Recently demoed at the Wearables Technology Show (CES for wearables), Zikto is a new wellness wearable which will help you maintain good posture, but also manage your activities.
(Source: zikto.com)
If you want to read about more devices for your posture, check out Straight Up: 3 Wearables to Improve Your Posture
It’s not like we needed another activity tracker. Fitbit has that market well covered, but Zikto does offer some unique points of data that Fitbit and their cronies don’t offer. They’ll help you walk straighter over time.
You’ll even collect points for your posture, which you can cash in for goods if you live in South Korea. No word on North America yet.
In addition to correcting your posture, Zikto will track activities and look sexier on your arm than most other options.
Posture
(Source: upriteergo.com)
There are ballerinas and then there are the rest of us. Unless you grew up en pointe, that think ballerinas do on their tippy toes, you likely slouch. We all do. It comes with the computer age.
Despite resting on your wrist, Zikto can measure all your naughty posture. Then it zaps you with 500 volts of electricity. Kidding. Actually, what it does is pretty subtle.
It measures walking posture, not sitting, so you can still slouch at your desk. All that happens is a little vibration on your wrist. That’s it.
The idea is that over time you will walk more rest without prompting. It’s so smart, it can tell if you are walking unbalanced left-to-right. The idea is brilliant, actually.
All of these falters to your walking posture add up to damage to your body over time, aging you prematurely. Correcting these over time could make your body last longer.
Activity
(Source: zikto.com)
So, you like to text while walking? I call it the walk and gawk. So not cool.
Zikto has had enough of your shenanigans too. In fact, as long as you keep the band on the same wrist as the one you use to text, it’ll give you a hard time every time you try to multitask in this way.
It will also track many fitness metrics, steps, distance, calories burned and sleep. All this data, along with your posture and balance goes into charts you can use to measure your progress.
This device will notify you of incoming calls and messages, which is ironic. This may prompt you to glance at your phone; the aforementioned walk and gawk.
The idea is, if Zikto tells you when calls or texts come in, you can leave your phone alone until you receive a cue.
Bands
(Source: zikto.com)
The device ships to you with a black silicone band, much like what you will find on other wellness wearables. If stylish bands are not your thing, you’re set.
However, if you like to flaunt your fitness, Zikto has you covered. In a somewhat Cupertino-ish move, they’ve made many different bands to suit your fancy, and your fancy may vary. These aren’t just rainbow-dyed versions of the OG band.
Options range from hippie to business. You can add a simple leather band for $35, elevating your Zikto to fashion-level intrigue. They even offer a gaudy bangle strap that looks ripped from the 80’s, but you’re gonna spring $149 for that bad boy.
(Source: techinasia.com)
We ran into several 404 errors navigating their site; links don’t always lead to real URLs.
While that sort of thing may fly in South Korea, prospective buyers in the US tend to judge ecommerce stores for user interface in the same way they judge brick and mortars for strewn shopping carts and trash in the parking lot.
The question that comes up is, if you can’t manage your storefront, what can I expect from your product? Still, we think this is a lovely addition to the growing stack of fitness wearables.
I’m sitting up straight just thinking about it.