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LG Heart Rate Monitor Earphone review: good fitness gadget, poor earphones
Heart rate monitors are no longer the exclusive domain of fitness gadgets. The last 12 months have seen sensors make their way into smartphones and wearables, replacing for many of us the need for a standalone pulse monitor. The problem is a lot of these options have been unable to deliver accurate heart rate mesurements, partly because those sensors have to maintain contact with your skin; if they slip, then the readout skips. Maybe LG has the answer, then: Put heart rate monitoring technology into a pair of Bluetooth headphones. If you're like me and are constantly wired for sound during workouts, what could possibly be better? LG's Heart Rate Monitor earphones link to an iOS/Android app, with absolutely nothing burdening your wrists. LG's fitness app can even add your exercise sessions to a step counter, so long as you buy LG's optional Lifeband Touch fitness band. What's more, the app also integrates with other fitness apps like RunKeeper. It all sounds great on paper, but there's a problem: the headphones don't actually sound good. Let me explain.
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.
LG Lifeband touch and Heart Rate Monitor earphones aim to help you keep fit
Televisions aren't the only thing LG brought to CES this year -- it's lugged along a couple of wearable fitness devices, too. In fact, we've already seen one of them. The company's FuelBand competitor showcased at CES last year resurfaced as the Lifeband Touch, a fitness band with a swipe-friendly OLED touchscreen that displays physical activity info and calories burned. Naturally, it pairs up with Android and iOS devices to get incoming calls and text information, but if you want to make the most out of it, you'll need to pair it with the company's second CES wearable: a pair of Heart Rate Monitor earphones. Aside from functioning as normal earbuds, they can track heartbeats by measuring signals from the inner ear. The South Korean company has yet to set a release date for either device, but we'll update you when we hear more.
LG teases webOS for most of its smart TVs, Life Band Touch with Android, iOS sync
LG has already shown quite a bit of its hand ahead of CES (105-inch curved LCD; OLEDs OLEDs and more OLEDs; Ultra HD televisions of all sizes) but with its press conference now just hours away, it's showing off a bit more. Now we have an official pic or two of the webOS interface on a TV, and LG's blog indicates it should appear on more than 70 percent of the smart TVs it's releasing in 2014. The webOS launcher is teased as offering all the voice search and gesture recognition features we've seen on LG TVs in the past few years, and enhanced multitasking between apps and live TV. There's even an animated "Bean Bird" character to walk users through initial setup and pair the magic remote. That's not all that's new however, as LG also confirmed it will launch the Life Band Touch. Similar to Nike's FuelBand, this wearable (pictured after the break) promises far more features powered by its ability to sync with both Android and iOS devices over Bluetooth 4.0. It has touch controls for music playback and incoming calls on the synced device, and can be used with special heart rate monitor earbuds. There are a few other products mentioned as well, check back tomorrow at 11AM ET for all the information from CES as we liveblog LG's press conference.
