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HTC

Under Armour HTC UA HealthBox Band Scale Heart Rate
Sports, Wearable Technology

Under Armour And HTC Launch Ecosystem Of Connected Devices

Under Armour HTC UA HealthBox Band Scale Heart Rate

While Under Armour has seen amazing growth in the sports apparel industry over the company’s 20 year existence, it has not found the same level of success with wearables. The company’s two previous efforts (the E39 and Armour39) amounted to nothing more than niche products. Perhaps they targeted the wrong audience, offered the wrong feature set, or were just too ugly – but Under Armour has hit the drawing board and is trying again, this time with the help of HTC. The new effort from Under Armour features a suite of connected devices designed to promote fitness, call UA HealthBox. While they each work well as individual product, Under Armour has designed them to be most beneficial as a set.

First up is an activity tracking band. Similar in looks to the Nike+ Fuelband and Garmin Vivosmart, the cleverly named UA Band tracks daily movement and sleep, has a heart rate monitor, allows you to log the type of workout you are doing, and connects to your phone for notifications and music control. The device is water proof up to 10 meters, has a touch sensitive monochrome PMOLED display, and a 5 day battery life. Unfortunately the $180 silicon / plastic fitness band is only available in black (with a few red accents) so if you are not a fan of the coloring, you are out of luck. The data recorded by the UA Band is fed via Bluetooth to the UA Record app  on your phone. This app is what Under Armour claims makes their suite of devices so special.  

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Watches

HTC’s Upcoming Wrist Worn Wearable Not A Smartwatch

HTC Non Smartwatch WearableHTC has been publicly contemplating entering the wearable tech market for almost a year. The company has now disclosed that it will announce a wrist worn wearable at CES this January, but it is not a smartwatch. In fact, HTC says it is unlike any device on the market. This is the latest chapter of HTC disclosing things probably before they should. In February, HTC Chairwoman Cher Wang said that the company would launch a smartwatch by year end. But in September it came out that the smartwatch had been canceled. A month later HTC stated that the postponed device would launch in 2015. Now we find out the wearable is something other than what HTC considers a smartwatch. Hopefully the confusion is not a sign of turmoil, but instead an indicator that HTC really wants to get this right. In October the head of HTC America, Jason Mackenzie, had this to say: “When we come to market with our product we want to make sure the product has a strong point of view and there is a really compelling reason to strap it on your wrist.”

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Wearable Technology

Mobile World Congress Sees Wearable Tech Going Mainstream

Mobile World Congress

The biggest news coming out of Barcelona at this year’s Mobile World Conference was not a mobile phone, but instead wearable tech, specifically watches.  With Samsung having already tested the waters, albeit unsuccessfully, and Apple rumored to release a watch-like device later this year, a slew of companies arrived in Barcelona ready to show off their vision of smart, wearable devices.  From sport bands, to glasses, to watches, wearable seems to of officially had it’s coming out party! 

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