Jaybird Reign fitness band tells you when to work out or rest

LAS VEGAS, USA – We saw a lot of fitness smart bands at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show here, but the Jaybird Reign must be the smartest of the bunch. 

Most fitness trackers today will tell you how many steps you’ve taken, estimate calories burned, and with some intervention from you, track your sleeping patterns.

One step above the rest, the JayBird Reign not only tracks physical activity, but is supposedly smart enough to differentiate when you’re walking, running, cycling or swimming. The latter is something you don’t see often in fitness bands, and could be a feature that appeals to the triathlete market. 

By studying your habits, the band’s Go-Zone feature will tell you when it’s most ideal for you to work out. 

The concept of a device that knows you better than you do may sound a bit freaky, but that’s the reason why you’d want a fitness tracker in the first place – collect big data about yourself, analyze them to better understand how your body works, and in turn help you make better decisions in relation to work and rest.

Speaking of rest, the Reign actively knows when you are sleeping, unlike other bands that require you to press a button before you intend to go to sleep and when you wake up. It may not seem like a big deal, but sleep isn’t always premeditated, and if you’re serious about tracking your periods of rest you’ll find that not having to stress about pressing a button goes a long way.

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Go-Zone will calculate how much rest you’ve had in relation to how much physical activity you’ve exerted and will advice you if you need more rest, how much sleep you need to feel rested, or if you should skip the day’s workout. 

The Jaybird Reign will come in black, white, and yellow when it goes on sale in the United States this spring. Its smarts come at a premium. At US$199 the device is priced higher than the average fitness band, which ranges between $120-140. Philippine-based tech store Beyond the Box says it intends to bring the device to the Philippines soon.

We only saw the black Reign at CES and weren’t allowed to try it on, but the units on display were flexible and soft with a rubberized feel. It isn’t the prettiest fitness band we’ve seen, but for a first go, it’s rather promising. 

The band doesn’t have a display. A built-in LED light will provide necessary visual cues, and you can sync data with its partner iOS and Android apps. The iOS version we saw at CES looked sleek and had easy-to-understand data visualizations. – Rappler.com