As a wearable fan (already tried Fitbit and Android Wear) I didn't hesitate and last Christmas, I asked Santa Grapefruit for a Withings Activité Pop. After using it for a couple of days (both at work and on vacation) here are my thoughts:
At first impressions the watch is very light, sleek and comfortable to wear. The silicone strap doesn't bother you, but it gets dirty very fast, especially if you get it wet after washing your hands or from sweating too much.
The new glass face is very resistant. I found myself hitting it against walls and it was all OK. Unfortunately the double tap feature doesn't work that well. Sometimes you double tap on the glass and nothing happens, the arms don't move to show you the alarm. It's more of a hit or miss.
The battery is a standard classic CR2025. It can give you up to 8 month of usage, so see you in 6 and I'll tell if it still works. Switching the battery depends on a little tool, but you can always use a knife or something sharp to pop the back cover (in case you lose it).
The app (HealthMate) is simple to use and it shows your tracking progress. The badges you can earn are challenging enough to motivate you to move around. Regarding the weight feature I found it not that encouraging to manually track it each day. On the other hand, I love to track my pulse/heart rate using the camera flash. It seems manual logging is not for me.
Instead, what I like the most is the sleep tracking and it was fun to see how much sleep I can get during the holiday versus sleeping while having to go to work (9 to 10 hours on vacation is a huge leap from my daily 5 to 6 hours).
I wish the watch had more to offer using its vibration features. For instance, reminding me to move every hour and get up from the chair. Or notifying me when I reached a goal (not just checking the dials)? And those goals not only related to steps. What about the 8-hour sleep? And so on.
After receiving the watch, I found out you can buy extra straps you can switch between. The colors are very neat. Initially I had grey, but now I can wear also orange, teal or plum.
Image by Withings
Conclusion
If you are looking for a discreet and good looking fitness tracker with impressive battery power all disguised as a regular watch, then Pop is for you. If you want more advanced features, you should browse the smartwatch category or professional trackers.
Final Rating
It's worth every penny! ★★★★☆
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