LG officially announces the LifeBand Touch, and a way to “chat” with your TV or washing machine
LG had a lot to show at CES this morning, and while not all of it will be exciting to you lot (washing machines, refrigerators and the like were on top), they did have a couple of new interesting things to show off that you’ll probably be interested in. First up is the LG LifeBand Touch, an item that was leaked not too long ago. As we expected, it’s a fitness band meant to challenge the likes of the FitBit and the Nike FuelBand+.
The LifeBand Touch is more than just a fitness tracker, though. LG’s actually integrated a tiny OLED display inside this thing to give you more information than your average fitness band. The OLED display not only feeds you workout-related info, but also allows you to see the time, see who’s texting, see who’s calling, and change music on your smartphone.
On the fitness side, the LifeBand Touch will record your steps, distance and calories, and can also get a vibe about your heart rate as long as you’re using LG’s heart monitor headphones. It’ll sync all that info back to your smartphone through the use of Bluetooth. The LifeBand Touch also features a three-axis accelerometer and an altimeter so it can accurately record your position and altitude during your workouts (something not even Nike’s FuelBand can claim).
The LifeBand Touch will go on sale in the second quarter of this year for $180, and the heart rate monitor headphones will come in at that same price. That’s a whopping $260 for this entire package, though if you’re looking for a serious fitness tracker that is compatible with Android, you won’t find many others better than this.
Shifting gears just a bit, LG also gave us a glimpse at something they’re calling Home Chat. Simply put, it’s a way to “communicate” with various home electronics and appliances using your smartphone. Sending a photo to your TV will make that photo pop up on your TV, for instance. And if you need to check on that load you put into the washer machine before you left, you can type “what are you doing?” and the washing machine will “write” you back with details about its washing cycle.
Home Chat will obviously require LG’s own connected products (those with LG Link technology), so unless your entire home is already outfitted with LG TVs, washing machines, driers and refrigerators, you’ll need to go out and spend big money to take advantage. We’ll be looking to bring you some hands-on footage with more of these goods once we hit the show floor at CES 2014 (though you can already take a look at our LG G Flex hands-on right here).