Official: HTC Grip is an Under Armour-powered fitness tracker that works with both Android and iOS
HTC won’t be getting on the Android Wear bandwagon this year, but they will have a wearable. The company has just announced the HTC Grip, a fitness wearable powered by the fitness experts at Under Armour.
There’s no flashy or beautiful “timepiece” to be had here, but there is a display. It’s a 1.8-inch PMOLED unit that can show time, simple notifications, and key workout information at a glance. It also lets you control music playbook, and that’s about as far as the fun goes. You slap it on your wrist and go for a jog, and with the various sensors on board — including GPS, a gyroscope, compass and more — it’ll give you information about your workout to sync up to HTC’s specialized app.
HTC’s hoping their focus on “challenges” will set their smart watch apart. You and your friends can compete to see who took the most steps in a day or who ran the furthest. You’ll easily be able to compare and share workout details if you choose, or keep it private for your own motivation to do more each day.
Grip has a decent 100mAh battery that can last up to 2.5 days for normal activity tracking, or up to 5 hours if you’re using GPS-enhanced features. You’ll be able to get it in three different sizes because, well, humans have different sized wrists. Kudos on that one, HTC.
Of course, the device is fully IP57 compliant so you can use it in water up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes, which is just good enough to sustain rain drops and splashes (but means you probably shouldn’t go scuba diving with it on). Even better is that it’ll be compatible with both any Android phone with Android 4.3 or higher and any iPhone with iOS 7 or higher, so no having to own a specific device to use it.
The HTC Grip doesn’t have a solid release date just yet, but we’re told it’ll be here before the summer months arrive, will be available in Lime or Deep Teal, and can be found at a variety of popular sporting goods retailers.