Fitbit did a lot of things very right when it made the One, its tiny activity-tracking pod. But then the company—caving to peer pressure from the likes of Nike—made the Fitbit Flex wristband. There’s nothing wrong with that form-factor, but the Flex lost a lot of the functionality that made the One so great, and it felt like a big step backwards. Today the company is releasing the Fitbit Force, and it’s exactly what the Flex should have been.
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It’s pretty much a given that everything we love about flagships will eventually make their way into more affordable products. And why shouldn’t that include the form factors themselves? In addition to unveiling the Yoga 2 (as well as the ThinkPad Yoga for business), Lenovo is trotting out two additional convertibles, with prices that put them squarely in the middle tier. Meanwhile, the company also announced the Flex 20, a 19.5-inch, battery-powered all-in-one that’s basically a smaller, cheaper version of the Horizon PC announced earlier this year.
Starting with the laptops, the Flex 14 and 15, as they’re called, each resemble the Yoga in that the screen folds backward, allowing you to use the notebook in different positions. Here, though, it only goes 300 back degrees, not 360, meaning you can’t use these products in tablet mode. Basically, then, your choices are to use it as a traditional notebook, or fold the screen over into “Stand” mode (pictured above), with the screen facing outward, and the keyboard planted face-down. %Gallery-slideshow73860%%Gallery-slideshow73861%
Keeping fit could prove to be quite a challenge these days, considering the amount of work and stress that we face at the office, where the demands on our time had never been greater. Hence, it is nice to know that some companies are doing their bit to help us maintain our fitness regime, and the £79.99 FitBit Flex is one of them, being a sleek, stylish and splash-proof wristband which will play nice not only with Android-powered handsets, but iPhones as well. The FitBit Flex can be said to be your electronic personal trainer, motivational guru and dietitian, all rolled into one.
Thanks to an integrated accelerometer, keeps track of your activity, and lets you log in food goals, calories burned and sheep counted (well, hours slept at least), all in one sleek, stylish, waterproof wristband. Making use of Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, the Fitbit Flex works like a charm, as it automatically synchronizes with the iPhone or Android App so that you are able to monitor all the vital statistics, while providing advice and encouragement round the clock. Needless to say, you will need to produce the smartphone yourself to have it work with the FitBit Flex.
[ FitBit Flex helps you up your fitness ante copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
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Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile
You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Fitbit’s freshest fitness fob, the Flex wristband, may not be the most comprehensive activity tracker on the market, but it does deliver quite a bit of bang for your buck, as we discovered during our review. The company’s latest gadget is set to compete with the Nike FuelBand and Jawbone Up, but at $100, it’s more affordable than either of them. A single Benjamin buys you step, distance, calorie and moderate-intensity cardio time tracking, with wireless Bluetooth 4.0 syncing to Android and iOS apps. It can also keep tabs on your snoozing habits, including how long and how well you sleep, offering up tips should you need to make some tweaks. There’s also a vibration alarm that’ll shake you awake without disturbing others. Fitbit Flex is available through major retailers and at the source link below — for an up-close work at how it works, be sure to check out our full review.
Filed under: Wearables
Source: Fitbit
We have truly entered the era of the quantified self. Editorials are shouting it from the rooftops, technologists are snickering “I told you so” and you, dear consumers, are just eating it up. If there’s some sort of personal metric you’d like to monitor and view in a pretty little chart, there’s a product out there to help you do it. Now, that doesn’t necessarily reflect a mature market rather than a fleeting fad. But we’ll say this: companies both big and small are offering a number of products for this growing niche and some have built their entire portfolio around a lineup of personal tracking devices. Fitbit is obviously one of those companies and, with the One, Zip and Aria WiFi scale already on the shelves, it’s got a pretty robust set of options for those looking to turn their entire lives into a collection of infographics. With the Flex, though, it truly rounds out its offerings with a wearable band in the style of the Jawbone Up and Nike FuelBand.
There are, of course, a number of differences between all of these products — not the least of which is price. At $100, the Flex undercuts its most direct competitors by at least $30. There’s also support for Bluetooth 4.0, which delivers wireless syncing on both Android and iOS. The question is, does the Flex deliver enough at that price point to make it a clear choice?
Gallery: FitBit Flex review
Filed under: Wearables
Fitbit promised wireless syncing and, as of today, it’s finally delivered. An Android-only app update, currently live in Google Play, will now allow Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II users to transfer data wirelessly from their Zip or One Activity Trackers to the Fitbit application. The new feature, which works over Bluetooth 4.0, was previously announced at this past CES alongside news of the Flex band, and initially targeted for an end-of-January release. But that’s not all this update heralds — it also packs the ability to manage silent alarms, adds push notifications, a distance tile and additional tap-to-pair NFC functionality for use with the Flex. Unfortunately, you’ll still have to wait a bit for that lifestyle band to launch, as Fitbit’s only committed to a vague spring launch. For now, though, a small segment of existing users can enjoy this enhanced feature set.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Wireless, Software, Mobile
Via: The Verge
Source: Google Play
Fitbit’s been in the fitness-tracking game for a while now, but today marks its first official entry into the wearable band space. Shown off here at CES 2013, the Flex is a wireless band much in the vein of Nike’s Fuelband and Jawbone’s rebooted Up. But while it shares many similarities with those existing products, there are a few very notable areas where it breaks apart from the pack– namely, the inclusion of Bluetooth 4.0. Now, health nuts can wirelessly update their stats to an iPhone or limited selection of Android (!) devices via that standard without having to manually sync.
While it doesn’t boast the Yves Behar design that Jawbone fancies, the Flex should prove to be a welcome accessory for fashion conscious consumers. To that end, it comes in five different colors — navy, black, tangerine, slate and teal — and features a thin strip of LEDs that can be activated by a simple tap. Those lights, five in total, each represent 20-percent towards a user’s assigned goal, so current progress can be easily monitored. And, as you might expect, there’s a vibration motor within the band to alert users based on settings made from the companion app.
The Flex is indeed a waterproof product and can be worn in the shower or even the swimming pool, though we wouldn’t advise you take it diving. Despite this H20 resistance, the Flex won’t track your butterfly strokes (or doggie paddles), but it will keep count of your steps, calories burned, sleep and distance walked.
Perhaps one of the most welcome innovations of this particular wearable is its ability to play friendly with Android — specifically, the Samsung Galaxy Note II and Galaxy S III. Users who purchase this band will be able to download that app from Google Play at the end of January. Further, there’s one additional perk for Android users: the ability to tap-to-pair with NFC. In theory, this functionality should provide users with easy access to their stats, but we (in addition to the company’s many reps) had significant trouble triggering the action on repeated occasions.
If you’ve been monitoring the fitness-tracking space, but have been holding out for a band that offers just a little extra, then it’s worth considering the Flex. You can look for it to hit this spring for $100. Stay tuned for a video demo of the Flex in action.
Gallery: Fitbit Flex wristband hands-on
Sarah Silbert contributed to this report.
Continue reading Fitbit Flex hands-on at CES 2013 (video)
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Wireless
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