Polar announces the A360 Smart Band
- Daniel Bray
- Oct 20, 2015
- 2 min read
Polar, a company who make some of the best GPS watches and bicycle computers on the market, have just announced their A360 smart band.
It’s a rectangular, waterproof device with swappable silicon straps. It has a HD colour touchscreen, a heart rate monitor, a microUSB charging port and a small button with many functions on the side. The heart rate monitor was made in-house by Polar, and it is apparently no joke, offering speedy readings. It’s also WR30 Water Resistant, and can connect to other Polar products like the H7 monitor.
The device has its own UI, which isn’t based on android wear. This is visible, as battery life is reported to be up to 12 days, but the band is lacking GPS, which helps to explain this great battery life.
So how does it work out things like distance travelled if it doesn't have GPS? Well, it uses a pedometer function to track your steps and work out things like calories burned and distance travelled, using that steps number.
The band also tracks your sleep time and quality, which can then be checked either on their mobile app or via the Polar Flow web service.
The band can connect to both android and iOS devices, and there is a companion app for the band. As of right now, notifications will work if you have an iPhone, but won’t work with android phones until just before the end of November. On both platforms, however, you won’t be able to reply to notifications or pick up calls with this device.
The device also offers ‘smart coaching’, which does a number of things: it gives you advice on what exercises to do (eg. Do 50 minutes of walking or 20 of running), it gives you daily, weekly and monthly feedback explaining how your exercise has benefitted your health. It also adjusts what directions it gives you based on your current heart rate, and optimal heart rate for the intensity and benefits required.
So, for all of you workout junkies out there, the A360 will be available in November for the reasonable price of $199
Source: | Polar | Via: | Ars Technica |
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