Starting to quantify myself with a Withing Pulse
I bought myself a Withings Pulse which, I suppose, initiate my first steps into the Quantify Self movement (wikipedia). I received the device earlier this week and I would not draw a conclusion too fast as I am still in the “honey moon” period but it has been quite pleasant so far to discover the capabilities of the device, with a few caveats.
While unboxing was pleasant and setting up the device was smooth I bump into some problems when trying to charge the device. The USB cable was very hard to insert in the device and when eventually charged it was even harder to remove it to the point that I broke it. Luckily they are using a standard USB charging cable which means I can use the charging cable from my Samsung S4.
I opened a case on their website but I have not heard anything yet.
Upgrading the device software through Bluetooth was not that smooth as it has hung for a while until I stopped it and tried again a few times. Did it again a few times to finally get it working, I think.
The Android app is really nice, very user friendly and easy to use.
My wish list, to be completed when needed:
- I am currently missing some explanation on how exactly the device and its various sensors work. I am doubtful about its accuracy and would love to have some insights on that.
- In the same line of thoughts how does the sleep mode work? How is it making a difference between light sleep and deep sleep? Is it using the accelerometer sensors? Or the heart rate? In which case I’d like to see those heart value in the related graph.
- What about periodical (to be set) notifications to take my heart rate? Or an automatic mode when wearing the wrist?
- more to come :-)
Now I am looking forward to see what to do with those data :-) but that will not stop me to order the Withings Balance.