The Misfit Shine: Early Impressions

I am a big fan of personal fitness trackers and have written about it in the past. I continue to look for innovation in the field. Early this year, I came across an indiegogo campaign for a unique looking personal fitness tracker called the Misfit Shine. It was being backed by two people of significant pedigree - Sonny Vu of Agamatrix fame and former Apple head, John Sculley. I backed the product instantly for $79 and was hoping for something to compare and maybe even replace my trusty Fitbit One. I received my unit yesterday. Here are my very early impressions. I will update this post with my detailed experience after a week or so.UnboxingThe Misfit Shine package is very well designed. It looks extremely sophisticated and keeps with the Apple-like philosophy that most devices follow today. It has two pieces to it. There is a small box about twice the size of a matchbox and a separate small package with the wristband.[gallery ids="1268,1269,1270,1271,1272"]Getting SetupI was very much in awe of the packaging (I still am) and suitably stoked for getting the thing going. This is when things started getting a little challenging. The first step- getting the Shine opened up to drop the battery in was a chore. The accessory provided to pry open the top of the Shine was either a bad unit for me or just poor design. I tried and tried and tried to no effect. I tweeted at them to no effect. I emailed their Customer Service line and didnt hear back soon enough. I had enough of the waiting. I took a small knife and pried it open. Thankfully this time it cooperated. For others with the same issue, there is a Youtube video explaining how to put the battery in. The process is simple enough. Just that it wasn't as easy to pry it open.Finally I got the battery plugged in. A magnet holds the battery in place which is a neat idea. Once I closed it up, I was supposed to see a light in acknowledgement that everything was in place. No such luck. So I opened it up again (with my knife) and adjusted things and this time there was a small light in response when I sealed it in. Whew![gallery ids="1276,1277,1278,1279,1281"] Syncing and the iOS AppI am an Android phone user. When I signed on for the Shine, it was with the promise that it would work with Android devices too. Midway through this year, Misfit came back and dumped Android users. While they were generous in offering a refund to Android backers, it was still a lousy thing to do. So if you want to buy a Shine remember- you need to have an iPhone (4S or 5) or an iPad. Nothing else works (for now, they say).So I installed the Shine app on my wife's iPhone 4S and put the Shine on top of the phone to sync. When the project was announced, the sync was supposed to use some cool tech but finally they ended up settling for good old Bluetooth. Once I put the Shine on top of the phone, I was asked to tap on the phone and wait for sync. Once the app detected my Shine, it started downloading some firmware updates. The update process stalled once when my phone went to sleep. So I had to redo the process. Update finally done, I was ready for my app to show me the cool stuff.[gallery ids="1282,1283,1284"]The iOS app looks sleek but as a Fitbit user, I am used to better. This was nice and all but the Fitbit app has more in it. I was asked to choose a profile from different levels of active and I chose the middle one. Once set, the Shine was ready to go into its wristband and off to the races.Over the next week. I will record usage statistics from the Shine and see how it performs. Comparing it to my Fitbit one, I like the unique design of the Shine very much. It looks like a bracelet and a watch without being either. I miss the LED display that the Fitbit One has to show the steps walked and all other metrics. The Shine uses a sequence of lights to show progress on a double tap.The lack of Android support is pretty bad. A bigger and in my opinion, the most important feature lacking on the Misfit Shine is PC/cloud sync. Outside of the iOS app, there is no means to see, track, compare and share progress. One of the biggest reasons fitness trackers have taken off is that it makes tracking fun and social. Without that, the Shine will have very few takers. The good news is that it can be fixed anytime by building the backend infrastructure and tying it to the mobile app. If these two issues can be addressed, the Shine has some good days ahead.