It's hot in Japan, but can Sony device beat heat here?

ST puts the 249 gadget to the test against bottles of ice-cold water and a portable fan

- Osmond Chia

Can technology save people from Singapore's unrelenting heat? Sony's futuristic wearable cooling device, popular in Japan, is available for sale here for the first time. But budget options - a fan and a bottle of ice - are also vying with the $249 Sony Reon Pocket 5 for attention.

The Reon Pocket 5, expected to be in stores in mid-May, adds to a growing line of gadgets on sale online and in supermarkets - including neck pillow-shaped air-conditioners as well as ice packs, portable fans and cooling vests.

The Straits Times puts bottles of ice-cold water, a roughly $10 portable fan and the Sony gadget to the test by taking each item out for a 1km walk in the afternoon sun.

SONY REON POCKET 5

The device is compact and unassuming a step up from the bulky air purifiers or fans that come in the shape of neck pillows or terrifying face masks you would expect to find in a Marvel superhero flick.

The Reon Pocket's plate can be set to one of multiple cooling or warming levels via an Android or iOS mobile app that acts as its controller. In the package is a small tag to be worn on the collar to help the thermo unit determine a suitable temperature.

In cooling mode, the plate quickly becomes cold to the touch to help lower the body temperature a similar technology used by local start-up Silent Cicada in its line of "air-conditioner" watches, which use a cooling plate placed on the wrist to reduce blood flow temperature.

A fan draws hot air away from the wearer's body and propels it out of a detachable vent that sticks out of the top of your shirt.