During CES 2015, Judie was part of an interview with the CEO of Withings. She loves the brown Withings Activité watch she bought (she has also since purchased it in black) and was good enough to get me a review sample of the smaller, less expensive Activité Pop.
I love the Pop, and I am happy to share its availability here in the US. The Pop is a great fitness tool and I rarely (never) take it off.
The watch is available in 3 different colors- Azure, Shark Grey, and Sand. At just $149.95 it is a great looking and affordable fitness watch that does “just enough” to keep me happy using it. When I got mine it was not yet available in the US. It is now and I am thrilled to share the fact that you can get it at Best Buy stores, BestBuy.com and Withings.com. Withings has this to say about the watch:
Technology meets fashion: The Activité Pop analog watch features a lightweight and fun-to-wear design that extends across the PVD-coated colourful watchcase and the smooth silicone straps. In order to match and express any personal style, the watch comes in 3 distinctive “Pop chic” colors (Azure, Shark Grey, Sand) and can be customized with easily interchangeable wristbands.
Time to take control of your health: Activité Pop features two hand dials, one showing the time and a sub dial showing percentage progress of specific activity goals. The objective (e.g.: 10 000 steps) is set within the application and, throughout the day, the users know where they stand in a glimpse of an eye. Worn at night, Activité Pop monitors sleep quality and lets the user set an alarm to wake up with a gentle vibration.
The watch syncs automatically with the free Withings Health Mate application. This is especially great since I also have the company’s scale and blood pressure cuff. One app works with all three and does so quite nicely. As the company explains:
Health Mate acts as a coach to help users achieve personal goals and includes an interactive leader board, personal “data insights,” smart reminders and achievement badges. It is integrated with 100+ partners whose services add up to the 360° wellness experience.
I love the look and feel of the watch. It is light, looks good and doesn’t scream “tech watch!!!” At the same time it does enough without doing “too much.” It tracks my steps, tracks my sleep, and it serves up a vibrating alarm so I can wake up without a noise blaring from my clock. And there’s another great feature… Battery life. Yes, while Apple’s watch is expected to get less than a day of run time per charge the Activité Pop uses a single standard watch battery that lasts up to 8 months. Sure it does far less than a full-on smart watch, but the trade-off is a big deal and not worrying about keeping the watch charged is a big deal for me.
Other features include:
- It is always up to date and changes time based in the connection to the “host” smartphone
- It automatically changes the time when it crosses time zones
- It is water-resistant up to 30 meters.
Withings describes the Activité Pop as being “the new face of activity tracking” and I could not agree more.
