Withings Go: the affordable fitness tracker starts shipping

Withings, the Nokia owned company, has this week announced the availability of its Withings Go tracker. With a price of less than $80, this is a beautiful little wearable which fits squarly into the budget fitness tracker category. The circular device was clearly designed to assist just about everyone to embrace activity tracking.

Essential reading: Wearables that won’t break the bank

Withings Go features an E-Ink screen that shows activity, functions as a watch on demand and is legible in bright sunlight. The E-Ink screen is an original concept which has the benefit of not draining the battery even though its on all the time. This is similar technology to that we have seen on the Kindle.

A user’s progress is displayed via 88 segments on the with the middle icon switching from a stick person to a star when your daily goal is achieved. When you press on the center of the display the tracker will switch to a standard watch display. Click it again, and it will go back to a meter showing your daily activity.

You can choose from one of five colours – black, blue, green, red or yellow. The device can be worn on the wrist, the pocket, the belt or the shoe. Withings Go is essentially designed to reduce interaction, being able track everything without the user having to push a single button.

There is automatic 24/7 activity tracking for walking, running, swimming and sleeping, as well as automatic recognition of a variety of daily activities. For walking and running, the device analyses the number of steps, distance covered, calories burned and duration of the running session. At night, Go can distinguish between light and deep sleep cycles to give you a better understanding of your sleep patterns.

The battery lasts an impressive 8 months. To recharge it, just replace the button cell and you are ready to go again. Go is also water-resistant up to 50 metres and automatically recognises when you start swimming, providing the time of the session and calories burned.

All in all, this is a super attractive budget tracker designed so that in only requires your passive, not active, attention. Clip it on and forget about it. The Go is available for purchase now on www.withings.com and will soon be available at partner retailers such as Amazon.

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