Fitness bracelet is a growing gadget that helps you lead a he althy lifestyle by tracking your activity level. With it, you can not think about counting steps taken and calories burned - the bracelet will take over this function. All you need to do is put the bracelet on your hand, and then look at the statistics and draw conclusions.
Many new items contain additional functionality: heart rate measurement at rest and during training, a "smart" alarm clock that tracks sleep phases, and much more, depending on the imagination of the developers and the capabilities of the manufacturer.
Who needs such a device and why
Smart bracelet is not a device for professional athletes. Specialized and expensive devices for sports, for example, from Garmin, are needed for the correct and most accurate display of a variety of parameters that are not needed by the average user.
The main task of trackers (another name for fitness bracelets, from the English trek - the way) -motivation. You can even write with a capital letter - Motivation.
What is the normal life of an office worker? Home-work-shop-home. We go to work and to the store by car, and we even prefer to get to our 4th or 5th floor by elevator. At the same time, we naively believe that we certainly pass our prescribed 10,000 steps a day: while I went to lunch, while I walked around the office, talked with colleagues - it probably came running.
Fitness bracelet dispels illusions and, most importantly, brings an element of play to such a boring business as maintaining your own physical shape. No wonder the social component of the most successful models is thought out as carefully as possible: competing with friends is much more fun.
How to choose the right tracker for you
There are already a lot of models on the market, especially in 2014, and it is quite difficult to understand this variety. Different manufacturers produce fitness bracelets targeted at different audiences. Comparing analogues can take quite some time, so it's worth focusing on the most popular and successful models, among which the Nike + Fuelband SE, Sony SmartBand SWR10 and Jawbone UP24 occupy the leading positions. Let's consider their main advantages and disadvantages and try to decide which of the models is worth buying as a gift for yourself and your loved ones.
Nike+ Fuelband SE - Superbly thought out motivation system
The Nike+ Fuelband SE Fitness Bracelet is the next generation of the popular Fuelband tracker, with many improvements and improvements based on feedback from the previous model.
Trackeravailable in 6 different designs - everyone can choose the option to taste. In addition, a special edition of the METALUXE Collection has been released with gold accents, perfect for office wear.
The fitness bracelet is protected from water and dust: you can go to the shower with it, although many are afraid of damaging the expensive "toy" and remove the gadget before taking water procedures.
Compatibility does not cause any complaints: synchronization occurs via Bluetooth 4.0 with low energy consumption, the device itself is compatible with Android and iOS platforms.
There is a "smart alarm" function: the bracelet wakes you up with vibration in the range you set in advance, which increases the chances of waking up in the most favorable phase of sleep.
Average tracker operation time without recharging is 4 days.
Target Audience for Fuelband SE
This fitness bracelet is sure to please people with a lot of friends, who are interested in new technologies, or just active Facebook users who have a lot of virtual friends.
Another target audience for Fuelband is gamers or those who are motivated by a set of conditional fuel points and getting nice and beautifully rendered (and sometimes animated) achievements.
Nike has made a successful fitness bracelet with mostly positive reviews from people focused on social achievement: the entire NikePlus community is at your service.
Additional modificationMETALUXE Collection will appeal to fans of fashion trends and trends.
Sony SmartBand SWR10 is your constant companion
New from the Japanese giant - fitness bracelet Sony SmartBand SWR10 - appeared only in April 2014. Sony offers different fitness bracelets, the comparison of which reveals the leader - SmartBand SWR10: this model is the best combination of all necessary functions and price. And the price of the device is really impressive - almost 2 times lower than a competitor from Nike.
The design of the tracker is designed in a concise style, echoing the design of Sony Xperia smartphones, 9 color options are available.
Protected against water to IP58 standard, but since the device itself is not firmly fixed in the strap, it is not worth the risk of taking a bath or swimming with it. Nevertheless, the fitness bracelet will survive a walk in the rain or an accidental splash.
