Google Glass is still a huge question mark. Samsung’s Gear
Fit isn’t reliably accurate. Fitbit had to issue a recall for its flagship
activity tracker. And now the world waits for Apple to release an
iWatch—because only Apple, apparently, can fix the broken smartwatch paradigm.
Yet in its simple, two-trick-pony earphone gadget, LG seems
to have delivered on the promise of its product packaging. No, the HeartRate Earphones
don’t run apps, or tell the time, or respond to voice commands. But they play
music and monitor your heart rate—ostensibly with a high degree of accuracy.
And that’s all they need to do.
Priced at $180, the system places a spectroscopic blood-flow
sensor directly in the right earbud. It’s an approach that offers greater
accuracy than competing wrist-worn heart-rate sensors, LG says. In fact, the
company maintains its system is just as accurate as traditional chest-strap
sensors, and deviates from the accuracy of hospital electrocardiogram machines
by no more than 7.4 percent.
The Earphones are a bit difficult to get on, and I still
haven’t mastered the process after three days of frequent use. Each
asymmetrically designed phone is marked L and R, but you have to finagle what
LG calls a sharkfin into the antihelix of your outer ear, and then wind a
semi-rigid ear loop around your entire fleshy mass.
Yeah, I make it sound really awful. But once the Earphone
are attached, they’re as comfortable as any earbuds. The Earphones connect to
your smartphone via Bluetooth, which means you don’t have to stay directly
tethered to your handset to listen to music. You will, however, have to clip
the system’s main controller to a piece of clothing or hold it in your hand.
Also consider the system will stop working if run out of battery life, which is
rated at four continuous hours of heart-rate monitoring and/or music playback.
Data and audio quality
heartrate screen
The LG Fitness app will smother you in confusing screens,
but the heart data appears to be accurate.
Even better, seeing my heart rate data compelled me to push
harder during workouts. Now I can’t imagine doing any aerobic exercise without
real-time heart rate feedback.
It’s critical to note that LG is selling the Earphones as a
platform for continuous heart rate data-tracking. You don’t have to sit still,
or collect just a single snapshot-in-time reading. Instead, you get a steady
stream of continuously updating heart rate data. Samsung doesn’t make the same
type of claims with its Gear Fit wristband, and indeed, the Fit spewed out some
dubious heart rate numbers during product testing.
Of course, to actually see data from LG's system, you’ll
need to view it on your smartphone; stream it to your LG Lifeband Touch wristband
(a separate purchase); or let the system recite your numbers via a voice engine
through your Earphones. More about these options in my final review.
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| Lg Lifeband Touch and Lg Heart Rate Earphone |
Lg lifeband touch and heart rate earphones 500
The Lifeband Touch is a companion activity tracker that can
show HeartRate Earphone data on its display.
As for sound quality, the HeartRate Earphones will never
replace your high-end earbuds. They pump adequate volume, but bass response is
disappointing. Mashing the ear tips directly into my ear canal improved
bottom-end acoustics, but I could never achieve the same results hands-free,
even after trying all three sizes of ear tips that come with the system.
I’m surprised the HeartRate Earphones aren’t getting more
attention. They may not be as glamorous as smartwatches or smartglasses, but
they’re an entirely new type of gadget in a wearables space that’s searching
for a mainstream hit. For the full story with all my pros and cons, stay tuned
for the final review. I’ll get into LG’s software interface (it’s not
user-friendly), and delve deeper into the accuracy of the Earphones’ data.
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