I freely admit that I am a gadget freak. I’ll also (sometimes) admit that it’s a problem. I bought a Cookoo Watch as a Kickstarter Backer of the project. I own a FitBit — I’m on my third one, don’t ask. I’ll probably buy an Apple Watch. But one of the problems I have with most ‘wearable tech’ is that, well, it looks too much like tech. 

The Cookoo Watch was a great start, but the first version was really buggy and unstable — except as a watch — and I’ve come to find out that it’s un-upgradeable and is basically a paperweight. So much for being an early adopter there.

Going out on the town? The FitBit has to come off, because, well, it is a plastic thing that looks tacky. So no activity tracking while you’re out. Plus, wearing a FitBit and a watch clutters the wrist. So what to do?

A few months ago, when I first started wearing the FitBit, I went looking for any alternatives that were’t so ugly. I found the Withings Activité Watch. It does all the things a FitBit does — more actually — and it doesn’t look like Tech. It actually looks like a watch! And an analog watch at that. I don’t like digital watches. For some reason, I can tell time on a digital watch. I need to see the hands on a clock face to tell time. Yeah, I’m weird like that. 

It comes with the HealthMate App, which looks a little more extensive than the FitBit App. The HealthMate App will integrate with the Apple Health App which, up to now, is pretty useless. 

So this watch is a start, but it’s still not everything I would like in a wearable tech device. What would I ultimately like? I’d like a fully functioning watch, like the Withings that is a real watch, that has a sleep tracker, a steps tracker, and all of the health-tracking niceties. I’d also love it if it would either do a heart-rate monitoring, for when I’m running or exercising, or connect to my Heart Rate band that I wear with my Suunto watch while I work out. In essence, I’d like to have just one device. Not one for working out, one for steps, one for … you know, one that does it all.