Why it matters to you
Smartwatches are on the rebound, but price is still a barrier for a lot of people. At $200, Misfit’s Vapor is one of the more affordable Android Wear smartwatches.
Ever since Misfit took the world by storm with its subtle Shine fitness tracker back in 2011, it’s been making unique products. Now that it’s part of the fashion company Fossil Group’s portfolio of brands, Misfit has released activity trackers at a breakneck pace, partnering with brands like Speedo and Swarovski for prime placement. It’s perhaps best known by the Shine 2 and Ray, screen-free fitness trackers with notification lights, vibration motors, and activity-tracking features. But at CES 2017, Misfit broke tradition by debuting the Vapor, its first touchscreen smartwatch.
Initially, the Vapor did not run Android Wear but the company’s proprietary operating system. Now, Misfit says the Vapor will run Google’s Android Wear 2.0 smartwatch OS. It’s unclear what specifically caused the change, but it’s likely Misfit couldn’t replicate the sheer amount of app support found on popular smartwatch operating systems like Android Wear and Apple’s WatchOS.
More: Misfit Ray and Shine 2 owners can now buy tracking as an in-app purchase
“Our partnership means hundreds of your favorite apps will be available at launch, opening up a multitude of possibilities for Android and iPhone users alike,” the company said in a news release.
The Vapor boasts a 44mm satin-finished stainless steel upper casing and hand-polished case back. The body is swim proof and water resistant up to 50 meters. The interchangeable straps feature stainless steel hardware in matching tones.
The Vapor’s 1.39-inch OLED screen packs 326 pixels per inch, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor, and 4GB of internal storage. You use a touch-sensitive bezel to navigate through the Vapor’s menu of watch faces, applications, and notifications. Sensors including a “dual-injected polycarbonate” heart-rate sensor, accelerometer, altimeter, gyroscope, optical heart rate sensor, GPS, and microphone perform real-time fitness tracking. Since the watch has Bluetooth, it supports offline, phone-free music streaming to paired headphones.
The Vapor lasts an estimated two days on a charge and juices up wirelessly via a magnetic charging cradle. The Misfit Vapor is available for pre-order in two colors, jet black and rose gold. It’ll retail for $200 when it launches on Misfit’s online store late this summer.
More: The Misfit Ray is the wearable you’ll want to wear
With the Vapor, Misfit is entering an overcrowded field. But with an estimated two-day battery life, waterproof capabilities, and a low price point, it may best its other Android Wear competitors such as the $350 Huawei Watch 2, and the $350 LG Watch Sport.
Misfit is at Baselworld 2017, where it’s also debuting a range of other stylistic options for its other wearables, including metal and mesh bangles for the Ray, as well as a halo strap for the Shine 2.
Article originally published in January 2017. Updated on 03-23-2017 by Julian Chokkattu: Updated Misfit Vapor’s operating system to Android Wear 2.0, added news of new stylistic options.
