January tends to be a time when gym owners start rubbing their hands together at the prospect of money rolling in from new memberships, as everyone tries to fight off the results of an over-indulgent festive period. LG has decided to take advantage of timing as well, launching its first ever fitness and health monitor, the Life Band Touch.
The device is a rather slick little black or red wristband, designed to connect wirelessly to your smartphone in order to send stats to a specially designed app to help you keep track of all things health and fitness. It leaked unofficially last month thanks to @evleaks on Twitter and now, at CES 2014, LG has given it a proper launch.
The Life Band Touch will of course draw instant comparisons with the Nike Fuelband and Fitbit Flex – two already well-established wrist-worn fitness gadgets, but LG hopes that its effort will be more successful. Finished in black or red, the wristband is waterproof and features a small OLED display which offers up stats at a quick glance, such as calorie consumption and steps taken. As the name suggests, the screen is touch operated, which is a key difference when comparing this wrist gadget to its rivals.
Unlike Nike’s Fuelband, LG’s offering isn’t bias in terms of the mobile operating systems it works with. It works with both iOS and Android, with app downloads available for both, offering exercise plans, dietary tracking, pedometer readings and more. This data is relayed from the Life Band to your smartphone using a Bluetooth 4.0 connection, which means low battery drain when used in conjunction with compatible smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S4. Older phones will still work with the Life Band Touch even if they don’t have Bluetooth 4.0, but having the device connected will cause a bigger drain on the phone’s battery.
As far as wristbands go, the design of the Life Band Touch is very interesting. The screen part itself detaches from the band, allowing the user to plug it in to charge. There’s also talk of the wristband offering notifications from the connected smartphone on its OLED display, making it a little bit ‘smartwatch’ as well as a fitness tracker – LG is yet to confirm this however, as it has merely put the gadget on show at CES and not done a full announcement just yet.
We’re hoping to obtain more information, including pricing and release dates, in the near future, so stay tuned for more news.