Fitness gadgets are really hot at the moment. Pedometers are being made ‘smart’, activity trackers are coming in ever more guises and heart rate monitors are turning up in training tops, minus the chest straps and other ‘old tech’. Whilst new ideas are emerging, a lot of these ‘new’ technologies are merely reinventing fitness gadgets from the 70’s and putting them in an app. Not so PEAR Mobile though, the newest fitness gadget from PEAR sports.
Pear Mobile is a new offering in the hot fit tech space, combining the tools found in fitness trackers with the technology needed to enable the product to act like a personal trainer.
Priced at $99 – approximately £65 – Pear Mobile takes data from the user and combines it into training algorithms, allowing it to spit back training advice which marries with your goals. Like a good PT, it learns and adapts, and can help you get fitter, faster.
So the device ascertains a current fitness level for its user, as well as the users goals. Whether the aim is a faster 10k, to shift a few pounds or to carve out sculptured abs, Pear Mobile can supposing get you there. The key USP seems to be the devices real-time capabilities. It therefore does not need to be plugged in to a pc to crunch the data – instead it calculates as you train, letting it adapt workouts based on daily performance.
So lets say you we’re up late last night and midway through your session, you’re struggling. Your heart rate is higher than normal for that workout, and you’re off the pace. Your PEAR mobile would recognise this because it measures your heart rate and your GPS location, allowing it to see your pace and your vital stats. At this stage the app would give directions in to your ear, perhaps changing the route, or switching to a longer distance but slower pace. It’s adaptive and smart, and naturally a better example would be a more positive one – such tech can push you harder and make you accountable for hitting your goals.
PEAR Sports has had a lot if coverage lately because it is has opened up its API, allowing other developers to access their hardware in order for the developers to make new apps for the PEAR mobile device. This crowd sourcing of apps leads to faster innovation and a slew of new ideas, all of which makes the product more worthwhile.
The API integration brings other simpler benefits. Users can now download and then modify the expert curated workout plans that sit within the system. Currently the app features 10 training plans that break down into 35 workouts. The fitness world has much more to give than that, and now other popular workout plans can be worked into the library too.
As noted by Kristian Rauhala, president and cofounder of PEAR Sports, “the workout is guided by an expert coach and the coaching is tailored to each person’s heart rate in real-time.”.
Therefore the ability for other popular training systems to be built in, via the API, is now high. Adding this level of tracking and real time updating will only make other systems work better too.
So what exactly is pear? You get a HRM, special headphones and an iOS app. These combine to become the PT of the future, including motivational music from your iTunes library.