Device Name: - Philips DirectLife
Price: - $99 (which includes the device and four month subscription $12.50 every month normally).
Other Information: - The device is only available in USA and Netherlands but there are companies that will act as an intermediary to get your packages back to the UK.
Basic Information: -
The DirectLife system is a fitness device that helps you monitor the amount of movement across your whole day and then highlight where you can improve and help people tap into a healthier them. The service comes with a personal coach who will monitor and provide support via email. The main device is so small that it can be worn on a belt, as a necklace, on your chest or in your pocket. It is also waterproof up to a depth of 3 meters which means that you can wear it while in water such as when you are swimming. The device has a light system that flashes which means that you can see how far or near your daily goal you are. It connects via a USB connection to synchronize your device with the website and to recharge the unit.
Once you have activated the first step is an assessment period where you wear the device for eight days. On the eighth day you are shown the results of the assessment period in the secure area of the website. You are then assigned a coach (who in my case was a nice woman called Jen) who will set with you a goal for the amount of calories to be burned per day over the next week.
The coach will look at where you had downtime in the last week and discuss with you ways of increasing your movement. The key to the DirectLife programme is not a focus on exercising (that is part of it) but to make sure that you’re moving as much as you can through the whole day. In my results, it became clear while at work I was moving at a consistent rate but had periods through the weekend when I did not move as much.
Areas Done Well:
]The device has many positive areas. The coaching part was very good and Jen provided me with resources and advice to work out where I could make improvements in my week. The device recording is good providing information in fine detail, for example you can see your activity in minute blocks.
They also have a community section (which they have just launched) providing a place to meet and make friendship requests to other users. You can send private messages to other uses and search for other people based on what information is in their public profile such as name, city and activities they like. They also have a team’s section (groups by any other name) in which you can create your own and join other peoples teams.
Areas For Improvement:
The device is very good and a couple of revamps would make the device even more useful. The community section needs extra features for example being able to match DirectLife users with contacts of common email services such as Gmail. Being able to search the profiles for users from a certain country would be useful. The profiles could do with some more detail. However, the community section is a new area and one they are certainly working on improving. Philips are targeting some of their marketing to large companies as a way of giving the company a chance to take part in the well being programme.
I would also like to see the ability to define through different parts of the day the way I am wearing the device. At the moment you can change the wearing position for each day but for example, if I wear it on my belt and then decide I want to go swimming I cannot say that for those few hours I was wearing it around my neck.
Final Comment:
The device works really well and for the geek in me, I love new gadgets like this. The coaching programme really stands out from a couple of other devices on the market that do similar things.
The service is useful for motivating and as that is often the major factor for people giving up any kind of well being programme the more the device and your personnel coach can push you along the path and help us geeks tap into a healthier you the better.
Do devices like this motivate you into a healthy lifestyle and what other things motivate you?
Russell Dyas is an Educational Technologist & IT Professional from the UK and has written for a number of publications such as Computer World UK and the USA publication Tech & Learning Magazine.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.