Gadgetory

hi I'm Roger Chang at cnet com and today we're taking a first look at the Nike FuelBand Fuel band which is $150 represents the next evolution of the nike+ line it's a fairly simple looking wristband that uses an accelerator measure your steps calories burned and a new way of measuring activity called Nike Fuel points now it's Nike Fuel part that's going to be a real hang-up for some people it's a system developed by Nike you need to have a fuel band or some other nike+ product to really make any use of it that means the score is pretty meaningless to your friends who work out with someone fitness tracker their smartphone still how important the score is depends on how much value you place on it after a week with FuelBand I have to admit it's a pretty effective motivational tool you set a daily goal for fuel points and get rewarded with the little animation or banner when you exceed that mark you get different Awards based on hitting certain thresholds like getting a 10,000 points in total or doubling your goal for the day so think the gamification of fitness gamers who have been on the couch hunting for that last achievement a call of duty will take to this pretty quickly personally it definitely got me aware of how active and inactive Oh was on any given day well it's a bit bulky the wristband actually does a good job of fading in the background during my workouts it was simple design with the single button to cycle through the different categories and a line of color leds that progressively light up as you get close to your goal the wrist band snaps open and when it actually plugs in the computer's USB port for charging the transfer of data for a quicker data transfer you can sync the data via bluetooth to an apple on your iOS device sorry folks an Android app isn't yet available so the FuelBand certainly isn't for everyone if you're a fitness fanatic or already have a regular exercise routine you probably don't have much use for this device if you're hardcore enough to want to be able to track your progress there are more feature pack devices like the Moto active for Motorola that's because there's no way to get data on a specific activity runners for instance have no way of tracking how quickly they have run since there's no stopwatch they can't even measure the distance they've run on a course it's the film and only gives you the data for the entire day there's no way to break it up except on an hour-by-hour basis which is a little clunky the scoring is a little wonky too I estimated that I scored 2,500 points running around central park one day but later that night I racked up nearly 400 points drinking beer at a bar generally it did a good job let's show you the difference between an active day and once spent huddled in front of a computer but the details are always a little muddled four hundred fifty dollars you have to be pretty serious about getting in shape it's fairly pricey given what it can and can't do there are cheaper alternatives including a $99 Fitbit ultra still it's fairly easy to use and the use of awards color leds and bright and simple graphs to show you a progress and prod you to keep going could be worth a price if you need to get in shape I'm Roger Cheng and this has been a first look at the Nike FuelBand be sure to check out our full review at cnet com