bit. :D

Let us know when you receive them!
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
This is about the best I can do. The originals are about 1 MB each, but the forum shrunk them to 88 KB each. Let me know if there's a way to upload larger pictures, and I'll try. :) If all else fails, PM me your email address and I'll send the originals to you.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I am really psyched to think you might have found a solution! :D I think my Executives displays were white, from what I remember way back when they worked. :rolleyes:

Any chance you could post a picture or two of the 150 and 200 side by side, or at least compare the sizes?

Thanks for your good work!
[General Accessories] Ninjarider:
Hi the 200 series was for ladies..

Go and tube mbw-150 and 200.

In the end of this vid you see the two compared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3X1oav5Fdo
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
The video helped a lot, thanks!
[General Accessories] madbird:
hi

today i grabbed my mbw-150 out of the cabinet, put it to a charger and what do i see, display is dimed :(. i dont use the watch for over a year just charging it from time to time and it was stored in a cabinet for watches (yes i collecting watches :) ) next to the front door. so there is no sunlight nor high humidity. i think the display just dieing because it is getting old.

now i sit down and observe this thread if someone successfully change the display, and think about buying a 'liveview', but im a little confused if sony put also lousy parts in liveview.
[General Accessories] Ninjarider:
Hi Madbird

Yes these 150 are fading. Hope my display change will solve the issue.

I have read some issues about the liveview and the main issue was that there was problems with connectivity. There is one vid at Tube showing some other issues

My guess is that they will be dicontinued .They give them away when buying SE phones these days. Also they are not analog like the 150 and 200 series and the MetaWatch.

I have now ordered oleds today.

Ninja
[General Accessories] vaevictus_net:
You can probably use imgur.com and link those in.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I sent the originals to fiveseven808 a couple days ago.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Any news on when the OLEDs will be delivered?

---------- Post added at 06:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:59 PM ----------

I let my watch battery run down enough to turn off Bluetooth. I can't see the display and have forgotten the button sequence to turn BT back on. Could someone please post the steps?
[General Accessories] ucos:
Any news on when the OLEDs will be delivered?
[General Accessories] cex123:
Just in case this can be useful, just say that I had same problem (dim oled) on an Abacus watch (very similar to MBW-100) and found that the OLED in Dealextreme's SKU 25724 (can be found cheaper at eBay) works fine.

The original OLED seem to have failed due to mechanical stress, the replacement was slightly smaller, so it won't suffer so mauch stress.

Been working now for a year with no problems. I don't know if the OLED is the same as the MBW-150 (not valid for MBW-200 which features lower resolution), but for around 20 Euros it could be worth to give it a try.

Please note that replacing the oled requires quite good soldering skills, as you have to desolder the old one from your MBW without damaging the PCB, and get the working one from the bracelet without damaging the ribbon.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that bracelet OLED is BLUE (same as my Abacus watch). I think the MBW-150 is white or orange, so take this into account if you want to try this.
[General Accessories] philnew:
Hoping for a solution.

If someone figures this out I would be willing to pay them to fix it. I am not good at soldering and really want to fix mine.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Apparently Ninjarider's displays never arrived. Has anyone else been able to find, order, receive, and install a new display?
[General Accessories] PVTD:
I have a never used MBW-100, but I think the battery is dead as it shows charging when attached to the charger + once fully charged (Logo showing full) and unplug the charger, the screen goes blank and the watch stops showing correct time.

The weird part is, I have the dimmed problem too, almost invisible, BUT when I unplug the charger, for

a fraction of a second

the screen brightness goes very bright, shows perfectly the battery and falls into it's end. 9 out of 10 times I get that situation...

Is it really the OLED being dead??? Couldn't it be a different problem?

Thanks,

PVTD
[General Accessories] leobg:
You are totally onto something! Anyone who opened their watch, are there any discrete elements on the motherboard?
[General Accessories] hausman:
I've seen that too; never quite knew what to make of it.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
There are no discrete elements. I posted pictures of both sides of the circuit board earlier in this thread. I have replaced batteries in two of my three MBW-150s. They all have completely faded displays, but I have never seen them flash to life when removing them from the charger.

Ever since I switched from Windows Mobile a couple years ago, my watch batteries only last almost exactly six hours before they get too weak, and vibrate and turn Bluetooth. I have posted about this before but apparently no one else has this problem. I have been through multiple Android phones, ROMs, kernels, etc. but they all act the same.
[General Accessories] Ninjarider:
Hi PVTD

About your problem with dim Oled and battery.

Your Oled might be ok, is possible that you battery needs a jumpstart.

Open your watch and take out battery (easy with the socket)

Use a 3,7v (18650) battery or other fresh battery adding up to about 3.7v.

Now take a cable from to + to + and - to - for some minutes.

This will give battery a lot more juice to wake it alive.

After this, connect to normal charger to top up battery.

I have had a 150 lying for 6months before use and sendt it in for warranty repair.

I got reply they could not replace battery.... I got watch back + a warrany package deal replacement of a Mobile SE Experia mini pro (that i sold).

Jumpstarted battery and works fine since (4months)

Reason for me to expect that your Oled is ok, is that it shows light when charging.

Watch does not show any more light than their faded state.

Now you all folk asking for my project replacing Oleds.

I was promised and I also paid for Oleds that never was shipped due productions stop. I got refund of course.

Seems like I am walking the same route that others here have.

My apology for misleading you guys and giving you hope.

I have for a long time been looking all over for a 31pin (downline) Oleds.

They just dont seem to be in production any more.

I think that these 31pins have been replaced by 14pins sideways. These 14pins Oleds gives us the possiblity to connect,,, because not all 31pins are in use. Problem with 14pins Oleds is the driver SSD1 that is sideways. There might be space problem to allocate driver sideways. ( going this way with sideways driver and 14 pins connection , is that connections must be cabeled (14).

There is a company saying that thay have some 31pins stock left but not willing to do deal. I do send mails hoping that they will ship that small stock they seem to have.

If all this ends up with no fix we can look for the Meta analog watch that is the next best option. This watch does not have the same battery life as the 150 but its is a good replacement i think .

Now the sony Smart watch is coming for 150usd. 3-7days battery life .

I may be going this way after my 150`s are dead. or maybe a Wimm One.....?

Definitely not the I`mWatch because of the terrible batterylife of 8-12hrs.

I think we will se more and more new watches coming to market.

:o

Ninjasoontorideagain
[General Accessories] jamesbond007uk:
I have same problem with my mbw-150.

Did someone else try the jump start of the battery?

Does it work?

Thanks
[General Accessories] vaevictus_net:
I've got two paperweights myself, but my son has been a handful lately and we moved and i've got another son on the way. I'd love to see whether those displays would work.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I'm sorry to say that even without a working display, my Bluetooth connection only lasts about six hours before it kills the phone battery enough to turn Bluetooth off. :( I haven't seen anyone else with the same complaint, but I used to get a week or so on Windows Mobile. I have had the same short life on every Android phone and OS version I've been through for well over a year.