The case for better fitness trackers
Ever since the little accident, I searched for devices that could easily monitor my health and help me manage it. Being overweight, the first device I bought was a smart scale from Withings. I pre-ordered it when it was first announced and I use it daily ever since I got it.
But becoming healthy also involves moving and I needed to monitor that as well, so I got a Pulse tracker, also from Withings — I tend to be quite loyal to brands with which I have a pleasant experience with. I didn’t like it, but my wife did, so she’s now using it.
I got myself a FitBit Charge HR, since it ranked the highest in most polls and consumer reports. It’s easy to set up, charges up quite fast (I use my iPad's charger) and the battery lasts about 3 days if you wear constantly (to monitor your sleep) and you have heart rate monitoring activated.
And I really like my Charge HR — It looks good, you can wear it with pretty much every attire and it’s not as bulky as many other trackers or smartwatches. And the build quality is also above average.
Or so I thought. Five months in, my tracker started “swelling”. Not due to a battery fault, but rather the rubber simply detaching itself from the body of the tracker. Then a day later, the rubber above the screen started peeling off. I’ve of course contacted FitBit support about this.
But the fact remains: The tracker with the most votes and positive reviews is of questionable quality. You can simply do a Google search for “<tracker name> issues” and you’ll see hundreds of complaints. So what does that tell us about the overall state of the tracker industry? Are we bound to spend hundreds of dollars on premium trackers or smartwatches with not-so-premium interfaces and software and leave the balanced ones out? Or do we need better overall trackers?
We need better trackers. Smaller, faster, longer lasting trackers. And we will change our trackers as newer and better ones come along and we want to keep our data even after we switch brands. We need a useful, intuitive interface, more than whatever the hardware manufacturer managed to put together.
We need to know what lies beyond charts and graphs; we need to know what our health data means.
And in order for this to happen, we need to be laser-focused on software and exceptional user experience, focused on finally bridging the gap between doctors and trainers and the people they take care of.
That is our focus at Neveli, where we are building the digital healthcare platform that connects smart devices in a single interface and allows doctors and trainers to monitor and manage their patients’ progress toward a healthier life.
You can request early access to Neveli here. Roll-out to healthcare networks and gyms starts in October 2015. If you want to be part of the first wave, get in touch with us.
