What are you looking for in a wearable?

I've been wearing fashion watches, fitness trackers and carrying a phone. This seems to be the year of the wearable so I'm trying to decide what I will replace my Gear Fit with - most likely much later this year. I've already had an offer of a FitBit Charge to replace my Gear Fit but I ended up turning it down. So what am I looking for?


I really like my Gear Fit even though I no longer have a Samsung phone. I sideloaded the GearFit .apk (why on earth isn't that available for all android devices) so I can get notifications, fiddle around with the wall paper and icon order and I find more handy functionality all the time. Time a walk? Check. Go running for a set distance or time? Check. Heart Rate monitor? Check. Access to a week's history or activities on the wrist? Check. What about timing some meditation? Yup, there's a timer and stop watch. On the non-fitness side - control media? Screen calls? review texts? Yes, yes and yes. What more do I want to do? I'd like to be able to talk to Google Now on my wrist so I can set reminders all the time. I also miss the activity monitor you get with a FitBit. That could all be resolved by getting an android wear device but the current form factors are really not appealing for me.

http://blog.getnarrative.com/2013/07/this-week-in-lifelogging-jawbone-up-om-signal-misfit-shine/An Android Wear form factor I would like to see would be something like a Misfit (yes round) which can go on a bracelet, necklace or clip but with an informative screen. A GPS/HR option would be nice too.

So I kind of know what I want, my priorities are a fitness band with extras. What am I willing to give up? One can't always buy all the toys after all. Someday, hopefully not sooner than I expect, I will be on a restricted budget so what would I give up?  If I could do most things from my wearable and it could handle being away from the phone sometimes, I would get a bargain android phone. I really like having my tablet but ... Who am I kidding, I'm not giving anything up unless it breaks :)

I hope by the time I'm ready to jump Google Fit will be working with sites like MyFitnessPal. Are you all in on the current wearables or are you waiting for something that hasn't come yet?



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