Announced At CE 2014

This week’s Quantified Self roundup features a connected tennis racket to help you analyze your game, and some new self trackers debuting at CES 2014.

Babolat Play

Babolat, the maker of badminton and squash equipment, has a new connected racket that let’s you analyze your game play.  The Babolat Play Pure Drive looks and feels like a normal tennis racket but it has sensors integrated into the handle that gathers information such as power, impact locator, forehand and backhand information, rallies, rate, energy, and a lot of other information that gives you insight in the quality of your games.

You can access all the information using your Mac or Windows PC, or by downloading the iOS or Android app.

LG Lifeband Touch and Heart Rate Earphones

LG has finally unveiled its entrant in the Quantified Self arena, with the launch of the Lifeband Touch and Heart Rate Earphones.

image courtesy LG

The Lifeband Touch looks similar to the Nike FuelBand, except the ends do not touch and it works with both iOS and Android.  It functions much like other fitness trackers, as it is accelerometer-based with altimeter.  The Lifeband Touch is water-resistant but not water-proof, so make sure not to wear it when you’re swimming or taking a shower.  It automatically lights up when you bring your hand up to look at the display, and features a swipe and tap menu to easily access information.  But unlike other fitness trackers, the Lifeband Touch has additional features such as music controls, call notifications, volume control, and call silencing.

The Lifeband Touch doesn’t have a heart rate tracker, but instead LG is offering the Heart Rate Earphones with “PerformTek” sensors in each bud.  The earphones have an attached module which stores heart rate and oxygen consumption data, which it then sends to the Lifeband via Bluetooth.

No word yet on the price points for these new devices.

Sony’s Core fitness tracker

Not one to be left out in the Quantified Self race, Sony also unveiled its own fitness tracker at CES 2014.  Dubbed the Core, Sony aims to integrate this little device into several other products, starting with a smartband coming out in the spring.  It not only tracks like a fitness tracker but also functions as a lifelogging device by keeping track of the photos you have taken.

The Core is not a very visual device as it only has three LED lights on display, but that means it has a longer battery life of about five days on a single charge.  Sony’s latest gadget has a very minimalistic design with only one button, but has quite a few functions such as muting a connected smartphone when you’re getting a call, or tapping on the button to mark a particular event which you can review at a later time.

It partners with Sony’s Lifelog app that let’s you easily access all the information that has been obtained from your daily activities, such as content you’ve consumed on your mobile device, the weather, activity logs, and much more.

The Core will be coming to the US and Europe in the first half of 2014 for €99 (the US price has not yet been listed), and will come with three band options.