It’s not a secret, I like gadgets.
I’m a bit more selective nowadays and have avoided (albeit narrowly) my tendency to buy a gadget for the sake of having a new gadget and then coming up with a use for it for a little while now.
But when I’m given a gadget, who am I to refuse?
At the very least, I should test it out so I can make an informed decision.
So I’ve been testing.
And this gadget is right up there for me.
It’s everything a good gadget should be:
- sleek
- minimalist
- user-friendly
- well designed
- reliable
- fun to use
- serve some sort of purpose, ideally not tenuous
- cool packaging that’s not excessive / won’t add to my feeling like an environmental vandal
I’m so excited to be going to sleep tonight so I can see how it’s worked overnight. Or rather, how I haven’t worked overnight. I’m becoming slightly obsessed with how much deep sleep I manage.
Not only that, this gadget counts my steps too, it can map my run, count me jumping rope (where did I put that skipping rope?) and even doing situps. Not that I’ve started those.
I should also mention that I find it a lot easier to make changes to my lifestyle if I’m tracking what’s working and what’s not. That way I know what I need to change. I had been sleeping badly which is what prompted my whole foray into this area.
I’ve bought a fitbit, since I wanted to monitor my sleep, I needed to take it out of its usual case and put it in a cumbersome Velcro wrist strap and then remember to set it. Turns out that I’m not particularly good at remember or having basic motor skills when I’m very sleepy. Moderately sleepy, it’s fine. Then I have to remember to turn it off.
On top of that, it was often incorrect and generally overstated how much I slept. I wouldn’t mind it so much if I’d actually felt like I’d had that amount of sleep but when your gadget is telling a lie and you’re feeling no benefit from it, what’s the point?
I’m all for a gadget tricking me into being or staying motivated, generally just having a new gadget does that but there’s trickery and then there’s just blatant untruths with no benefits. I was trying to sleep and it wasn’t helping me. It missed a couple of the key criteria.
It did track my running and gave a more comprehensive analysis of just about everything than my new gadget does and funnily enough, that was part of its problem. For something that should be fun and simple, it became too much like hard work. It’s difficult when a gadget tries to be all things to all people.
This new one is so simple that I look forward to checking how far I’ve walked / ran and the sleeping, well, I’m especially enjoying that part. I get to sleep and see how good it was as well as feeling rested.
Goodbye phone alarm in the bedroom. I will miss waking up to Titanium. That’s been a great jump out of bed tune. I now have five vibrations on my wrist that happen within 30 minutes of my alarm and while I’m in a light sleep allowing me to wake feeling refreshed.
It can even vibrate to tell me my phone is ringing. I haven’t set that up though. My life doesn’t need another gimmick or distraction. Though I can buy bands for it in different colours… And change the flashing lights to another colour too…
But wait, there’s more! It’s even water-resistant which the fitbit that I had, wasn’t. I’m still taking it off to shower though.
Other friends have had Jawbones and have their stories too. That gadget does measure a lot of bits and pieces too and even has a social networking aspect. My new one needs me to be on WeChat for that to work. I’m not complaining though. In its simplicity, it’s briliant. I also think it’s unlikely to look like it’s been through the microwave when it’s on it’s last legs.
It’s also ridiculously cheap. Even when it’s not a gift.
No steak knives.
Check out the Xioumi Mi-band Fitness Monitor Sleep Tracker and do your own comparisons.
Now I’m off to bed.
* Thanks to Warren G for the title to this post. I may doze off this evening listening to a bit of G-Funk. Where rhythm is life, and life is rhythm… and ya don’t stop, and ya don’t quit…