Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Lenovo Reveals Wearable Smartband To Track Exercise Stats

Posted by samzenpus on from the it's-all-in-the-wrist dept.

An anonymous reader writes Lenovo is the latest tech company to enter the fitness tracker market with its Smartband SW-B100 device. "It can record calories burnt, steps taken and a user's heartrate, in addition to syncing with a smartphone through an app to provide more complete health data. Users can also customize notifications and reminders on the smartband, and even use it to unlock a Windows PC without typing in the password, according to the product page."

8 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. No surprise by MPBoulton · · Score: 2

    A Chinese company making a product that can bypass security in Windows? Who would have thought...

  2. mostly novelty item by itzly · · Score: 2

    Unless you're a professional, these fitness devices only have a brief novelty value. Calories burned is cute, but if you want to lose weight, you just need to eat less. Instead of counting steps, you can just measure the distance travelled, or time spent exercising. And instead of looking at your heart rate, you can just judge how you feel. After a while, you know what kind of exercise level you can sustain for the next 30 or 60 minutes. And if you misjudge, and you go to fast, just slow down for the second half. Don't worry too much about staying in the exact "heart rate zone".

    1. Re:mostly novelty item by Ericular · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My FitBit motivated me to be more active, and therefore didn't just have a brief novelty value for me. Instead of sitting around on my break at work, I'd take a brisk walk around the building. I'd park in the back of the lot. I'd take the stairs instead of the elevator, even if it was 6 flights up. All of these things I would never have done if I wasn't receiving immediate feedback from the FitBit, and seeing that I was burning more calories by making these small changes. Even an extra 100 calories burned per day adds up to a significant weight loss 365 days later.

      I've also found that I'm more likely to meet my calorie intake target for the day when I'm graphing calories in/out day-to-day in a spreadsheet. So I'd argue that these fitness devices can have a real value.

    2. Re:mostly novelty item by Lazere · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yep, totally not ignoring the last sentence of his post at all. But you're right, after a few time going up the same stairs, you know how many calories it takes. Here's the thing though, fitness is all about habit. If the FitBit is helping him to build new healthy habits through information, I'd call that a win. Wouldn't you? Perhaps he won't need it down the road, but that doesn't mean it's not useful now.

    3. Re:mostly novelty item by Ericular · · Score: 2

      The point is that the FitBit does all of the calculation for me, and then I see affirmation in cold, hard numbers that my habits make a difference. I don't want to manually calculate every activity I do and then tally them at the end of the day. That's the whole point of the FitBit in the first place. I want to see that I burned 2,642 calories yesterday, and 2,884 calories today, determine what was different, and continue habits that make a difference.

      And yes, if my goal for a 500 calorie deficit, I could eat 2,500 calories on day I burned 3,000, and 2,300 on a day I burn 2,800. What's your point there?

      I've logged my calories in (MyFitnessPal) and out (FitBit) for several months now. The line for my expected weight (based on calorie estimates) and actual weight are very similar. Much more than I expected they would be.

      To your donut reference, I think what you're getting at is that for most people, food intake is much easier to control and adjust than physical activity. I agree 100%. Eating 100 calories less is much easier and more preferable to me than exerting 100 extra calories of energy. I am a runner, and I believe that running alone is not that great of a weight loss plan. When I run 10 miles I may burn well over 1,000 calories, but I'll be damned if I don't find myself ravenously hungry for quite some time afterwards. I could negate my run in a matter of minutes if I wasn't as aware.

      And that's the point - awareness. The FitBit was nice because it held me accountable and gave me data to work with. I wasn't going to pay $100 for something and carry it around all day every day, and then just ignore the data it gave me. I log it every day in Excel. Likewise, the FitBit data alone is pretty useless if I'm oblivious to my intake, so I log intake data every day in Excel. Together, these two numbers keep me focused on my goal and guarantee that I'm progressing toward it.

       

  3. Thrilled! by penguinoid · · Score: 2

    I bet your health insurance company would be thrilled to be able to track your fitness and raise your premium should you be less than ideally active.

    --
    Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  4. Unlock a Windows... by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

    >> even use it to unlock a Windows PC without typing in the password

    I don't need a wristband for that. :)

  5. Re:Burnt? by alvinrod · · Score: 2

    By definition, exercise will always be hard. If it were easy, there wouldn't be much gain from it as it wasn't taxing our bodies.

    Technology and science can make exercise more efficient by learning the most effective means for exercising and being able to accurately measure it. We might learn that following a 20 minute daily workout routine that satisfies certain conditions such as heart rate level, etc. is as effective as older routines that were an hour long and that we can use technology to help us avoid other behaviors with negative health impacts such as remaining seated for prolonged periods without standing and moving around a bit.

    However, the exercise will still be hard work. You don't build muscles if you don't strain the ones you have. Perhaps some day we'll eventually have a pill that will just grow them for you without the work, and to some degree we already have substances that have that effect to certain degrees. It's a bit like learning math. You aren't going to get good at it without practice and some hard work. We can identify alternative learning styles that may suit various individuals better than other approaches, but at the end of the day, effort still needs to be expended to grow.