You wouldn’t buy a car without a test drive, right?
Not a chance.
Sony feels the same way.
Which is why their new space, Sony Square NYC, invites guests to come in and take all their gizmos — some new, some still in development — for a ride.
The freshly opened locale on Madison Avenue is a vault of innovation featuring not only the brand’s current tech offerings, but also a glimpse of what’s to come. Coined as a “brand experience showroom,” Sony is looking to get a great deal of consumer feedback via immersive usage on how to improve things before they come to market.
The space itself is designed for modularity: an area that’s an art exhibition this week will morph into a screening room or video game testing ground in the future.
Similar to Samsung’s 837 space in concept, Sony Square will also offer immersive classes and workshops where customers can put their gadgets to the test, like an upcoming photography tutorial with National Geographic photographer Ira Block. (Pro tip for photo buffs: you can rent cameras and lenses for the day here as well.)
But if school’s not your thing, don’t fret: there’s no shortage of big boy toys to fiddle with.
We recommend music player Concept N from their Future Lab Program, a conical speaker with a voice-activated camera you wear around your neck. It’s not for purchase quite yet, so a trip Uptown is the only way to get acquainted.
Other points of interest? Mesh, a project that utilize a tablet-based drag-and-drop interface to turn normal things into smart things, and a Playstation VR zone where you can brush up on your raptor-taming skills in a game called Jurassic Encounter.
The future is fun, my friends.
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