Event Coverage

Hands-on: HTC Grip

By Dr. Jimmy Tang - 1 Mar 2015

Hands-on: HTC Grip

The new HTC grip wearable fitness band

Describing the company's plan to expand its business and diversify from its reliance on smartphones, HTC is committed to sow its interests into five other categories by the end of 2015. One of such categories was the RE camera which the company released late last year. Making its mark at MWC 2015 this year, HTC is making good on its promise of diversification with the new HTC Grip, a smart fitness tracker with built-in GPS.

The new HTC Grip looks like another one of the many fitness bands in the market. It's made out of a sturdy TPSiV material which gives it a rubbery silicone feel and it's ruggedized against dust and water with an IP57 rating. According to HTC, the new band is meant to be a rather independent wearable band and it doesn't have to be tethered to the phone all the time. It's marketed as an athletic band with secondary features geared towards being a phone companion.

With the HTC Grip, you don't need to have your phone with you for it to record your fitness routines. This is largely thanks to its built-in GPS that allows you to record your distance when you're running or walking outdoors. Once the activity has completed, the data collected can then be uploaded into the phone and statistics recorded using Under Armour's UA Record app. As HTC is partnering with Under Armour to track, analyze and store fitness activity, the band's availability may be limited to only North American customers since Under Armour does not currently support other regions.

You will need to connect the HTC grip to the Under Armour Record app for it to work. As Under Armour currently supports on US customers, the HTC grip may not be available elsewhere.

The charging port is located at the clasp end of the band.

You'll need a special charger cable to juice up the HTC grip.

You can attach a link to expand the size of the HTC grip for a better fit.

When you're not tracking your fitness routines, the HTC Grip will tell time like most other wearable fitness bands.

The HTC Grip wearable can track running and walking activities both indoor and outdoor. When running outdoors, GPS will be enabled for tracking distance.

You can sync your schedules in your phone with the HTC Grip's calendar function.

The HTC Grip can also be used to control music playback on your phone.

Besides recording and tracking your fitness activities, the HTC Grip can also be used as for email and SMS notifications as well as a basic watch since it does have a pretty large 1.8-inch 32 x 160 pixels PMOLED mono flexible display. It also comes with a calendar option that you can use to sync with your phone. Other than that, it doesn't run any apps and there are no options to customize the display. The HTC Grip seems to be a rather basic wearable product that's useful only for tracking your fitness routines. However, it does connect with third party heart rate monitors through Bluetooth.

The HTC Grip is equipped with a 100mAh battery that should last you up to 2.5 days of normal use and up to 5 hours with the GPS turned on. It comes in only one color (lime green) and in 3 different sizes (small, medium and large). It will be available in late April or early May this year at a suggested retail price of US$199. At launch, the HTC Grip will only be available to north American customers with global availability to come later in the year.

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