Wearable maker Misfit started off on Kickstarter with its unique and versatile Shine fitness tracker, which is still one of the most popular and attractive pieces of wearable tech currently on the market. Now, the company is introducing a new fitness and sleep tracker called Misfit Flash, priced at only $50.
The Flash may be cheaper and slightly less fancy than the $100 Shine, but it has the same look and performs many of the same tasks. The Flash can track the number of steps you’ve taken, as well as other activities like running, cycling, swimming, tennis, basketball, and more. It also keeps tabs on your caloric intake and the quality of your sleep.
All of the data Flash accumulates is passed along to your smartphone wirelessly using Bluetooth, and collated on the Misfit app for iOS or Android. Progress towards your daily goal can be seen on the Flash itself, just by pressing the front of the device, and a series of lights will tell you how much (or little) you still need to do during the day.
Misfit’s Flash is made of a soft, durable plastic, that is waterproof up to 30 meters, so you can even go swimming with it. You can also use it in watch mode, if you want to know the time, and a long-lasting internal coin battery means you’ll never have to charge it either. Misfit offers Flash in several colors, including a bright neon green, fuchsia, teal, and aqua, plus a more normal red, black, and white. Just like Shine, you can clip it anywhere, wear it as a watch, or a necklace.
Misfit’s Flash is currently up for preorder for $50 on the company’s website. It will be available in several retail stores, including Best Buy, Target, Amazon, and Walmart this October.
The OnePlus Buds Clip are a new pair of open-ear earbuds built around a simple convenience. They join Sony’s LinkBuds Clip in the growing ear-cuff category, but either OnePlus bud can go on either ear.
Sensors recognize how the earbuds are being worn and route the audio channels accordingly. There’s no label to check before putting them on, and the feature also works when only one bud is used.
We buy fitness bands and activity trackers to keep tabs on our exercise, but it is easy to forget to start tracking or switch modes when moving between different activities. For Fitbit and Pixel Watch users, that could soon become a lot less annoying, as Google is rolling out a major upgrade to automatic activity tracking that can recognize more than 100 types of exercise, up from just 10 before.
Google first showed off the improved tracking earlier this month alongside the Fitbit Edge. It is now coming to Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch 3, 4, and 5, and Google claims the added context behind the system makes workout detection nearly twice as accurate while cutting missed activities by more than half. Fitbit Edge will support it too.