Running is the most natural way to exercise. You don’t need anything to run. Just your feet, the ground, and the wind on your face. Our distant ancestors ran because they were chasing prey or being chased as prey. Today, we run to get fit, for sport, or just to feel liberated. We’ve been doing it for so long that we’ve engineered the clothes we wear and the gadgets we use to enhance our run, to add more spring to our step. We have fitness trackers, music players, armbands, running shoes, cooling apparel, and of course, our trusty smartphones.
Sony hopes to cut down the gadgets strapped to our bodies with a new smart sports gear, the Smart B-Trainer. Wrapped around the ear, this all-in-one training device is a fitness tracker, a music player, and a smartphone supplement. It also cuts the need for an armband. It plans your exercise regime by measuring your heartbeat and intelligently playing music according to how intense your workout is.
The Smart B-Trainer comes in a neckband-style housing and is non-slip to provide the firmest but comfortable fit. It has also been tested for waterproof performance with a rating of IPX5/IPX8. You can run without worrying over sweat or sudden rain showers. Inside, it consists of the SSE-BTR1 headphone-integrated device which comes with six types of sensors: heart rate, acceleration, GPS, compass, gyro, and barometer. It also measures eleven types of running logs: heart rate, burned calories, distance, time, speed, pace, cadence, steps, stride, running route, and elevation. Heart rate is key to most of the Smart B-Trainer’s features. It is measured through your pulse located in your ear.
Based on your heart rate, the Smart B-Trainer’s intelligent music player measures your heart rate and plays music according to the intensity of your heartbeat. Sony’s 12 Tone Analysis technology analyzes various metadata in your music to isolate its waveforms and tempo. When your heart rate is higher than your targeted speed, a song with a slower music tempo will be automatically selected to slow you down, and vice versa. You can also adjust the tempo of the song to match your mood at the time of running.
The Smart B-Trainer for Running app enables you to manage your run through your smartphone by collecting logs and graphs of your past track records to give you a clearer picture of your running record. You can also select from a variety of training plans according to your goals which you can send to the Smart B-Trainer via Bluetooth to begin training immediately. The app is available for free in Google Play Store and the App Store.
You can also connect several of your smartphone’s functions into the Smart B-Trainer. For example, if you suddenly remembered something about work, you can capture a voice memo using the Smart B-Trainer while on your run. You can also answer calls hands-free via Bluetooth.
The built-in memory of 16GB stores up to approximately 3,900 songs (measures with 4-minute songs at 128kbps). Its battery is purported to last for five and a half hours. It is available in black and white, but pink, lime green, and blue colors are available by preordering in select Sony Centers and authorized dealers. It retails for P12,999.
