UA HealthBox: Connected fitness in a box from Under Armour and HTC
The alliance of Under Armour and HTC is growing stronger at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. The two have collaborated on a group of connected health products that work with the UA Record mobile app for iOS and Android.
Dubbed UA HealthBox, the name is apt. Inside one large box, you get a connected scale, chest strap heart monitor and the new UA Band.
UA Band is a slight rehash of HTC's prior wearable health monitor but is now completely focused on working with the other UA products.
Take the updated UA Record app available now on Google Play and the App Store: It's meant to be the dashboard for your health. It has four quadrants representing sleep, fitness, steps and nutrition. The UA Band actively measures the first three and sends data to the app. The band also has an optical heart rate monitor.
For those wanting a more targeted workout, the UA Heart Rate chest strap might be the better candidate. You can customize heart rate zones for workouts in the UA Record app and an LED on the UA Band indicates when you're "in the zone."
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The UA Scale feeds into UA Record as well, measuring weight and body fat percentage and wirelessly syncing that data. The scale can be used by up to eight different people and is smart enough to know who is standing on it.
Not part of the HealthBox but sold separately next month for $150, are the UA SpeedForm Gemini 2 Record Equipped running shoes: These have integrated sensors that track running steps and distance and automatically sync the information to UA Record through MapMyFitness. UA will also sell two different sets of wireless headphones engineered by JBL, one of which will measure your heart rate.
Ultimately, UA has created a kit of connected and integrated health products in a single box. And that box will cost you $400 starting January 22 on both HTC's and Under Armour's website.
Is it worth it? I'll get back to you on that since I now have a review unit of the UA HealthBox.
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My early impression is that UA and HTC both put quite a bit of thought into the design and usage of these products: They look good, the Band is comfortable and the UA Record software is both easy to use and effective for health monitoring.
Note that if you want to buy the products separately, you can do so. UA Band is $180, UA Heart Rate is $80, and UA Scale is $180.