Recently, a couple of friends were showing off their new activity trackers - the Misfit Shine. Those of you who know me know that I'm not into exercising; you'll never see me at the gym, but if I happen to get a bit of a workout doing something I enjoy, so be it.
That said, I had to have one - I was intrigued by the Shine's sleek, lightweight design and how easily I was lured into paying attention to how much I walk each day. This is not your father's tacky, old plastic pedometer!
Instead, the Shine is a subtle accessory, worn on the wrist or clipped to your clothing, silently tracking your movement until you sync with your iPhone - then the lovely app shows how you're doing, in steps, calories and miles, which display in a daily or weekly point graph. You can set milestones and activity types, and it even tracks sleep/deep sleep periods.
I like that there's no social aspect to this app, just a clean interface that can evolve over time, to monitor and track healthful metrics. It doesn't hurt that the physical design is so beautiful - a small, lightweight matte aluminum disk with mirrored edges, about the size of a quarter that snaps into a black silicone band. I'm sold - walking for exercise is now fun!
