Adidas showcases pricey fitness watch with GPS tracking, Bluetooth and heart rate monitoring

[Shawn Knight]

Another day, another new entrant into the wearable devices category. This time it’s Adidas that has joined the mix with its own smartwatch of sorts geared toward runners with a built-in GPS system, pulse-based heart rate tracking, Wi-Fi connectivity, accelerometer and Bluetooth connectivity.

Key details like internal hardware are unknown at this hour but we are told it features top-notch building materials like silicone rubber, aluminum, magnesium and glass. It’ll be water-resistant so an impromptu rain shower or body sweat won't fry the internals – just don’t go swimming with it on.

The wearable isn’t a traditional smartwatch in the sense that it doesn’t communicate at all with your smartphone. That’s right, there’s no smartphone notification display or other handy features like you’d find with similar offerings. Perhaps it’s best to refer to it simply as a standalone fitness companion, but I digress.

There are a few other baked-in features that help the Adidas device stand on its own, however, like a media player that is capable of pushing tunes to your wireless Bluetooth headphones. It can also beam training suggestions via audio instead of music if you need a bit of guidance during your workout.

Battery life will all depend on how you use the watch. Turn on the GPU, stream some music or fitness prompts to a Bluetooth headset and you’re looking at about eight hours. More basic use could see the watch last for up to a week on a single charge, Adidas said.

The fitness watch will be available starting November 1 for a steep $399 which is quite a bit to pay considering it doesn’t communicate with your smartphone.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/54357-adidas-showcases-pricey-fitness-watch-gps-tracking-bluetooth-heart-rate-monitoring.html

 

[Guest]

There's a lot of things that do not communicate with my smartphone, and that are even more expensive than $399, and they are still able to play a useful role in the society. Counter to common opinion, it is, in fact, possible to be useful and not be able to communicate with a smartphone. Come to think of it, if we understand "communicate" as "converse", it makes even more sense, because, I think, people who talk to their smartphones instead of talking into them, are often being locked up, which makes them pretty useless. So let's be tolerant about it, and give devices that do not communicate with our smartphones equal opportunities as we give to those that do. Maybe they are able to do something else instead!

 

[Guest]

The price point is downright ridiculous seeing as you can get all of the reported features of this device for a fraction of that cost elsewhere. I mean, this device might be a half elegant solution for a few features, but the price point doesn't justify this elegance.

I'm not sold, or turned off by "wear-ables". Generally I think the watch devices currently available are rather tacky or just not worth it. I haven't seen anything that looks all that wonderful or offers enough to pull the trigger on a purchase. I'm pretty certain if you just wait long enough there'll be cheap alternatives to the nonsense adidas or samsung has put out. Who knows, maybe Apple's offering will knock our socks off with a new way to purchase stuff from them.

I'll pass. And so will everyone else.

 

[Guest]

Apparently Techspot either has not done their complete research, or is being paid by Apple because this watch is apparently much better
than this article leads you to believe. The Adidas watch seems to run Android as well as pair with Android devices according to this link:

"Was removed by Techspot" so you will need to research yourself.

So now that you are better informed you can now make a better decision, price is still a bit high though.

 

[Guest]

Wow, that's a pretty ridiculous price point. My phone doesn't even cost that much. The updated fuelband is just right for me.