Adding to its lineup of Activité-branded watch-style activity trackers, Withings today announced the Activité Steel. The Activité Steel is designed to fit in between the expensive original Activité and the more affordable Activité Pop.
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Like the other Activité activity trackers, the Activité Steel is designed to look more like a traditional wrist watch than a fitness device. It features a stainless steel case, chrome hands, and a sub-dial that was inspired by a tachymeter. According to Withings, the Activité Steel was designed to have a "distinctive masculine feel."
"While the tracker market is booming we see growing demand from health conscious people who are not willing to compromise their style," says Cédric Hutchings, CEO of Withings. "Steel is the perfect Christmas gift for those demanding trendsetters."
The Activité Steel keeps track of steps taken, showing progress towards a daily goal on the small sub-dial on the watch face. It is also able to automatically detect several activities, including running and swimming, and at night, it's able to monitor sleep length and quality.
There's a standard watch battery inside so there's no need to charge the Activité Steel, but the battery will need to be replaced approximately every eight months. As it does not charge, the Activité Steel is water-resistant up to 50 meters like the other two Activité watches.
All of the information gathered by the Activité Steel can be viewed in the accompanying Withings Health Mate application, which lets users insert activity goals, keep track of food consumed, and interact with friends to reach fitness goals.
The Activité Steel, initially available in classic black, can be ordered from the Withings website for $169.95.
Top Rated Comments
While it doesn't have a fancy screen, Dick Tracey style calling, maps and other nonsense, I think Withings have got a perfect balance with this. It's just a shame their marketing machine isn't as powerful as Apple.
I can't wait to get mine.
There doesn't seem like there is anything smart about this watch. Does it do alerts? It's a watch with a pedometer in it, that can track sleep.
You nailed it.I don't want to be alerted every two seconds on my wrist that I have another sodding whatsapp message or email. I don't care about GPS navigation on my wrist. I also don't give a monkeys about paying for something through my wrist.
For me a smart(ish) watch should complement my phone. In this case, my iPhone.
It doesn't replace an Apple Watch or even come close to one, but as an Apple Watch owner who has his watch in his drawer, back in the box, this is perfect.
This Verge review sums it up perfectly:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/26/7438345/withings-activite-review
Random question, but anyone know of any normal watches which look like this but without the 'smart' side of things, just a normal watch? Just I really think it is stunning looking watch but don't need all the other stuff. Thanks! :)
"How long is a piece of string?"It all dependent on budget. If money is no object, I would go for something like this:
This Junghans is also stunning.
There's plenty out there. At a lower budget scale, you can look at Longines but also have a look at a lot of German watch makers.
They do make a tracker that does heart rate, but its not nearly as good looking.
My only gripes are that i wish the glass on the Pop was better. I have put a LOT of scratches on mine. Hopefully this new one has better glass. Also i wish they would either offer more band choices, or open it up to third parties.
Well technically the app itself has a heart rate monitor, one can set daily alerts or just do it whenever we want and have it merg with iOS health.
The fitbit hr shines in 24/7 HR tracking. I charge it when I shower and generally forget about it. Unlike the Apple Watch it does not need to charge overnight which is very useful for resting heart rate calculations. The closest competitor for me would be the basis, but it doesn't have the ecosystem that fitbit has and is a tank ( I much prefer something small ).Personally, I use it daily and it works really good.