Tag Archives: smartband

Xiaomi Hits Back With Mi Band HRX Edition

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Xiaomi Mi Band HRX Edition

Xiaomi is offering you their latest smartband, the Mi Band HRX Edition. Made in partnership with HRX by Hrithik Roshan, this water resistant smartband (IP67) sports a 0.42-inch OLED display w/ scratch-resistant glass, anti-fingerprint coating and an improved tracking algorithm to accurately monitor your activities (when compared to Mi Band 2).

Other highlights include Time function and Call & Notification Alerts. Powered by up to 23-days of battery life (Mi Band 2 only 20 days of battery life), the Mi Band HRX Edition provides Bluetooth 4.0 for connectivity.

Coming in Black and Blue color options (Green and Orange will be arriving soon), the Xiaomi Mi Band HRX Edition is available now for just Rs. 1,299 (about $20). [Product Page]

The post Xiaomi Hits Back With Mi Band HRX Edition appeared first on TechFresh, Consumer Electronics Guide.

Deal: Get the Razer Nabu X Smartband for $29!

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Keep track of your fitness, receive notifications, and more with Razer’s minimal smartband. The Nabu X can track calories burnt, steps taken, and sleep quality, and runs for up to a week on a single charge.

razer_nabu_x_smartband_1zoom in

The Nabu X pairs with iOS or Android phones and discreetly alerts you to incoming phone calls, notifications, and alarms using a series of color-changing LEDs on front, as well as vibrations. It also offers features like the ability to exchange contact information with other Nabu X wearers by simply bumping wrists.

The Razer Nabu X retails for $49.99 (USD), but we’ve got it in the Technabob Shop for just $29 for a limited time.

I5 Plus Smartband Takes Simplicity to the Extreme

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Iwown I5 Plus 04

While some wearable manufacturers prefer to make overly complex devices, Iwown teaches everyone a lesson in simplicity with its I5 Plus waterproof smartband.

1. Contents of the Box
2. Design and Build Quality
3. Connectivity
4. Menu and Navigation
5. Battery Life
6. Price and Availability
7. Conclusions

Contents of the Box

At a first glance, it might look like something is missing from the box, but in fact, there’s everything needed to get started. Upon opening the box, a logical question could arise: “Shouldn’t there also be a USB cable included?” Well, no, since the main part of the smartband also includes a USB plug.

Inside the box, you will find just the smartband and a user manual. Instructions on how to set it up and how to use it are available in both English and Chinese, fact that indicates the manufacturer’s desire to market this product internationally.

Design and Build Quality

The back of the Iwown I5 Plus looks a bit like it was made in a rush. Other than that, the smartband is impressively well built. The TPU band has a slot for the USB plug and two other holes for securing the main unit into place. Check out the following slideshow to get an idea about how the item looks.

Click to view slideshow.

It really would be something if all wearables priced this low were made out of so sturdy materials. The only thing that worries me is what would happen to the main unit if pressure is applied onto it while it charges. That being said, when it’s “plugged” into the bracelet, there are no chances the USB plug could ever get damaged. Add to that the fact that the smartband is IP67 certified, which means it is dust- and waterproof, and you have a rather impressive product.

Connectivity

As most wearables out there, the I5 Plus connects to smartphones via Bluetooth. In terms of operating system compatibility, it works with iOS 7.0+ or Android 4.3+.

Click to view slideshow.

The companion app, called Zeroner, is about as simple as the smartband itself. However, judging by the 2.3/5 score it has on Google Play Store, I’d say that most people aren’t happy with it, with the most cited reasons being bugs, connectivity issues with various smartphones, and loss of data after unexpected resets. Fortunately, I didn’t experience any of these problems, and the overall experience was very pleasant.

Right after launching the app, you need to set up an account using an e-mail address and a password, to make sure that your statistics get synced, should you want to pair the smartband with another device.

Menu and Navigation

If it’s versatility you’re after, Iwown’s I5 Plus might just be up your alley. Navigating through the menu is done by swiping to the left or to the right, while confirming a selection is done by pressing the touch screen for three seconds. Here are some of the things it can do.

Display time and date: There is no way to manually set the time and date, but the smartband syncs these details when getting paired with your smartphone using the companion app. To see the current time, you either have to tap the display or do a wrist gesture, as you would if you wore a conventional timepiece. On the other hand, to see the current date, you need to swipe up or down when the time is displayed.

Sleep and fitness tracking: Using the included accelerometer, the I5 Plus can tell when you’re sleeping (moreover, it can distinguish deep from light sleep), and when you’re moving around. When it comes to fitness, it counts calories, number of steps and distance. Of course, no fitness tracker out there is extremely accurate, so these are more like estimations. To make sure sedentariness doesn’t get to you, you can set sedentary reminders or move alerts, as Iwown calls these.

