Be Summer Ready with GOQii

Proud to announce that I am one of the twelve on the panel of Ambassadors for the GOQii fitness band's 'Be Summer Ready' campaign! What this means is that in the next three months, I will use the device actively and provide my honest feedback based on my own experiences with it.

Wearable Technology: The ecosystem

Before we go further into the product, let's quickly look at the fast evolving ecosystem of wearable technology. Apple watch is the latest entrant in this domain, but it has been growing steadily over the past few years, especially in the West. I have never been a regular user, but have used fitbit at times, and really enjoyed it. Most wearable technology is currently focused on the wrist and is geared towards health, though not always. Social media is creeping into this and so is the ability to make a call. But I am here to talk about a subdomain, Fitness Bands.

So what exactly are these Fitness Bands?

A fitness band is a wearable device which helps you set fitness targets, tracks a few body parameters and update you on how well you are doing. These bands also track your sleep patterns and that can be very useful to people suffering from sleep disorders.

Introducing GOQii

And now its time for a new fitness band - GOQii. GOQii basically does what a lot of others also do, but a few more very useful additional features. The one feature which stood out is the presence of a fitness coach who keeps you on track with your fitness goals and also makes suggestions if you lag behind. This works because the human element is actually quite nice and relatable, plus you do not feel you are being led by a machine and technology only.

My coach Labdhi is pretty good and keeps encouraging me :)

I have been using it for the last few days and I already think it's making me work a little bit hard to achieve my goals. For instance, I have a fairly basic goal of walking 10,000 steps in a day, but since the band always tells me about how many are left, I often get up and walk more. Whether its just the initial excitement, or something that will result in a lifestyle change for me, only time will tell.

Another interesting feature, which I am yet to explore fully, is called Karma.

Initial struggles with the band

Of course, a new device also comes with it's set of struggles. It is recommended to wear it on the non-dominant hand, which effectively means that I can't wear my watch anymore. I actually quite like my watch so kind of miss it too. The band does show the time, but you need to tap it to make the display come alive. This brings me to my second struggle - tap! I am yet to master the art of correct tapping. Sometimes, one tap makes it come alive, sometimes it does not. Similarly, changing the mode to sleep-mode is also a struggle currently. But I think most new technologies have a learning curve, and I am quite enthusiastic to make it work :)

Join me!

Join me while I experiment with the cool band and share my experiences here. I will be regularly updating my progress on Twitter so follow me there for updates!

Follow @sid_travel

So what next? I am particularly interested in taking the band on my next trip. I am not sure what would happen because of the band, but I have a feeling something surprisingly might happen :)

Learn more by watching this and more video at the GOQii YouTube channel.