Not everyone needs a
whizz-bang fitness tracker that'll keep watch on you through marathons,
bike road races, lengths of the swimming pool, and all the other sports
fitness freaks seem to do purely to make the rest of us look bad.
Withings' latest tracker is meant for anyone that'd rather have an extra hour in bed than get up and hit the gym. Forget more complex features such as heart-rate-tracking or annoying inactivity alarms - the Go is all about simplicity.
Instead, you get basic step and sleep tracking in a super-simple wearable that's barely any bigger than a £2 coin. It clips on to your clothes, your shoes or your keys, or you can wear it on your wrist like a watch. Nor will you need to slip it off to hop in the shower - it's waterproof down to 50m, so you can even hit the pool or open water. As a further bonus, the coin cell battery inside it keeps ticking for at least eight months, and replacements will only set you back a few quid each - which definitely beats plugging it in every night.
An E Ink screen means it can double up as a wristwatch, a feature that at this price is rarer than a weight loss plan that actually works; just prod the screen and it switches from showing your steps to telling the time. Aside from that, though, you'll need to pull out your smartphone to get more anything more useful than the details of how far you've wandered in the past 24 hours. That's a bit annoying but hardly unusual and on the plus side, Withings' Health Mate app is impressively easy to use, if a little simple.
You can add weight, heart rate, blood pressure and create a food log if you want to get a better grasp of your wellbeing, but you'll have to do it all manually - the Go only measures steps and sleep, after all. Reminders are handy, giving you a nudge to hop on the scales, or not to shirk off that run you've been planning since that extra bagel at breakfast - just bear in mind that they only show up on your phone, not the Go.
During the day, the Go calculates distance and calories burned based on how many steps you clock up, adding in duration, start time and distance when it detects you're running or swimming. Sleep tracking is a touch more basic: it works out when you fell asleep and whether it was a light or deep sleep, but there's nothing here to help you get a better night's rest.
But then that approach sums up the Go, really. In fact, the clue's in the name: the Go is about getting you started, thinking more about your fitness and how much exercise you're getting every day rather than bombarding you with stats. It's simple, sure, but the watch mode is a nice little bonus and it helps that is doesn't put a massive dent in your wallet either.
Withings' latest tracker is meant for anyone that'd rather have an extra hour in bed than get up and hit the gym. Forget more complex features such as heart-rate-tracking or annoying inactivity alarms - the Go is all about simplicity.
Instead, you get basic step and sleep tracking in a super-simple wearable that's barely any bigger than a £2 coin. It clips on to your clothes, your shoes or your keys, or you can wear it on your wrist like a watch. Nor will you need to slip it off to hop in the shower - it's waterproof down to 50m, so you can even hit the pool or open water. As a further bonus, the coin cell battery inside it keeps ticking for at least eight months, and replacements will only set you back a few quid each - which definitely beats plugging it in every night.
An E Ink screen means it can double up as a wristwatch, a feature that at this price is rarer than a weight loss plan that actually works; just prod the screen and it switches from showing your steps to telling the time. Aside from that, though, you'll need to pull out your smartphone to get more anything more useful than the details of how far you've wandered in the past 24 hours. That's a bit annoying but hardly unusual and on the plus side, Withings' Health Mate app is impressively easy to use, if a little simple.
You can add weight, heart rate, blood pressure and create a food log if you want to get a better grasp of your wellbeing, but you'll have to do it all manually - the Go only measures steps and sleep, after all. Reminders are handy, giving you a nudge to hop on the scales, or not to shirk off that run you've been planning since that extra bagel at breakfast - just bear in mind that they only show up on your phone, not the Go.
During the day, the Go calculates distance and calories burned based on how many steps you clock up, adding in duration, start time and distance when it detects you're running or swimming. Sleep tracking is a touch more basic: it works out when you fell asleep and whether it was a light or deep sleep, but there's nothing here to help you get a better night's rest.
But then that approach sums up the Go, really. In fact, the clue's in the name: the Go is about getting you started, thinking more about your fitness and how much exercise you're getting every day rather than bombarding you with stats. It's simple, sure, but the watch mode is a nice little bonus and it helps that is doesn't put a massive dent in your wallet either.
STUFF SAYS: ★★★✩✩
Does the basics well and the screen is a bonus, but it'll lose its appeal once you're ready to do more than walk and sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment