The Withings Activité is a watch. A Swiss Made watch, much like the ones we've been wearing for decades — only slightly smarter. At $450, it's a serious purchase, an investment in quality. Now Withings has tweaked the formula a bit. The Activité Pop, which was just announced at CES 2015, is a $149.95 wristwatch made more for the Timex wearer.
The Pop comes in three colors: Azure, Shark Gray, and Sand. Which is to say it comes in black, blue, and beige. (There are other strap colors, too.) You won't find "Swiss Made" anywhere on these devices, because they're not nearly as high-end as the Activité; they're made of PVD-coated metal, a standard material in many mid-range watches, along with a silicone strap. The watch is water-resistant up to 30 meters, and its battery lasts up to eight months.
The looks are different, but the Activité's functionality all carries over to the Pop. It's designed to tell the time, of course, with a simple face and two dials to help you keep track of everything. While you wear it, it's invisibly tracking your sleep, your steps, and your swimming. It syncs to Withings' Health Mate app to help you track everything, though it's iOS-only for now. (Android support is apparently still coming soon.) In a lot of ways, a slightly lower-end device makes sense; on the Activité, when you want to run or swim you have to swap straps, but the Pop can handle anything as-is.
The Pop will be on sale at Best Buy, starting January 5th. It proves Withings is on to something with the Activité lineup, and the best thing about the Pop is that it makes the idea — a great-looking watch that just happens to do a little more — accessible to a market that can't or won't spend $450 on a watch. Oh, and the blue looks pretty great.
The Pop will be on sale at Best Buy, starting January 5th. It proves Withings is on to something with the Activité lineup, and the best thing about the Pop is that it makes the idea — a great-looking watch that just happens to do a little more — accessible to a market that can't or won't spend $450 on a watch. Oh, and the blue looks pretty great.
