Unboxing Misfit Shine: the sexiest fitness tracker out there.

I just got a Misfit Shine from the Apple store in the mall.  It is sleek.

As some background: For the past 6 months i have been "daily" (or as close to it as possible) using a Jawbone Up. I also wear a watch everyday.

Every day i would daydream of finding a product that will  consolidate those 2 gadgets into a single sleek piece. This was especially made obvious during vacation on the coast of croatia . Dealing with a watch and Jawbone bracelet during regular workday is one thing, on vacation its way more hassel annoying (especially if you are sailing, swimming, or diving). I want my wrist real estate back :)

Misfit Shine is what i have been daydreaming of. It is sleek, works as a watch, and is a great fitness tracker. Here is mine:
You can find lots of great info on their website by the way. Their site is well designed and tells a great product story. Check it out : http://www.misfitwearables.com/

My biggest complaint is that it takes about 5 seconds to get the time from the Shine. First you have to double tap it , and then it does an animation of how many Shine points you have earned (This is your main fitness progress indicator) and then it shows you 12, 3, 6, 9 oclock marks , then it shows you the hour hand , and the minute hand. The fact that every time you want to know the time you have to wait 5 seconds is a big minus to the user experience. My feature request is to have an optional setting in the iPhone app that lets the user select if they want the time first, progress indicator second or vice versa.

Also worth noting that the time is given to you at a resolution of 5 mins, so its always plus or minus a few minutes.

Lastly, the Shine could be better at registering taps. Sometimes it takes 3 attempts of double tapping for it to register and show me the progress indicator/ time.

The box is a circle. I actually missed it on the shelf at the apple store. It was right next to the bright Jawbone UPs.  

The app's look and feel is very iOS 7. Very modern , minimalist, text and lines in the ui, hard corners.

The syncing method is very interesting. The iPhone app requires you to place the Shine on to the screen. Then it uses bluetooth to do the actual sync , and creates an animation around the disk on the screen. Screenshot is below, just imagine a physical shine laying on top of your iPhone screen in the middle of the circles.



All of this is designed to make the user feel that the act of placing the Shine onto the screen syncs it through direct contact with your iPhone (without bluetooth). This is something that Shine claimed, or at least initial rumors about Shine claimed , that the device had a novel way of transferring /syncing data with the iPhone without using wireless. However the launched version went with Bluetooth SMART, and retained some of the mystique with a nice animation.

Go get the iPhone app to see for yourself, just follow the link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shine/id564157241

Stay Tuned:

I will update this post with actual Activity data tracked on the misfit shine over the next few days.

I will update this post with actual Sleep data tracked over the next few days.


*********Update to blog post : ****************
 Saw that my post is featured on the misfitwearables.com/reviews site. Very cool :)
Check it out here:  http://misfitwearables.com/reviews

Screenshot is attached , look at the review in the right hand corner its "For Techies Only" :