The gadget is charged via microUSB, which is very nice: most likely, it will be possible to use charging from a smartphone. Synchronization occurs using Bluetooth 4.0. For many, the exactingness of the smart bracelet to the platform will be an unpleasant surprise: the device only works with Android version 4.4 and higher, and iOS support is not and is not expected. If you do not have a smartphone with updated software (for example, the manufacturer stopped supporting your model), then, alas, SmartBand cannot be connected to it.
Another drawback may be the lack of a clock display function.
Sony bracelet target audienceSmartBand SWR10
The main feature of the bracelet is the magnificent LifeLog application, especially valuable for those who implement the principles of time management in their lives or simply like to collect statistics for analysis. LifeLog displays not only the usual activity statistics (counting steps, calories burned, sleep time, etc.), but also collects statistics of your interaction with the phone: how much time you spent on Facebook, how much time you spent listening to music, what videos you watched, how many photographs have been taken etc.. The "Bookmarks" function is especially interesting - by long pressing the bracelet button you make a kind of "state snapshot", and the application remembers your place, music, picture taken, sent SMS, and so on.
The app is really promising if you use it creatively. For example, a novice photographer can set a goal for a certain number of shots per day and track statistics to improve performance, and from the bookmarks that evoke the most vivid memories, you can extract creative material: videos, music, etc.
Jawbone UP24 - fine quality
Jawbone UP24 fitness bracelet is the next generation of the popular Jawbone UP, the most successful model of the past.
The design has not changed much, delighting fans with the same stylish forms and disappointing with the same not very convenient charging through an adapter that is easily lost.
Improved protection against moisture - now the bracelet is not afraid of splashes, but swim ortaking a bath with it is still not worth it.
Compatibility is excellent: with iOS and Android devices, the bracelet works great. And the battery life is also good: Jawbone UP24 gives one of the best performance on the market in this price category - about 7 days.
The "smart" alarm clock works in the same way as in the previous model: you can set the start of the sleep time countdown by pressing the key, or the countdown will start automatically according to the preset parameters, and the bracelet wakes up with a slight vibration within the specified time range. The sleep schedule is built using an accelerometer, the principle is simple: the less you toss and turn, the better the quality of sleep.
The disadvantages include the ability to display the current time - a watch will not replace a bracelet.
Target audience of the Jawbone UP24 bracelet
First of all, the model will be of interest to the owners of the previous version: they are already accustomed to the functionality and usability of the application, made friends with other users, so they are unlikely to be attracted to other fitness bracelets. An overview of the updated model can be read "diagonally" - they are already familiar with most of the functions.
Beginners will also be interested in other benefits - for example, the ability to integrate the original Jawbone application with other popular programs: RunKeeper, MyFitnessPal and so on. This can be really valuable for those who have used these applications before and do not want to part with the accumulated statistics.
It is also worth considering that the Jawbone UP24 is oneone of the thinnest and lightest bracelets on the market, which might be a big deal for petite girls or teens.
So which fitness bracelet model to choose
So, now you know that manufacturers offer different fitness bracelets, you also read an overview of the most popular models. To make your choice easier, take a look at the small summary table and think about which options are most important to you.
| Nike+ Fuelband SE | Sony SmartBand SWR10 | Jawbone UP24 | |
| Design and ease of charging | 5+ of 5 (including METALUXE) | 5 of 5 | 4 of 5 (charging via adapter) |
| Water resistant | shower, spray | shower, spray | shower, spray |
| Clock display | yes | no | no |
| Compatibility & Sync | Bluetooth 4.0, Android, iOS | Bluetooth 4.0, Android 4.4, iOS | Bluetooth 4.0, Android, iOS |
| Alarm Clock | yes | yes | yes |
| Opening hours | 4 days | 5 days | 6 days |
| App convenience | best motivation | more statistics | integration with other services |
Do you want to use a bracelet instead of a watch? As you can see, only the Nike+ Fuelband SE has this feature - take a look at it.
Do you already have collected statistics in other applications? Consider purchasing JawboneUP24.
And so on. All in your hands. Good luck!
