Here's a bit of a surprise addition to the Misfit ecosystem. In addition to the Ray fitness wearable the company introduced earlier this week, the fitness tracking manufacturer also showed off a pair of wireless earbuds designed to complete the company's existing hardware.
The Specter is a bit of an odd proposition, a perfectly fine looking pair of metallic wireless earbuds that attach to a small box, which can be clipped to the wearer's lapel. Inside the box are the standard array of fitness tracking sensors, so the headphones can track steps, distance, and sleep.
In fact, it's a lot like having a pair of headphones attached to a Misfit Shine fitness and sleep monitor, with one key difference: an eight hour battery life. That's not really all that big of a surprise for wireless headphones. For a fitness tracker that's also (interestingly) capable of tracking sleep, that's a bit of a red flag.
There's also the strange fact that the earbuds are built to track sleep, though the rep I spoke with assured me that the design is compact enough so they won't annoyingly press against a pillow while sleeping. I've only recently gotten used to the idea of sleeping with a fitness band on, so I'm not quite sure I'm ready to rock a pair of headphones in bed, though maybe listening to a little Robert Wyatt might help gently lull me back to sleep.
The Specter has the markings of a product released by a company looking to expand its line, but not quite sure how to do so (and perhaps it's acquisition by Fossil played a role), so it just went ahead and embedded its tracking technology into a pair of headphones.
But who knows, perhaps the Specter will actually prove more compelling once we really get a chance to try them out.
