Nike was said to be shutting down its FuelBand department on the heels of layoffs on Friday, signalling a significant exit of the wearable fitness device market by one of the more prominent companies involved in the space. That’s not quite true, however, according to information provided to Re/code by the company. Read More
The FuelBand
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Remember earlier in October when Nike announced the FuelBand SE? Well for those who don’t remember, the FuelBand SE is sort of like a successor to the original FuelBand. The design has been kept mostly the same, but has gotten slight upgrades in terms of water resistance, better accuracy, hourly tracking, Bluetooth 4.0 LE connectivity, and will arrive in a host of new colors, but apart from that it essentially the same device. For those who don’t own the original FuelBand, we reckon this might be a better purchase, but for those who do own the first FuelBand, it’s really up to you if you see these extra features as features worth paying money for.
In any case the FuelBand SE was pegged for a release on the 6th of November, but strangely enough it looks like it has gone on sale a day earlier than anticipated. According to reports, the FuelBand SE will be available for purchase via Apple’s online store, with user reports claiming that the FuelBand SE has made its way into Apple’s retail stores as well. Perhaps this is due to some kind of agreement with Apple where the FuelBand SE will be made available to Apple stores exclusively a day earlier than everyone else, but either way if you’re looking to get your hands on the device, hit up Apple’s online store for the details.
Nike FuelBand SE Now On Sale A Day Earlier Than Expected original content from Ubergizmo. 
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The Nike FuelBand SE is a pretty sleek looking device and with Nike’s background in fitness and with their strong branding, it certainly looks like it has what it takes to be a great product. The downside, however, is the fact that the FuelBand SE does not support Android, which was explicitly stated by Nike. What this means is that as far as accessories are concerned, the Nike FuelBand SE is an iOS-exclusive piece of hardware. But why is this? Speaking to the folks at Pocket-Lint, Stefan Olander, vice-president of Digital Sport at Nike was stated that Bluetooth 4.0 LE has not been widely adopted by Android devices yet, as opposed to the iPhone where Bluetooth 4.0 LE was introduced with the iPhone 4s.
“With 200 Android devices available on the market, Bluetooth LE hasn’t really matured for Android yet and so we felt that we couldn’t get the most out of an app on Android at this time […] With iPhone we have one set of hardware, and can delve deeper into the operating system to get the most out of what we can do. We’ve worked with Apple for seven years and like that they set the bar high for themselves as well as others. It is about the experience.” Based on that statement, it would suggest that Android support could come in the future, but Olander failed to answer if FuelBand SE would arrive with Samsung or HTC support somewhere down the road. In the meantime for those looking for a fitness device, there are several alternatives out there.
Nike Explains Lack Of Bluetooth LE Is The Reason Why There Is No Android FuelBand App original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Nike’s newest iteration of its signature activity tracker
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Nike is revealing a new version of its FuelBand today at an event in New York City. Dubbed the FuelBand SE, the new fitness tracker sports a variety of color accents and represents the sporting goods maker’s first non-cosmetic update to its activity tracking wearable since the gadget’s introduction.
The FuelBand, for those who aren’t familiar, is a wearable wristband that provides users with a visual readout of their steps taken during the course of a day, and also offers up a ‘Fuel’ tally, which is a metric made up by Nike that calculates based on your activity level through things like walking, running, paying basketball and more. They don’t share much about how they come up with that number, but it’s likely not terribly scientific and meant primarily as a motivation device to get people moving more frequently.
This new second-generation product has a similar design to the original version (but with red, pink or yellow accents), with a rubberized band that fits snugly around the wrist available in different sizes. This edition is intended to be better at encouraging users to move, and harder to cheat with. Nike reports that doing things like punching your fist in the air to game your score won’t up your Fuel score, according to CNET. It also looks to offer up better ability to differentiate between different types of activity, like cycling, spinning and rowing.
Nike’s new hardware is sealed and waterproofed, making it usable in the shower, and it’s got a highly refined motion detection algorithm. There are regular reminders (once hourly) to prompt you to get up and stop being so lazy, and there’s a new shortcut to let you double tap the button to access time. It uses Bluetooth 4.0, too, which should make it easier to sync data and provide a bit of a battery boost. There’s also a brand new app redesign to do along with it, with more granular and informative charts and graphs related to activity data. A new Fuel-per-minute metric offers a look at your average intensity, rather than just cumulative activity totals.
Finally, there’s sleep tracking, which the first generation device lacked entirely. Sleep tracking is available to users of the Fitbit Flex, and the Jawbone Up, so that’s a huge addition in terms of playing catchup with the competition. The FuelBand SE is still iOS only, however, so don’t expect an Android app anytime soon. Users not in the Apple flock can still use the website, however. Nike has also launched “Fuel Lab,” a 12-week program designed to help companies launch integrations of its Nike+ and NikeFuel APIs and SDKs, which offers $50,000 to each of 10 companies chosen to take part.
The FuelBand SE will be available on November 6, along with the updated iPhone app and the Nike Move app debuted at the iPhone 5s reveal. The FuelBand will cost $149, and ship initially in the U.S., UK, Canada, France Germany and Japan, with pre-orders kicking off today.
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