Lenovo likes to do its own thing. Sometimes that pays off, such as the company’s loveable Yoga laptops, other times you end up with tablets with weird kickstands and built-in projectors. Now, Lenovo has quietly posted its first wearable on its website, but this gadget seems content with just following the crowd.
Currently named the Lenovo Smartband SW-B100 (let’s hope a catchier name is on the way), the blue or orange wearable is a fitness smartband similar to what we’ve seen from companies like Xiaomi, Fitbit, and the upcoming Razer Nabu. Here’s a description of Lenovo’s wearable in their own words.
The Lenovo Smartband…allows you to track daily exercise, sleep and heart rate, customise notifications to improve both work and life efficiency and automatically log in on a PC without entering a password.
The smartband achieves all this by tracking steps, distance, calories, heart rate, and sleep tracking along with call and SMS alerts, appointment alerts, and exercise reminders. The smartband also comes with a nifty security feature that auto unlocks your PC when its in proximity, so you don’t have to type in a password. This is a similar function that Xiaomi introduced with Samsung’s Gear Fit, so Lenovo seems to be sewing together features and elements from competitor devices.
Lenovo will not be packing in Android Wear support but will run on Android 4.3 and up and iOS 7.1 and up. U.S. availability and price has yet to be announced, but Lenovo has an on-again, off-again relationship with mobile technology in the states, so whether we’ll actually be able to get our hands on one remains uncertain.
Many were expecting Lenovo to reveal some its wearable details at IFA in September, but no formal announcement ever came. In early October, the device was spotted by Android Police in an FCC filing, which gives an even better view of the upcoming device. But the wearable category is absolutely bloated with choices that’s its really hard to separate yourself from everything that’s out there. Companies seem compelled to enter the market in some way. Lenovo’s wearable will probably have to turn heads with its price, because while the Smartband may be capable, it is just one fitness tracker among many. [Windows Central]