ASUS VivoWatch: Bringing Good Looks to Fitness Tracking

Wearable technology is not going away, there’s just no getting past it. From the feature and app rich smartwatches, such as the Apple Watch and Moto 360, to the minimal fitness tracking from companies like Misfit, there are plenty of options to satisfy even the pickiest of consumers. However, there are still options coming out for those, like me, who just haven’t found the right combination of features in a wearable device. In my case, I went from a very notification heavy and mobile workplace to a notification free and no mobility workplace. Basically, my life changed from getting all the notifications to getting almost none so now my ideal wearable would not do notifications. And that’s where the ASUS VivoWatch comes in. It combines a few of my favorite features into a fairly watchlike package. Let’s jump in!

Looks

At first glance, you can see the design cues of the ZenWatch with the square screen but rounded edges of the actual device. It’s a favorable design choice in my opinion; it seems polished and refined. Funny what some curves can do to an otherwise physically unremarkable device. I can’t quite make up my mind about the chrome edges as seeing them on smartphones made them seem cheap and fake. I’ll hold off further judgement until I can see one in person. It just doesn’t look like a fitness tracker.

As for the display, it’s a low power black and white LCD which will give you over 10 days of normal usage or 24 hours of extreme fitness tracking. Excellent battery life for a smartwatch and decent for a fitness tracker, the VivoWatch won’t disappoint you.

What It Does

Is it a smartwatch or a fitness tracker? The answer is mostly fitness tracker. You see, there’s a companion app for fitness and the VivoWatch tracks your exercise and can read your heart rate; it’ll even track your sleep automatically. The companion app is surprisingly in depth and user friendly; you can easily see all of your logged information. In short, the VivoWatch is a decent little fitness tracker.

The smartwatch functionality is limited but also incredibly convenient. The VivoWatch doesn’t do notifications for your apps so no Twitter, no texting, none of that while you’re exercising. However, it does alert you of any incoming calls which is rather unexpected. So it does all the fitness tracking plus it’ll alert me to calls without interrupting a workout or my work environment? Sign me up!