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Weekends with Engadget: Android Wear review, ditching social media and more!
This week, we reviewed Google's Android Wear platform, examined a few practical steps toward ditching social media, watched a sniper hit his target without looking and took a look at the phenomenon of social media activism. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last seven days. Oh, and be sure to subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Engadget Daily: ditching social media, sharpshooting with HUD goggles and more!
Today, we review Garmin's new Forerunner 15 sports watch, learn how to escape social media, watch a sniper hit his target while looking in another direction and hear what our readers have to say about the new HTC One. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Garmin Forerunner 15 review: sports watch first, fitness tracker second
As the reviews editor for this tech blog, I often get asked which fitness tracker I own. And I tell people: I don't need one, silly; I run marathons. Maybe that sounds snotty, but it's true: During training season, at least, I'm probably more active than most people buying a fitness band. And besides, I already own a running watch to track my time, distance and pace. That doesn't mean I can't use a little extra motivation, though. My activity slowed to a crawl this winter, precisely because I was burned out from all those long training runs. (The frigid weather didn't help either.) At one point, I didn't exercise for nearly two weeks. I gained back the weight I lost last year, and my muscle mass shrank. It now hurts to do squats. Even so, asking me to wear another device is a tough sell -- especially when it means my stats are getting spread across different services. For people like me, there's the Garmin Forerunner 15, a sports watch that doubles as a fitness tracker. Like other running watches, including those made by Garmin, the Forerunner 15 tracks your distance, pace and time. It's offered with an optional heart rate monitor, and has a handy run-walk setting. But it also tracks your activity between workouts, telling you how many steps you've taken and how many calories you've burned. It issues not-so-subtle reminders to move, lest you spend too much time in your cubicle. At the same time, it doesn't do everything a standalone fitness tracker would: It doesn't automatically monitor your sleep habits, and you can't log your food intake directly from the app. Priced at $170 ($200 with the heart rate monitor), it costs more than your typical fitness tracker, but it's cheap for a running watch. So is it a good deal? That all depends on your priorities.
Garmin's fitness trackers now help you master your calorie balance
There are plenty of apps and gadgets that track the calories you burn during exercise. But comparing those figures with the calories you're taking in? That's harder, which is why Garmin has teamed up with MyFitnessPal to provide a clearer picture of your energy balance. The collaboration melds the calorie consumption data from Garmin devices with MyFitnessPal's activity and nutrition info to create a Calorie In/Out section on Garmin's Connect page. You'll quickly find out if a long run was enough to offset that big dessert, or if you need to eat more to keep up with your workouts. The MyFitnessPal integration is currently limited to the Forerunner 15 GPS watch and the Vivofit tracker, but all Forerunners and Edge bike computers should support the feature this summer.
