Wellograph is an activity tracker with good looks and fun graphs (hands-on)
One of the latest entrants to the crowded wearables market is an activity tracker that you might actually want to wear on a night out. The Wellograph, a device with a sapphire crystal display, features a heart rate monitor and an activity tracker, and -- gasp -- it's a standalone device, with no smartphone integration to speak of beyond syncing with Bluetooth 4.0.
Sarasin Art Booppanon, CEO of Wellograph, told us his product stands out from other activity trackers by displaying information such as steps taken and heartbeats per minute in graph form (rather than simply displaying digits). Another distinguishing feature: the sapphire crystal display, allegedly the first to appear on a moderately priced consumer product. This type of screen is known for its scratch-resistance, and while that's not something we could easily put to the test here at CES Unveiled, we can tell you it looked (and felt) pretty sturdy.
You'd expect a device focused on fitness to look rugged -- even clunky -- but the Wellograph is anything but. Its leather strap and stainless steel design scream "money," and we're pretty much thrilled that Wellograph took a sophisticated approach. It's a nice change from the more utilitarian designs we've seen, but it's definitely not unisex; the timepiece looked a tad ridiculous on this female editor's small wrist.
The Wellograph features a 168 x 144 e-paper LCD display, and we found that visibility was limited with strong overhead light. To navigate the interface, you press one of two buttons on the device's right side: the top one to toggle pages within a certain feature (i.e., clock or fitness stats) and the bottom to move between the different features. It's simple, yet engaging, especially because the stats are more interactive than what we've seen on other activity trackers (numbers -- so boring!). You can see your fitness level, and your fitness age, pinpointed on a bell curve, for example. The Wellograph slides into a magnetic charging dock thanks to a connector on the back -- the rear side of the tracker, incidentally, is also where you'll find the heart rate sensor.
Booppanon told us the Wellograph will go on sale in April for about $300. Lucky for you, though, we have some hands-on photos below.
Alexis Santos contributed to this report.
