Today's technology lets us listen to music and track our fitness as we jog. Typically, our music and fitness tracking devices or apps are separate, but a new pair of headphones promises to do both. Jabra's Sport Pulse Wireless earbuds monitor heart-rate and have an accompanying fitness app.
Headphones designed for use when training are already commonplace. The Livv headphones, for example, were designed with higher impact training in mind, whilst FreeWavz monitor a variety of fitness metrics including heart-rate, calories burned, distance covered, activity duration and oxygen saturation. Jabra is a more established player than the above examples, however, and with the Sport Pulse Wireless headphones it aims to provide an "all-in-one training solution."
The earbuds themselves are encased in carbon fiber and are connected by a short black wire that sits behind the wearer's neck. As the name suggests, no wire is needed to connect the headphones to a mobile device. Bluetooth is used instead, reducing clutter. The headphones feature a microphone and a controller to play and pause music, skip tracks, control volume and take calls. Micro USB is used for charging and, once fully charged, the device will apparently provide 240 hours of standby time and 5 hours of talk or listening time.
Jabra says it has aimed to deliver "world-class wireless sound" and the Sport Pulse Wireless has been created using Dolby Digital Sound technology. The Jabra Sound app allows users to create and browse playlists, share music and adjust the sound equalizer to their preference.
Users can also control music from the Jabra Sport Life app, which allows users to plan, track and evaluate workouts. The app can provide personalized real-time voice coaching based on a user's preferences, and users can set goals based on distance, time or calories burned, test aerobic capacity and adjust heart rate zone levels to optimize training.
The Sport Life App tracks heart-rate information supplied to it by the heart-rate monitor integrated into the earbuds themselves. Jabra says that data showed a 99.2 percent correlation when tested for accuracy against an electrocardiogram machine.
The Jabra Sport Pulse Wireless will be available from late September at a recommended price of US$199.
The video below provides an introduction to the Jabra Sport Pulse Wireless.
Product page: Jabra Sport Pulse Wireless