Push caller ID and notifications: When your phone rings, the caller ID will get displayed on the smartband’s screen. Similarly, when you’re getting notifications from certain apps, they are transmitted to the I5 Plus, provided that the Bluetooth connection is not broken. According to the Zeroner app, you can be alerted using vibrations whenever you’re getting a text, or when receiving messages on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp or Skype. You’ll have to enable notifications for each of these apps in Zeroner.

Alarm clock: This is yet another feature that’s handled using the companion app. You can set up as many alarms as you want, and you can even establish a pattern for them, depending on the day they fire up.

Battery Life

The I5 Plus allegedly features a 75mAh battery that should keep the smartband up and running for up to a week. The manufacturer recommends charging the device for half an hour prior to using it. From my experience, the battery can last a week, but that will depend a lot on how the smartband is used. Setting up a lot of alarms and getting a ton of notifications will cause the battery life to drop dramatically.

Price and Availability

At $16.36, which is as much as it costs on GearBest, the I5 Plus competes against Xiaomi’s Mi Band. On the upside, this one has a display, but the lesser companion app and the poorer battery life rank it lower than Xiaomi’s wearable.

Conclusions

Iwown’s I5 Plus packs quite a few features for its small price. That makes it a good choice when compared to its mainstream counterparts, considering that the latter cost a few times more. It remains to be seen how and if this smartband stands the test of time, but so far, the

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Vidonn X6 Tracks Sleep and Fitness on a Budget

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Vidonn X6 Fitness and Sleep Tracker 01

Whoever thinks that fitness and sleep trackers must cost a fortune to be functional certainly hasn’t taken Vidonn’s products into consideration. The X6 takes care of these tasks gracefully, without forcing you to spend insane amounts of money.

This IP65-certified Bluetooth 4.0 smartband is affordable and highly-functional, which isn’t something you could say about the wearables of Samsung or FitBit, for example, which leave a hole in your wallet. At the end of the day, it matters more what a piece of wearable tech can do for you, and not which big brand made it. “A little stone in the way overturns a great wain,” says a proverb that seems to apply more and more in the modern tech world, as smaller names making good looking and well-functioning products can pose serious threats to the bigger players.

One of the many things that the Vidonn X6 can do is display notifications from the smartphone it’s paired with. Companion apps have been created for both Android and iPhone, to make sure that most people can use such a smartband. Incoming calls, texts, Skype, Whatsapp and Viber messages can be conveyed to the X6, so you don’t miss a thing.

It only takes a finger swipe to operate Vidonn’s latest wearable, and that’s definitely something to look for in such a device. After all, using a smartband doesn’t have to disrupt all your other activities, but complement them.

When it comes to fitness tracking, Vidonn X6 takes several parameters in account: number of steps, covered distance and calories burned. The fun fact about owning this smartband is that you can compete against other people owning one, and it gets even better when these people include members of your family or friends.

Although in theory you could also organize sleeping competitions, with the Vidonn X6 it’s not about who sleeps more, but who sleeps better. All in all, the smartband might actually be a way of improving the quality of your sleep, as you’ll know just how much deep sleep you got the previous night. It’s up to you to find ways of exhausting your body in order to get more sleep, but the X6 is great for knowing just where you’ve started, not to mention that it offers ongoing monitoring.

If you want to keep track of your sleep habits, the number of steps taken every day, and the smartphone notifications that you might miss otherwise, head to GearBest, where the Vidonn X6 can be purchased for $28.99 (or $26.73, if you apply the coupon code GBVX6 during checkout).

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Sony SmartBand SWR10 Review: Pricey But Works Well

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It was announced a few months back, but the SmartBand was finally available in the last two weeks. I picked this up on a whim, and it’s been on my wrist since then. How has it performed? Not so bad, especially if you have an Xperia phone.

sony smartband tracker 620x419magnify

The SmartBand is basically an activity tracker. It’s not as precise as some of the dedicated fitness trackers for athletes, but it’s still going to give you an interesting metric on what you do with your life. To start off with, the pedometer and running tracker aren’t anything new, and to be honest, it’s not the best feature of this device. The good thing is that it’s always on, doesn’t always need to be connected to the Internet, and can function without your smartphone for up to a whole day.

