On an unseasonably hot Wednesday on the cease of may additionally, a touch voice in my head was telling me to run quicker. “It’s time to get your coronary heart rate up,” she advised me. This wasn’t my inner masochist, love it typically is. in this specific run, it was the voice of Vi, a virtual assistant baked inside a couple of prototype in-ear headphones.
Vi is the primary purchaser product from wearable technology employer LifeBeam, which has provided the tech spine for merchandise from Samsung, beneath Armour, and JBL, among others. Now LifeBeam is partnering with Harman/Kardon for Vi, which debuts on Kickstarter on Wednesday.
who’s Vi?
at the beginning look, LifeBeam’s wrap-round headset resembles the LG Tone, a pair of Bluetooth headphones with neck controls for extent. And even as Vi can be used to jam out to your each day trip like some other Bluetooth headphones, this product is like no different I’ve used.
vi womanLifeBeam
you could pay attention to song, solution phone calls, and get exercising concept from this pair of Bluetooth earbuds.
Vi combines a voice-activated digital assistant just like Apple’s Siri or Amazon’s Alexa with the interest-monitoring capabilities of a Fitbit band in a couple of LG-like headphones. The earbuds have a slew of sensors packed interior that tune your heart fee, coronary heart price variability, motion, and elevation even as you’re jogging. while you’re strolling, Vi will examine your heart charge and tell you to hurry it up to clearly burn some fats. With Spotify and Apple track integration, Vi will select up-tempo tunes with the proper beats according to minute to get your blood pumping, and you may ask her to bypass songs. as opposed to glancing at your wrist to see your stats, just ask Vi.
there’s no shortage of clever assistants, but none of them are a appropriate non-public trainer. That’s in which Vi comes in.
the way it works
while you unbox the headphones, you’ll pair them on your iPhone or Android device like another Bluetooth product. then you definitely’ll enter your goals in the Vi app. Do you need to shed pounds? Do you need to hold your current fitness level? Are you education for a race? With all of this info, plus the information Vi collects out of your body, you’ll get distinctly customized schooling recommendation—or so LifeBeam co-founder and CEO Omri Yoffe informed me at some stage in my demo of Vi on a treadmill in an office constructing simply off Park street.
you can chat with Vi verbally or via SMS, same as you’ll a real existence private teacher. If the weather is crappy, Vi will textual content you some advice to adjust your normal outdoor workout to an indoor training consultation. you could message Vi about your sleep or what you’re eating. Vi is HealthKit-incorporated so the assistant can read records from your different health apps if you provide access. unlike an actual fitness educate, Vi received’t admonish you for skipping exercises or make you run stairs for eating poorly. It’s all about fine reinforcement, Yoffe informed me.
vi textLifeBeam
Vi will text you with workout advice much like a personal teacher might.
First impressions
before I hit the treadmill with Vi’s voice in my ear, i was skeptical. “I’m no longer positive i might ever put on this running,” I wrote in my notes whilst watching some other journalist take her turn on the treadmill. I’ve used a gazillion health trackers earlier than, however none on my head.
I laced up some shoes and hopped at the treadmill, earbuds snugly placed around my head. I began on foot, and Vi told me my heart fee. Then she advised me to boom my pace to get within the fat-burning area.
We’re all used to speakme to our gadgets by now, and chatting with Vi become no one of a kind. She reponds to diverse commands, but you’re not gonna have a complete-blown communication. (now not which you’d be capable of do so while jogging anyway.) while she instructed me my coronary heart price, I may want to honestly listen the thump of my heart beating in my ears, which became both cool and slightly extraordinary. The earbuds themselves were more comfortable than the reasonably-priced game pair i bought but almost in no way use. The Harman/Kardon sound changed into above common, as predicted. I’m more interested in Vi’s possibilities, although. Yoffe told me that Vi is kind of like a health-minded version of Samantha from the Spike Jonze movie Her. one day, LifeBeam’s headset will be a couple of wireless earbuds that you may chat with any time.
I most effective examined out a prototype of Vi for a few minutes, but I’m intrigued to see if the very last product seems to be the private trainer I so desperately need however don’t want to pay for. At launch, the device will paintings quality for runners, however software program updates will expand Vi’s training talents to swimmers and bikers down the line. The headphones will run constantly for eight hours on a unmarried fee—now not terrible for a couple of Bluetooth earbuds.
Vi is presently available to preorder on Kickstarter for $199 and will retail for $249. The tool starts offevolved transport in December.