Beyond the popular gizmos, open your eyes to some lesser-known yet equally remarkable gadgets to keep you in top health. It's World Health Day after all!
Technology gadgets can be a good motivator to help you get back in shape or help you stay as healthy as ever. Take a look at some of our suggestions.
We aren’t mentioning the usual suspects that everyone, and even your granny knows about – stuff like the Fitbit, Mi Band and a zillion other smartwatches. If you’re looking to hop back on the wagon and try and regain control of your health and fitness, look no further than these devices mentioned below. It’s time to huff and puff your way to a more improved you, thanks to these gadgets and their bundled services.
1) Garmin VivoFit 3: This smart wristband is unanimously regarded as the best in the business of tracking your fitness, combined with its ease of use, abundant features and above-average performance. It can count your steps, calories expended, sets goals and tracks heart rate; it’s waterproof and lasts for a year on a single battery charge. It syncs data to the cloud wirelessly without interfacing through a PC. If you only want to buy one device – and one device only – to set your misshaped health life in order, just close your eyes and purchase the VivoFit.
2) Qardio: This San Francisco-based company’s concentrating on two things, tracking your blood pressure and heart, and it has specialty wearable devices for both these functions. Qardio Arm is about the size of spectacles box, which can be tucked away in a suit. More importantly it’s Apple-esque design makes the device accessible and easy to use — just strap it on and monitor your BP on an iOS device. Similarly, the Qardio Core is a strap-on that goes around your chest and promises to give medical-grade cardiovascular monitoring technology, with remote monitoring features.
3) Adidas MiCoach Smart Run: As Nike’s reportedly killing its Fuelband, apparel enthusiasts can still bank on Adidas’ MiCoach Smart Run for your routine jogging or sprinting routine. It’s a personal coach on your wrist, and the device packs in a ton of features including and not limited to real-time cardio coaching with training plans created by elite coaches; workout review; coaching delivered via visual messages; fully integrated strap-free heart-rate sensor; GPS-based speed, distance, cadence and route; and then some. This will go well with that pair of Adidas running shoes you have.
4) Withings Smart Body Analyzer: In the digital age, a traditional weighing scale just wouldn’t cut it. Weight watchers, behold what’s popularly being dubbed as the best smart digital scale ever. This not only tracks your weight, but also heart rate, body fat and general well being, helping you stay on track of your fitness goals (indirectly). Combine all that with an improved app that’s easy to consume and handy, and the Smart Body Analyzer becomes the unbeatable choice of more advanced data metrics to help you lose weight.
5) Basis B1: Recently acquired by Intel, Basis’ B1 is a wristband that is a little bit different from all the rest, as it puts a large focus on inculcating good, healthy habits rather than just do mundane tracking (which it also does, by the way). If you love data, and lots of it, you’re gonna love this device. Not only does it track and measure your Heart Beat, Steps, and Calories but also Skin Temperature, Perspiration level, Sleep Quality and Sleep Time. Faced with all this data, you are left with no choice but to make positive life-improving decisions that lead to better fitness.
6) Valencell Performtek iriverON: This company essentially has a truckload of patents in sensor technology geared towards monitoring fitness and accurately tracking real-time health parameters, and it claims to be the best in the business. It’s iriverON headset is one of a kind tapping into the unique physiology of the ear, retrieving more accurate health and fitness metrics with earbuds than with other devices, especially when moving around and/or engaging in physical activity. Sensor data can be viewed live through applications on their iPhone, Android phones, or other smartphone devices.
7) Interaxon Muse Headband: This product here is hard to believe isn’t sci-fi. This brain sensing headband from Interaxon, Muse promises to truly unlock the power of your thought and mind and use it for the better. It detects your brain’s activity at every moment and you can track it through a smartphone or tablet device. Where a lot of wearable devices are focusing heavily towards keeping the body in shape, here’s a breath of fresh air that actually tries to keep the mind healthy as well.
8) Sensoria Fitness Sock – A combination of e-textile, a snap-on anklet and mobile apps to track your workout, the Sensoria Fitness Sock makes for a true wearable tech product in the truest sense of the word. It’s made for fitness-conscious folks, and analyzes your foot to keep you fit as a fiddle. Filled with sensors, sock can tell you if you’ve been sitting idle for too long and prompt you to go for a walk — useful in a sedentary, office environment — and also offers some advanced features like stride gauge, foot landing analyzer, cadence meter, track pressure and impact points on your foot, etc., and retrieve all that data through an app.
Follow Us
Jayesh Shinde
Executive Editor at Digit. Technology journalist since Jan 2008, with stints at Indiatimes.com and PCWorld.in. Enthusiastic dad, reluctant traveler, weekend gamer, LOTR nerd, pseudo bon vivant. View Full Profile
