5 Fantastic New Fitness Trackers of 2017: Part 1 - Nokia Steel

By now no doubt you know that fitness trackers are all the rage and can help you with fitness, sleep, managing your heart rate and even eating healthier. You've been considering one for a while, and since the holidays are almost here, this is a perfect time to add it to your Christmas list. Or maybe just treat yourself or your significant other whose also been thinking about purchasing one. 

There are five awesome new fitness devices that have come on the market as of late that we are going to review. In this post, we're reviewing the Nokia Steel which starts at $117.00.

If you're looking for a tracker that looks more like a fashionable watch and doesn't need any charging, then this is it. Available in black, white, or Limited Edition Rose Gold, there are only two things on the face of this watch: your step percentage and the time. This is a big plus for those who don't like clutter on their device's screen. Did you say no charging? Yes, we did; this tracker's replaceable battery has a life of eight months! Also, the adjustable band provides a comfortable fit all day long and, as you strive to reach your goals, you only have to peek at your tracker to see how close you are; there's no need to go on the Health Mate app with your Android or iOS. Now that's a real bonus!

The Nokia Steel has a sleep tracking feature which is pretty accurate when it comes to monitoring your sleep patterns. It'll gather info like the time it takes for you to go to sleep, times you wake up, length of time you're in bed and deep and light sleep. Be aware that measuring light and deep sleep isn't completely correct since it goes on how much movement you do in your sleep and the app could display a couple of empty hours. You should get eight hours of sleep per night, and the app's graphs do a fantastic job of showing you if you're close to that. Like many trackers, you can use the app to set an alarm and the Steel will use its soothing vibration to gently wake you in the mornings.

You won't need to carry your smartphone with you for the Steel to automatically monitor your daily activity—which is a terrific benefit—and it can distinguish between many kinds of activities like swimming, running and walking. Sadly, the watch can't track elevation, so if you walk up a hill, it'll log that in the same way it logs walking on even ground. Likewise, it doesn't recognize cycling. The good news is elevation and cycling should be added in the future. The app can, however, learn new activities that you participate in such as squash, table tennis, soccer, boxing, tennis, badminton, weightlifting, dance and others. Cool! For all these activities the app will estimate your burned calories and is okay for logging your heart rate. If you just want to use the tracker as a step counter, you'll find it does a good job, but it's not going to be 100% correct since your movements are used to measure your steps. But then, what fitness tracker is 100%?

The Health Mate app that works with this watch is appealing and simple to use. Diet's an important part of staying in shape too, and for that reason, Nokia Steel is partnered with MyFitnessPal—a daily food tracker. You can add your weight to the Health Mate app as often as preferred or connect your Health Mate app to one of the Nokia's smart scales to keep track of your diet. What a marvelous feature! There are circular graphs that show distance, minutes your active, steps and calories and all display your progress toward your goals. Another neat element of the app is its motivational badges it bestows for meeting goals; for example, once you reach the 255-mile mark, the app will congratulate you for accomplishing miles comparable to a Galapagos Islands tour. Very inspiring!

Does this sound like the fitness tracker you or a family member is looking for? Perhaps you still want to search a bit more...join us in our next blog for a discussion on the Misfit Vapor and Samsung Gear Sport.