I’ve been looking at my wrist a lot lately — and not just to see what time it is.

I’ve been trying out some of the new watches that display caller IDs, text messages, Twitter and news feeds, and the weather, too — all beamed from a nearby smartphone.

Some of these new watches are already on the market; others are in prototype.

Sony’s SmartWatch, which sells for $149.99 at Sony stores and on the company website, is optimized to work with Sony’s Xperia line of phones, said Stephen Sneeden, the U.S. product marketing manager for Sony Mobile. But it is also compatible with most Android-based phones running version 2.1 and above, he said.

The SmartWatch has a sleek color touch screen with only one actual button — the on/off one tucked discreetly into the side. A rubbery black band comes with the watch; bands in five other shades cost $19.99 each.

The Sony watch has its limitations. If you’ve wandered off on an errand and left your smartphone behind, don’t expect it to relay messages to your wrist from afar. The range for Bluetooth wireless communication between watch and phone is about 30 feet, Sneeden said.

The touch screen has deep, attractive colors indoors but fades in direct sunlight. The watch has no built-in voice capabilities and you can’t type replies on it, though you can send canned, prewritten responses like “Busy now.” Gmail is the main email program it uses; attachments can’t be read.

But you may find that the watch has advantages, too. Vibrations on your wrist to notify you of messages are far harder to miss than fainter ones coming from a phone stashed in a pocket. And there are many times — say, when you’re sitting in a meeting — when the wrist is a discreet spot to check Facebook updates along with the time.

The SmartWatch requires two apps for setup — LiveWare Manager and SmartWatch — both free on Google Play.

Another Android-based smart watch, the WIMM One, was created primarily for developers who will incorporate it into mobile electronic products, said Tim Twerdahl, vice president for product marketing at WIMM Labs in Los Altos, Calif. The watch is available on Amazon for $199.

The WIMM One, a bit chunkier than the Sony SmartWatch, has a lot of built-in processing power, and two wireless communication modes — Bluetooth and Wi-Fi — so it can work through a home network.

“It will sync via Wi-Fi to your home office network and run all the apps without being paired to a phone,” Twerdahl said. This allows a user to read news feeds and to check messages on the watch face even if the phone isn’t near.

The watch has a touch screen with two display modes. A power-saving black-and-white display turns the backlight off and uses ambient light to illuminate the screen. But holding a finger down on the face for a second brings a full-color screen to life.

WIMM One typically lasts about 30 hours on a single charge, Twerdahl said. It comes with six apps; others, all free, are at the WIMM Micro App Store Beta.