LG's Lifeband Touch and Heart Rate earphones coming May 18th (update: US pricing)
Though the internet was trolled recently with Apple's "biometric" earpods, LG's fitness-oriented Heart Rate earphones and Lifeband Touch are no joke. In fact, they're finally set to arrive next week in three sizes for $180 and $150 respectively, after being outed by various rumor sites and, of course, LG itself. The LifeBand looks much like we saw it then and most closely resembles Nike's Fuelband, though it has similar functionality to Samsung's Gear Fit and the FitBit Force. Activated by turning your wrist, it has a full-touch OLED display, 90mAh battery and a triple-axis accelerometer and altimeter. Those will let you track your exploits via Android or iOS apps like MyFitnessPal or Runkeeper, along with LG's own fitness app. You'll also see (and feel) incoming calls and messages, and can control music using the touch display.
For listening to said music there are the Heart Rate earphones, which also function as an honest-to-god heart rate monitor by measuring blood flow in your ear. They can be used in tandem with the Lifeband Touch or a compatible smartphone using the included Bluetooth medallion. That'll let you do hands-free calling and if paired with LG's upcoming Fitness app, give audible, real time updates about your heart rate and VO2 max levels. As for the audio quality itself, LG says it's "excellent," but we'll need to judge that for ourselves once we get our hands on it. You can now pre-order the Heart Rate earphones and Lifeband Touch in the US exclusively at Best Buy for $180 and $150, respectively, with delivery expected May 18th. Europe and Asia will follow soon, and hopefully, they'll have a new G watch and G3 handset joining them too.
Update: As now mentioned in the post, the Heart Rate earphones will cost $180 and the Lifeband Touch will run $150. You'll only be able to get them at Best Buy when they arrive on May 18th (you can pre-order here), though Fry's, Newegg and others will get the Lifeband Touch starting mid-June.
