There has not yet been a worthy Android Wear smartwatch focused on the athlete who wants GPS and music streaming since the Moto 360 Sport failed miserably as a music player.
On the other hand, the Polar V800 is a fantastic GPS multi-sport watch fit for the amateur and professional athlete. There are usually trade-offs made and it has been shown to be difficult to bring all wrist-mounted functions into a single device.
Today, I was very pleased to see Polar work with Google to bring us what may be the near perfect GPS sport watch for those who want GPS tracking, heart rate monitoring, wireless music streaming, and a high end smartwatch in one device. The new Polar M600 brings all of these functions together for a reasonable $329.90.
Given the high quality GPS tracking capability of Polar devices, this new Polar M600 may set the bar for Android Wear smartwatches. The Polar M600 is also Polar's first smartwatch with integrated heart rate monitoring. Polar is well known for its heart rate chest bands and I hope to try out its new 6-LED optical heart rate monitor using Polar's proprietary technology.
The Polar M600 features a 1.3 inch color touch display, a front button for quick and easy training control, 4GB of integrated storage for music, battery life of up to 10 hours for GPS tracking and two days of typical usage, Polar Flow and Android Wear app support, and more.
Marco Suvilaakso, Chief Strategy Officer at Polar, stated:
Polar is known for bringing smarts into sports. Polar created the first heart rate monitor, the first activity tracker and now we're the first true sports wearables company to announce a smartwatch truly made for sports. Powered by Android Wear, Polar M600 offers our customers countless opportunities to customize their smartwatch and still rely on the unique Polar sports wearable experience that is at its core.
Polar recently launched its Polar Running Program with adaptive training plans for runners preparing to run a 5K, 10K, half marathon, or marathon. These are available to Polar watch owners for free.
The Polar M600 will be available in charcoal black and powder white later this year for $329.90. There will also be a Polar red color replaceable band available this year. I've been looking for a high quality GPS watch with music support and since Garmin hasn't yet added music support I am likely going to pick up the new Polar M600 when it is released.
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