Although it doesn’t officially open until tomorrow, CES 2014 is already becoming the ‘year of the wrist band’. The latest company to announce its entry in to this market is Garmin, who are probably better known for their satnav devices. The new Vivofit (prounced veevo-fit) is a lightweight fitness band featuring a curved display that always stays on – with a user replaceable battery that should last ‘over a year’.
The Vivofit greats a user with their personalised daily goal, tracks progress and reminds them when it’s time to move. It also displays steps, calories, distance and time of day.
Amongst the band’s features are “Achievable Daily Goals” where the device learns the user’s current activity levels and then assigns an attainable daily goal. It also records calories burned throughout the day. As milestones are met, the Vívofit will adjust the goal for the next day. The “Time to move” is about encouraging you to take frequent, short walk breaks throughout the day. A red move bar appears on the display after 1 hour of inactivity and builds when users have been sitting too long. Walking for a couple of minutes will reset the move bar, and get users out of the red.