Polar A360 heart rate tracking band blends fitness and notifications

Sports watch company takes aim at the Fitbit Charge HR
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Polar has launched the A360 fitness tracker, which features 24/7 heart rate monitoring and a colour touchscreen.

Available in a range of bright colours, the Polar A360 aims to blend daily activity and advanced training metrics with notifications. The screen will show calls and smartphone alerts, although users will only be able to read the beginning of messages before deciding whether to pull their phone out.

Essential reading: Polar A360 review

The Polar also claims the A360 will be a partner for workouts, although there's no GPS on board, which makes it a bit rubbish for runners and cyclists. However, with live HR monitoring you can take it to the gym and get the credit for the calories burned.

This all syncs into the Polar Flow app, which is the same platform used by the rest of the company's fitness line-up. From here the company claims that users of the Polar A360 will be treated to personalised training schedules and programmes.

Polar A360 heart rate tracking band blends fitness and notifications

Polar has been keen to point out that it's developed all the hardware, heart rate tech and algorithms internally, which it claims offers more accuracy than its rivals. Notable rivals include the recent Microsoft Band 2 (which boasts GPS), as well as the Jawbone UP3 and Fitbit Charge HR.

"The key to achieving Polar's well-known accuracy relies on how data is recorded by the sensor, and then how it is interpreted. We developed our own algorithm for optical heart rate monitoring and optimised the hardware design to ensure the A360 meets the same accuracy and quality standards that Polar customers have come to expect," says Marco Suvilaakso, global product director at Polar.

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The Polar A360 will be available in November 2015 for . The interchangeable bands will launch next year.

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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.

He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.

James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.


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