While recent wearable releases like the Moto 360 and LG G Watch R have successfully blurred the line between smartwatch and fashion accessory, they’re still more tech product than jewelery piece. At first glance, the Névo looks like a straightforward analogue watch, but it’s actually packing some reasonable fitness tracking tech under the hood.
The French designed product is a collaboration between iMaze and EMIE, and features a Swiss movement, stylish looks and a 3 ATM water and shock resistant stainless steel construction. It’s capable of tracking the wearer’s steps, distance traveled, sleep quality and duration, and calories burned – considering its looks-first mentality, that’s not bad going. However, unlike some smartwatches such as the Moto 360, there’s no heart rate monitor included here.
The Névo adopts a similar idea to the Withings Activité announced earlier this year, which uses a small secondary dial to display the user’s progress towards fitness goals. Unlike that product, the Névo uses a ring of eleven embedded bright white LEDs around the watch face to display the information, rather than a physical dial.
The watch connects to iOS and Android smartphones via a Bluetooth Low Energy connection, and uses a standard watch battery. According to the company, users can expect a full six months of battery life before having to swap in a new battery.
While the product’s limited technology places it firmly in the fitness tracker category, it does pack one feature we’ve become used to with smartwatches. The wearable won’t display notifications like full blown smartwatches would, but it will vibrate when one is received. So you’ll still have to take your phone out of your pocket to view the alert, but you’ll be less likely to miss messages because of your handset’s weedy vibration motor.
The Névo activity tracking app is set to be compatible with both Apple HealthKit and Google Fit, and the watch will ship with both leather and silicone bands. If you’re interested in the fashion-first wearable, then you’ll have to wait a little while to get your hands on it, with the product set to land in early 2015 for US$200. It will be available for pre-order in mid-December.
Source: Névo