We’re constantly reading about the different kinds of marvellous wearable gadgets that are on their way. But many of them are just that — on their way. But one group of devices that have caught the imagination of the tech-using public and bulked up in double-quick time are activity trackers for people who value quantifying their daily activity and fitness levels. Today, I look at two trackers from Fitbit and Yu that serve a common purpose but couldn’t possibly be more different.
 
Fitbit Surge

Fitbit is one of the most established players in the activity tracker space and the Surge is the top of the range fitness tracker from Fitbit’s line-up. The square 1.25in monochrome LCD touch display and wedge shape reminds you of a digital wrist watch from the ’90s, but the Surge is anything but that — it combines features like GPS, continuous heart rate tracking and fitness tracking along with some smart watch functionality (calls/text alerts, music playback control) thrown in for good measure. It’s mostly comfortable, but just a tad bulky to wear when you’re sleeping, which is a bit of a pity since it has sleep tracking capabilities and a silent alarm feature. It’s available in black, which may be the safest choice if you want to wear it to work, though there are tangerine and blue variants too.

In use, logging workouts is simply a matter of tapping on the touch screen to bring up the right mode, and steps, stairs and heart rate are logged automatically. While the sleep tracking was a bit hit-and-miss, the fitness features were spot on, and folks who’re into running will find the GPS based maps feature pretty handy. Battery life is good at five to six days of constant use.

Clearly, this isn’t a device for casual fitness tracking — the Yu Fit or the Xiaomi Mi Band offer far better value. But for the target audience — serious fitness enthusiasts and the professional sports community — who are picky about how accurate their tracker is, this is worth the money.

• Rating: 8/10
• Price: Rs 19,990
• URL: http://bit.ly/TT-FitbitSurge

Yu YuFit

Lining up alongside the Xiaomi Mi Band in the “too-good-to-be-true” department is the YuFit fitness band from Yu, Micromax’s sister concern. It retails at the same Rs 999 price point as the Mi Band, and the form factor for both the wristband the YuFit tracker are fairly similar looking to Xiaomi’s offering.

Except for one crucial difference — unlike the display-less Mi Band, the YuFit fitness tracker features an OLED screen to display your steps, sleep statistics or phone notifications without having to fire up an app on your phone. You can even use the band to find a missing phone or notify contacts in case of an emergency.

The YuFit band connects to the YuFit app on your phone, and works in conjunction with the HealthifyMe app to add in food intake tracking (including tons of Indian food) along with coaching on weight loss and workouts (via a paid service). Accuracy levels are on a par with the Mi Band, which is fine for casual users and really, for the price, pretty darn good.

• Rating: 9/10
• Price: Rs 999
• URL: http://bit.ly/TT-YuFit

A crisp read

The third Kindle Paperwhite in as many years, the 2015 version, brings about a dramatic upgrade, and it’s safe to say my favourite e-reader just got better.

Amazon has finally upgraded the Paperwhite to a high-resolution 300 dots per inch screen, which makes for the same super crisp text and visuals that I loved in the high-end Kindle Voyage that launched earlier this year. This while retaining the sweet sub-11k pricing of the original — if you’re looking for an e-book reader, the decision remains a no-brainer, and you won’t need to eye the more expensive Voyage anymore.

• Price: Rs 10,999
• URL: http://bit.ly/TT-Paperwhite2015

Let there be light

Ladies, rummaging around your bag looking blindly for something is soon to be a thing of the past. With the SOI handbag light, you simply reach in to grab something and the SOI instantly lights up when it detects your hand is nearby, and switches off a few seconds after you’re done. Innovative!

lPrice: 24.90 euros
lURL: http://bit.ly/TT-SOIHandbagLight