Enlarge (credit: Misfit)
It has been nearly a year since Fossil acquired the wearable and smart home company Misfit. Since then, Misfit has continued to push out new fitness trackers including the Shine 2 and the style-conscious Ray, but now the diving into full-on watches. Misfit has debuted the Phase hybrid smartwatch, its first true timepiece that combines an activity tracker along with some subtle smartwatch features.
The Phase is the most recognizable device Misfit has ever made because it’s clearly identifiable as a watch. It has an aluminum and stainless steel case and comes with either silicone or leather bands. At this point, those are the typical smartwatch materials, but Misfit made sure to keep its aesthetic when designing the Phase. It’s minimalist with small metallic accents in the watch hands, numbers, and a thin ring around the face itself. It doesn’t have the bling of some Fossil hybrid smartwatches, with no oversized numbers or Roman numerals; while Misfit has clearly reaped the benefits of Fossil’s watch expertise and supply chain, the Phase is undoubtably a Misfit device, not a Fossil one.
The definition of “hybrid,” though, is likely taken from Fossil: the Phase combines activity tracking and smartphone-connected features, but does so without a touchscreen display. The watch itself is analog but it uses the hands, a small colored window near six o’clock, and vibrations to deliver notifications to your wrist. Not only does that allow the device to look and feel like a regular watch, but it also gives it a six-month battery life. The bands are also a little different from the rest: they’re what Misfit calls “field bands,” which forgo the traditional pin closure and use two snap buttons on each side of the band to attach to the case.
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Source: Ars Technica – Misfit debutes first real timepiece, the Phase hybrid smartwatch