SAFE AND SOUND: New budget fitness wearable Fitkat focuses on safety.
Hong Kong-based start-up Fitkat unveiled a fitness-tracking band and corresponding app that tracks steps taken, calories burned, water consumption and sleep.
What's more, it will cost only US$69.99 (RM245) and includes an SOS button that alerts a pre-determined network of up to five guardians in the user's contact list, according to e27, which spotted the band.
Founder Chirag Jagtiani, of India, says the band will be practical for people living in areas of high crime because the wrist is more rapidly accessible than a smartphone when calling for help.
The moderately priced band notifies users of incoming e-mails and calls and includes caller ID.
It also connects to popular free texting service WhatsApp and it is believed to be among the first fitness bands to do so.
It will go on sale in early January after the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
This will be Jagtiani's second wearable after the safety-based spotNSave and says he got the idea for the safety button from that band.
Other wearables with a focus on safety due to come out in 2015 include CUFF Smart Jewelry, and the Mace Wear Pod.
More of a "packable" than a wearable, The Defender is a smart pepper spray can that comes with its own app. — AFP/RelaxNews 2014
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