Fashionable tech: Shine’s Swarovski Collection

Art&MediaDigital Witch, wearable tech

Spring is almost here and it promises to blossom into several new cool products for the wearable tech enthusiasts. The Swarovski edition of the Shine fitness tracker is certainly one of my favorite upcoming wearables, because, you guessed it, it doesn’t look like tech at all. Indeed, if the first wave of wearables was aimed at the tech loving early adopters, the second wave is aiming straight to the hip and fashionable crowds.  The Shine tracker is hidden in a smart crystal that is also detachable to its base and it can be mounted on a stylish crystal studded Alcantara bracelet, on a more sporty band, or as pendant, in four different styles, on a necklace.

Shine Slake Bracelet

Shine Slake Bracelet

For its debut in the promising world of smart jewelry Swarovski has partnered up with California-based Misfit Wearables. Since the launch of the first Shine in April 2013, Misfit has been perfecting and adapting its star product, boasted as “the most elegant tracker in the world”, to a variety of supports. As most trackers, the Shine app monitors sleep and activity patterns, calories and it also features a daily food photo diary.

Shine is compatible with Android ( 4.3 and up), iOS (7 and up) and Windows 8.1 with BTLE; it has a 6 month battery life and mounted on the band it is waterproof until 50 m.

Swarovski Shine Piofora Set starts at $ 199

The Swarovski Shine Piofora Set ($199)

The price point is very reasonable: on Misfit.com the Slake bracelet is $ 69.99, and the Swarovski Shine Slake Set (a tracker with 2 interchangeable bracelets in blue velvet pouch) goes for $ 169, while the pendant mount starts at $ 125 (tracker not included) on Swarovski.com. Not bad at all, with the cost of a regular bijoux you get the added functionalities of a glamorous fitness tracker.