fitnessband
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Huawei unveils giant Mate 20 X phone, regular-sized wearable
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei just showed off its latest flagship devices, including the Mate 20 smartphone and the Watch GT smartwatch. While those devices make a play for broader audiences, Huawei also went niche with a smartphone aimed at gamers and a fitness band that tries to track pretty much everything.
Motorola's Moto 360 Sport watch is now on sale for $299
If you want the full Android Wear experience on a smart watch, Motorola's Moto 360 Sport is now on sale. It's based on the 42mm version of the regular model, but has a silicon strap that will resist fading, stains and sweat. It's also got the new "AnyLight" display with a front-lit reflective mode that works better in sunlight, and brightens automatically thanks to the ambient light sensor in that infamous black bar. It'll work just fine without your phone when you head out for a run, too, with a built-in GPS, heart rate monitor and music player. You can grab it now at Motorola's store for $299.
Jawbone and AmEx want you to pay for stuff with your fitness band
If you're looking to get a little more mileage out of that fitness tracker, Jawbone and American Express are about to lend a hand. The duo is teaming up to bring a payment feature to the former company's line of gadgets. Of course, Apple's new wearable sorts payments too, and now a similar function will be on an upcoming Jawbone device. This means that the Up3 that's set to ship next week won't help you pay for a burrito, and neither will it's predecessors. Instead, the collaboration with AmEx will arrive on wearable that we've yet to hear about, so it's unclear if it'll be another band or a smartwatch. If your go-to credit or debit card is Visa or MasterCard, there's no indication if Jawbone's mystery tech will handle payments from those either. However, when it does arrive, it'll wrangle those payments via NFC -- just like the Apple Watch.
Lenovo's E Ink fitness band is amazingly affordable for its looks
Yes, 'tis yet another fitness band featuring a curved E Ink screen, but Lenovo's Vibe Band VB10 is a much better looker than Sony's offering from four months ago. First of all, the main body here is actually wrapped in metal -- either black, gold or white -- to give it a more premium feel, but together with the rubberized strap, the VB10 weighs just around 30 grams, so you may easily forget that you're wearing it. And since it's an E Ink screen, Lenovo claims that you can get up to seven days of battery on a single charge, while the device continuously monitors your steps, calories, travel distance and sleep quality. Oh, and you also get notifications from your phone -- via Bluetooth LE -- on that handy always-on screen. Want one? Too bad, as this $89 waterproof smartband won't be coming to the US when it launches this April. Still, you might get lucky with an e-tailer that ships globally.
Jawbone wants to help companies keep employees healthy
There's never a bad time for a little friendly competition between co-workers, especially if it means working together to accomplish certain health-related goals. With its new Up for Groups initiative, Jawbone is looking to start just that in the workplace. The company's new ecosystem, revealed earlier today, aims to give employers a set of tools that can help keep their team motivated and reach different fitness achievements -- all while using trackers such as the Up24 and Up Move. There are a bunch of features within Up for Groups, like leaderboards, activity logs and detailed performance ratings from group members. Jawbone says the goal is to take corporate wellness beyond the typical 9-5 hours, but that the end results of the teams will, ultimately, depend on each individual's willingness to stay active.
ZTE's latest fitness tracker looks just like a FuelBand
Why yes, here's yet another fitness band from China! Just two days after Xiaomi's $13 Mi Band, ZTE will no doubt have a hard time getting attention for its awkwardly named Grand Band. The company's second smart wearable device reminds us of the Nike+ FuelBand with its dot-matrix LED screen plus the positioning of its sole button, but it uses an adjustable snap-on strap instead of the latter's fixed-size type. As you'd expect, the 14mm-thick, shower-friendly band packs all the common features: pedometer (with distance and calorie calculator), sleep monitor and smart alarm. Better yet, it's compatible with all Bluetooth 4.0 host devices running on iOS or Android 4.3 and above. The Grand Band will be launched in China first next month, and as a "reasonable, affordable premium" product, ZTE hinted that it'll be priced somewhere around the common 800 yuan ($130) to 1,000 yuan ($160) tier. Hmm, looks like we'll stick with Xiaomi's cheaper and slimmer device -- only if we can even get hold of one. Hands-on video after the break.
Xiaomi's $13 fitness band can also unlock your phone
The "one more thing" at the Xiaomi Mi 4 launch was the Mi Band, the Chinese company's first smart wearable, and it's obviously aggressively priced: Just CN¥79 or about $13! Like many of its competitors, the Mi Band tracks your movement (walking or running) plus sleeping pattern, and you can also use it as a smart vibrating alarm to wake up feeling better. Interestingly, a single charge on this waterproof device will last up to 30 days, which easily beats its competitors that tend to last for a week or less. Better yet, the band doubles as a security token that automatically unlocks your phone -- likely just Xiaomi's for now -- when within proximity. There's no word on availability just yet, but as always, Xiaomi should be debuting this in China where it'll instantly sell out.
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.
Keepin' it real fake: China's Codoon SmartBand pays homage to Jawbone Up
Viewing it from afar, you could easily mistake this gadget for Jawbone's Up fitness band. What we have here is actually the SmartBand from Chinese fitness accessories maker Codoon, and it's almost a carbon copy of the Up in terms appearance and functionality. Bend this strip around your wrist to track your movement and sleeping patterns (with the ability to wake you up with vibration at the optimal sleeping cycle; just like the Up), and afterwards, plug the hidden 3.5mm headphone jack into either an iPhone or an Android device for analysis and sharing through Codoon's website. After we reached out to Baidu regarding the Baidu Cloud logo on the SmartBand, a spokesperson told us that it's the first wearable developed on top of Baidu's PCS (Personal Cloud Service) to sync and share data, and Codoon's upcoming Bluetooth fitness products will work on the same platform (likewise for the Baidu Eye project). Still, it's a real shame that the startup couldn't come up with its very own design for its first hero product. Expect this rip-off to hit the market in early June for an unknown price -- but you can already get an Up in China, anyway.
