Nike+ FuelBand

Two 'Nike+ FuelBand' stories June 2014 - February 2015

Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s more reliable than current wearable fitness devices at measuring activity, finds study

If you were thinking about buying a fitness band, a university study suggests you probably shouldn’t bother: it found that the Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s measure activity more reliably than most current fitness bands.

The study by the University of Pennsylvania (via EurekAlert!) tested the ability of the phones to measure steps on a treadmill and compared the results to six dedicated fitness bands. The two smartphones had a margin of error of 12.9%, while the error rates of the fitness bands ranged up to 22.7%.

The study tested the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5s against the Nike Fuelband, Jawbone UP24, Digi-Walker SW-200, Fitbit Flex, Fitbit One and Fitbit Zip. Only the FitBit One and Zip performed significantly better than the two smartphones.

Nike finally launches FuelBand app and compatibility for Android

Just over a year ago, Nike announced that it would not be developing a FuelBand application and compatibility for Android devices. Now, times have changed. Nike has just announced that it is bringing Fuel to Android and it can be found on Google Play.

Here are the features:

NikeFuel Daily Goal – Create a goal, edit and view progress toward that goal.

Sessions – Track deliberate periods of movement, such as workouts and games, by starting and ending a Session on the Nike+ FuelBand SE. Review session data afterward for a focused analysis of movement. Users can calibrate and share sessions via Nikeplus.com.

Move Reminders and Win The Hour – Users can set up Move Reminders on their Nike+ FuelBand SE so they will remember to get moving for five minutes out of every hour. The Nike+ FuelBand App allows users to track their success with Win The Hour stats.

NikeFuel Leaderboards – Compare data with friends and the community by using Nike+ Friends and the NikeFuel community.

Activity and Session History – Analyze past activity data to see progress and patterns.

NikeFuel Daily Goal Recognition – When a goal is achieved, an onscreen celebration will appear.

Automatic Syncing – Bluetooth LE seamlessly syncs Nike+ FuelBand data to a compatible Android handset.

Profile and Settings – View and edit Nike+ account information and Nike+ FuelBand SE device settings on the app.

The launch of the app comes as Nike winds down development of FuelBand hardware and as its engineers get poached by other hardware makers like Google and Apple.