Sony’s greatest invention might not be the PlayStation 5, but this personal air conditioner that you can actually wear.
Yes, the PlayStation 5 promises to be a quantum leap forward for video games, promising life-like graphics and sound that has yet to be achieved by modern hardware. But you know what? Who cares. The PS5 isn’t coming out until November, and I’m sweating my butt off in the hot July sun right now.
Incredibly, Sony has a solution for that too. It’s called the Reon Pocket, and if the name doesn’t make any sense to you, that’s fine. It doesn’t make any sense to me either. The name matters less than the product description, which is basically a portable air conditioning unit that you slip inside your t-shirt and walk around with.
The Reon Pocket is essentially a heat pump. It uses the Peltier effect to turn stored electrical power into cooling. It has a cool side that sits against your upper back to provide a wonderful cooling sensation while venting heat out using a small, quiet fan.
According to Sony, users will feel like they’re experiencing temperatures up to 23 degrees Fahrenheit cooler (that’s 12.8 degrees Celsius) than ambient temperature. It can also work in reverse to provide a heating effect that provides a temperature boost of 14 degrees F (that’s 7.8 degrees C).
A companion app for iOS and Android allows the Reon Pocket to be controlled manually, although it comes standard with an automatic mode that senses temperature and motion to calculate optimum cooling. The battery is good for about 2-4 hours of use, depending on how hard it needs to work, and the battery can be recharged in about 2 hours.
Reon Pocket is priced at 13,000 yen, or about $120 USD. Those t-shirts with the special holders are about $20 each. Sadly, this seems to be a Japan-only product, but I’m willing to pay for shipping, Sony!
Source: Gizmodo, Sony
