This has to be our favourite gadget of the year, and following on from our recent interview with Channel 5’s Pollyanna Woodward, we’ve heard from a few of you looking for more information on the little Fitbit we discussed recently.
So what is the Fitbit? Well, it’s a small tracker that sits in your pocket or clips onto your clothes, and it trackers your activity. OK – You’re thinking “pedometer”, but this is a little more sophisticated than that. As well as tracking steps walked, it measures your activity level and also counts how many flights of stairs you climb. You also wear it at night, and it monitors how well you sleep.
The Fitbit then sends this wirelessly to your computer or your smartphone, where you can see information about the day’s activities, and if you’re working towards a fitness goal (such as losing a few pounds), then this reports your progress and gives you motivational suggestions and encouragement.
On the subject of wearable trackers, here’s what Poll had to say:
“It encourages to you to be more active. It’s so much fun and it’s always quite interesting how much information you get from them.
I find it fascinating when you can see how many steps you’ve taken, see how many calories you’ve burned and see how you slept. It does it in such a very fun and very cool way.”
The information gathered on your daily activity and patterns is amazingly detailed, and has plenty of uses outside of fitness – we’ve found it serves as a “what was I doing last Wednesday” type of diary, and also to confirm that a late night does indeed hinder a productive day’s work the next day.
To explain a little more about what this wireless activity tracker is all about, we’ve recorded a review of the Fitbit, and included our hands-on field test from a few shows back, Pollyanna Woodward’s views on wearable trackers, and also an interview with Gareth Jones, the European General Manager for Fitbit. Take a listen to our 15 minute feature:
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If you’re interested in getting a Fitbit, or reading some of the online reviews, check out the Fitbit One on Amazon – There’s also a budget model, the Fitbit Zip on Amazon
More on the Fitbit
For more information on this clever little fitness tracker, see our feature: Hands-on with the Fitbit Tracker