I’m a massive smartwatch fan but, try as I might, every time I feel the itch for a new device, I cannot find anything to replace my trusty Garmin Fenix 3. The Fenix 3 provides notifications from your phone, the screen is always on, it has a built-in GPS, music controls, its own app store, and a battery that lasts a week. Okay, the screen isn’t on a par with the Apple Watch or Android Wear devices, and there is less development that on either watch platform, but it does the majority of what you need a smartwatch to do. Another popular fitness manufacturer, Polar, has just announced a decent alternative, the catchily titled Polar M600.
This falls squarely into the fitness camp, with:
- onboard GPS and Glonass (the Russian GPS equivalent)
- Heart Rate monitor
- Waterproof (as in you can use it in a swimming pool, not just for washing the dishes)
- 48-hour battery life
- Android and iOS compatible
- Black or White silicone straps
- 1.3″ touchscreen
So, it will provide the gamut of activity and sleep tracking but, here’s the bonus: it runs Android Wear. Polar provides its own running app but essentially this runs the standard Android Wear OS. Polar has confirmed that it will be upgraded to OS 2 once released, but the addition of the Android Wear app store to what is a proper fitness device makes this an attractive and adaptable alternative to other smartwatches. The Polar M600 will cost $330 (approx £250) and will be released later this year.
More details and image can be found on the Polar website.