Add Adidas to the growing list of sports apparel companies that are entering the GPS fitness watch market. Yesterday the new device was unveiled at a technology conference in San Francisco where the watch's specs showed that it will be packing some serious technology when it hits store shelves on November 1.As you would probably expect, the watch will have integrated GPS for tracking speed, movement, change in altitude, etc. It also has a built-in heart rate monitor and can create a custom workout program based on performance, displaying prompts on its large, bright and colorful touch screen to indicate what is expected of the person wearing it. It also sports onboard storage for carrying a workout playlist of music and Bluetooth connectivity allows you to pair it with wireless headphones to listen to your tunes while on a run. The device will also be able to provide audio cues to the wearer over those same headphones, serving up information on their performance as they go. The Bluetooth functionality will not allow the watch to connect with a smartphone however and all fitness apps will be baked into the device itself.
The new sports watch, which apparently doesn't have a name yet, also has on board WiFi, allowing it to share your workout data with Adidas' miCoach fitness cloud. As you would expect, it is also water resistant and built to withstand plenty of punishment that comes along with regular exercise.
Battery life is said to vary by activity and features that are turned on. With GPS activated and streaming music it'll last approximately 8 hours, but in "watch mode" it'll last about a week. That's about standard for a watch like this one however and not all that surprising.
As mentioned, the watch is due out November 1 and will carry a price tag of $399. I'm looking forward to hearing more about this entry into the fitness watch line-up. It seems we're going to see a lot of these devices over the next few years and it'll be interesting to watch them evolve.
