under Armour healthbox
Under Armou r’s ne w Health Box is the world’s first “connecte d fitness syste m”, but the quest ion is, will it actu ally make you fitter and he alth ier?
The Health Box promises to improve your training needs with its ecosystem of fitness gadgets. But does it work?
Sportswear manufacturer Under Armour and smartphone maker HTC have teamed up to create the healthbox. Stars such as Andy Murray and, er, The Rock are said to be using this “connected fitness system”, which comprises three bits of tech – the UA Band, the UA Heart Rate and the UA Scale – intended to keep you obsessing over your self-generated data, ultimately boosting your health and fitness. It sounds impressive, but does it actually all work cohesively?
The healthbox’s main USP? Having everything you need to take care of your fitness, all under one roof and using just one app. To complement the three aforementioned items, there’s the UA speed form Gemini 2 Record Equipped smart shoes (£130), which track and record your workout data so you needn’t carry any tech with you (gasp). And the UA Headphones Wireless (£149.99), which are guaranteed never to fall out. But for this review, we’re going to focus on the three main gadgets.
Band ai d
First up, the UA Band. Unlike some fitness bands, it’s light, subtle and comfortable. It’s stylish, too, and as data only appears when prompted, it looks like a bracelet this reviewer might’ve worn at university in an ill-fated attempt to impress female students by looking a bit cultural.
We can verify that it’s showerproof as claimed, and responsive to finger swipes. There’s a good amount of tech inside and data sent to the screen, though the display is small and difficult to read in sunlight.
A pedometer will count your steps (and, subsequently, calories burned), or there’s a range of preprogrammed workouts around running, walking, cycling and the gym. Even when you hit the sack, an accelerometer measures your tossing and turning to record sleep patterns. That feature is automatic, but you need to inform the Band if you’re starting a fitness activity. The heart-rate sensor monitors stuff like your total sleep duration and hours of light or deep sleep; when you woke and your resting heart rate – crucial for the more enthusiastic among us, as it means we can detect potential overtraining or a low immune system. Heart-rate data is resting rather than continuous, but it’s addictive trying to get the score down.
The claimed battery life is up to five days, but we only got around two.
ABOVE With everything you need to stay fit in one box, you no longer have any excuses
This is from a 30-minute USB charge – a short amount of time, though a weak magnet makes fitting the lead a little tricky. Unlike with some of the competition, you can perform functions on the Band itself, rather than needing to head into the smartphone app. Notifications work well, and you can even control music playback from it.
Alerts to remind you to get up from your desk aren’t exactly original, but they’re still helpful. Alerts for phone notifications, each mile reached on a run, or the fact that you’re closing in on a target, are welcome too. The Band vibrates when you’re up to 85 and 95 per cent of your daily activity goal, adding a heady climax to your day (or perhaps some furious pacing up and down the kitchen).
There’s no GPS (though carry your phone and the app will record your route), so distances for example are maybe not as accurate as other devices. And it can’t track ascent. Though it’ll give you a minute/mile pace, the UA Band isn’t in danger of replacing a GPS watch any time soon.
So it’s a good if unspectacular fitness band. But combine it with the UA Heart Rate strap and things get a bit more impressive…
Feeling stra pped
Wrap the strap around your chest, and the heart-rate (and calorie-burning) readings get more accurate – the former being continuous as you work out. Neatly, it’ll tell a little light on the Band which colour to glow according to how hard you’re running in the gym. Green is little more than a bimble. Yellow and orange are more like it. Hit Red and you’re heading towards the hurt locker. The H on the strap flashes blue while active, and since it’ll be worn under a top for most users, fellow gymgoers may suspect you’re an alien.
Easily the heaviest and largest part of the package is the sleek, black UA Scale. If you’re trying to lose weight, there’s no hiding from it. It syncs with your phone and the UA Record app, and will record up to eight different profiles, so the whole family can use it.
Stand on it with a phone in your pocket and it’ll greet you by name, weight and, impressively, body-fat percentage. And the latter isn’t one of those always-inaccurate weight and height formulas. The Scale fires electrical pulses at you and measures “the resistance” (muscle conducts electricity much better than fat).
However, there are some question marks about its accuracy and
TOP Athletes said to be using the healthbox include Anthony Joshua and Andy Murray ABOVE LEFT The UA Band automatically tracks steps, distance, resting heart rate and sleep ABOVE RIG HT The UA Scale is Bluetooth- and Wi-Fi-enabled, and recognises up to eight individuals