The best features in my opinion are the Sleep Monitor app, the Smart Wake Up, the notification system, and the application launcher. The Sleep Monitor will let you know if you are getting enough sleep, and the quality of your sleep. Just by having this simple metric, I was able to get 30% more sleep, simply because I was exactly aware of how much sleep I got every night.

sony smartband colors 620x315magnify

The Smart Wake Up lets you program in a desired wake up interval. The SmartBand will wake you up within this interval when you are in a light sleep. This makes waking up fairly easy, and I have felt less grumpy and jarred by using this. This is definitely one of the standout features, because I have been looking for something discrete like this to function as a daily alarm. Also, you can stop your phone’s alarm by pressing the main button on the SmartBand.

I tend to keep my phone silent, since I find the vibration distracting, but I like how the SmartBand will vibrate whenever you receive a notification. You can customize which apps will alert you. Now I never need to keep my phone on vibrate. I just keep it on full silent.

The application launcher took me a bit of time to figure out, but it works very well on my Xperia Z2. Press the main button once, wait for the LEDs to light up, and then tap the face of the SmartBand, once, twice or thrice for predetermined actions. For now, I use it for the media launcher. When I’m running, it allows me to change tracks without even looking at my phone.

sony smartband on wrist 620x465magnify

It’s not a perfect device. There are some faults. To start off with, you expect this thing to have a way to tell the time, because it looks like a watch, feels like a watch… I have stopped counting the number of times that I have glanced at it trying to look at the time. The next generation should definitely have an LED or OLED display for the time.

You also have to switch the device between day and night mode. While you can program this in, it is a bit annoying to switch it between settings. Lastly, the price. This thing retails for $149.99(USD), which is way too expensive for what it is. Though you can find it on Amazon for as low as $94.99, which is a bit more palatable. Honestly, I’d think that a tracker without a screen of any kind should retail for even less.

The upside of the SmartBand is that it works, and it works well. It does everything that it’s been advertised to do, and while I have no use for the Life Bookmarks, and some of its other features, I do like having it on my wrist, tracking my sleep and fitness level. When you couple it with an Android phone, you get the full experience. I have an Xperia Z2, and I can’t say how well it performs with other makes and models, but Sony states that it is compatible with Android devices.

Sony SmartBand SWR10 Priced at $99.99 Hits the US Market

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Sony SmartBand SWR10

In a world with so many wearables to choose from, could Sony’s SmartBand possibly find a way to step out of the crowd? Its social activity feature definitely points in that direction.

As of today, Sony’s SmartBand SWR10 is available in all of the company’s brick-and-mortar stores from all over the US. There are plenty of smart wristbands out there, so you might wonder what is it that makes Sony’s so special. First of all, this SmartBand comes at an incredible price, the company’s strategy in this regard being quite aggressive. More precisely, it costs half as much as Samsung’s Gear Fit, and it’s not based on the South Korean company’s proprietary mobile operating system, Tizen OS.

Sony pointed out that “In addition to tracking your walking, running and sleep motion activity, SmartBand also works as a useful, unobtrusive extension to your smartphone with functions that include smart alarm and vibration notifications for income calls and messages, calendar events, and more.”

From this point of view, there’s not much different from other smart wristbands, as most of the competition’s products act like companions to smartphones, displaying notifications and helping people wake up. What sets the Smartband SWR10 apart is the connectivity with Sony’s entertainment network. Fortunately, the PlayStation 4 video game console is included in the equation, so people can easily keep track of their achievements while working out.

At its core, the SmartBand is a fitness tracker, and pairing it with the Android Lifelog app enables people to monitor the following, among others:

  • Location
  • Weather
  • Photos
  • Music
  • Personal notes

SmartBand is also equipped with smartphone music controls, so playing, pausing or skipping tracks only requires wearers to tap the band using a certain pattern.

Not at last, Sony’s smart wristband vibrates when reaching the limit of the Bluetooth range with your smartphone, thus reminding you to retrace your steps in order to find the misplaced or forgotten device. Below is a video of the SmartBand in action:

The price includes two adjustable black wristbands with different dimensions, the removable core unit and an instruction manual. As mentioned before, SmartBand uses Bluetooth to connect to Android smartphones, more precisely, the 4.0 Low Energy variety. As a word of advice, smartphones running Android versions older than KitKat are compatible with Sony’s fitness tracker, so you might want to change your phone if you want to use SmartBand.

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Sony SmartBand SWR10 debuts at MWC 2014, hits market in March

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Sony has unveiled a new wearable device at MWC 2014. The wearable device is called the SmartBand SWR10. Sony plans to launch the SWR10 in March in over 60 markets around the world. The band is...

Keepin’ it real fake: China’s Codoon SmartBand pays homage to Jawbone Up

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Keepin' it real fake Codoon SmartBand

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.

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Via: Engadget China, TechCrunch, Tencent Tech

Source: Codoon (Chinese)