It seems like forever ago that HTC and Under Armour partnered up to deliver fitness hardware, and during CES 2016 it looks as though things are finally coming together. For that that remember, HTC and Under Armour, the fitness clothing brand, came together to develop the HTC Grip. The Grip was essentially a FitBit competitor developer with Under Armour’s new UA Record app in mind. The Grip never hit the market, but the UA Record app did, and it even has an Android wear extension for those looking to make the most of their smartwatches. During CES 2016, HTC and Under Armour have a complete package to unveil, dubbed the UA HealthBox, it’s a trio of products that come together to help people record their entire wellbeing and fitness.
The first part of the UA HealthBox is the UA Band, which is much like the original Grip was when it was announced. Designed to be worn everyday, there’s a simple LED display that shows simple steps and feedback, as well as heart rate when connected to another accessory. Able to pair with Android as well as iOS, the UA Band is designed as a decent all-round fitness tracker. The second part of the UA HealthBox is designed to be used with the UA Band at the same time, dubbed the UA Heart Rate this little piece does exactly what you think it does. Tracking your heart rate from a little disc, designed to be strapped to your chest, the UA Heart Rate relies information about what your heart is doing as you workout, and will feed data back to the UA Record app to compare to previous workouts.
Last but not least is the UA Scale, which is a connected scale that works with the UA Record app to feed back both weight as well as body fat measurements. Designed as a simple circle, with a glass top panel and invisible LED display when not in use, Under Armour were clearly going for the mainstream market here. The whole package is available to pre-order right now, and will cost $400 for all three items. That’s not too bad a price, but it will be hard to persuade people that they need all three items rather than something like the Charge HR from FitBit that does two of these functions in one.
