As the recent IPO of American firm FitBit has proven over the summer, there’s big money to be had in fitness trackers, and they’ve definitely been a big draw for Christmas gifts the world over. While the FitBit range starts from lower-end products like the Zip, the majority of them are fairly highly-priced, and prevents some users from getting their hands on the activity tracking technology. Misfit, the US firm, has been offering up affordable trackers for some time and now, the Swipe F-Band is looking to do the same in India. The watch-looking activity tracker will be available starting January 7th from Snapdeal exclusively for a mere RS 1,499 (~$22 USD).
The Swipe F-Band will be going up against the Mi Band, and while it doesn’t feature a heart rate monitor, it does feature a display. This allows users to track their progress on their wrist, without getting their phone out, and the F-Band will even support some notification handling, streamlining daily activities for a lot of users. The F-Band will track sleep as well as steps and it can be used to track your runs among other things. There’s an Android app for Android smartphones which syncs over Bluetooth and the battery life is rated at 7 days or so. This is pretty impressive judging the tiny 55 mAh battery and 30-minute charging time.
For all intents and purposes, the F-Band is a pretty basic activity tracker, and that’s essentially the whole point. For a lot of users that are looking to see what their daily routine adds up to in steps or calories burned, these affordable trackers are a great option. While these pieces of wearable technology aren’t a guarantee that their wearers will lose weight, they are one more motivation and incentive to get out there and do even a little bit extra. Those that are interested in the F-Band from Swipe can register their interest now, the first 100 that do so will get it at a reduced price of RS 1,299, for everyone else it will be RS 1,499 and be available in a couple of different colors. For more info, take a look at the Snapdeal page linked below, the F-Band will go sale in earnest January 7th next year.
