The new t-shirt by Sony is a wearable air-conditioner

It's hot. So hot. If you don't know where to hide to find some fresh air, Sony could have the answer to all your problems: a wearable air conditioner. It's called Reon Pocket, it weighs only 85 grams and costs around 130 dollars (115 €).

After its debut in 2019 as a gadget for the Tokyo Olympics, that were planned for this summer and then postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic, the Reon Pocket is a Bluetooth device with the size of a card holder. It has to be inserted in a special t-shirt with a pocket at the base of the neck. To activate it, just connect it to an app that allows users to check the temperature directly via the smartphone.

The device, supported by both iOS and Android, uses a thermoelectric cooling method called "Peltier effect" which allows it to produce both cold and hot air: according to different Sony simulations, it can cool the body temperature by 13 degrees Celsius, while on cold days it would be able to raise it by 8 degrees. Designed for men who are forced to wear a suit with shirt and jacket for work even in summer, it has an autonomy of about 90 minutes compared to two hours of charge. This means that it is not programmed to be used continuously all day, but to make it easier to move between an air-conditioned environment and the other.