Review | Nokia Steel HR review: fitness tracker that looks like wristwatch your parents would have worn
Old-school watch look makes Nokia tracker stand out from the pack; it’s as accurate as market leader Fitbit’s devices when it comes to fitness data, but falls down on sleep tracking and notifications. Battery life is great
Though you can wear them on your wrist and they are capable of keeping time, most fitness trackers on the market, such as the Fitbit Alta and Samsung Gear Fit, look nothing like watches.
Even some smartwatches – like Apple’s square-ish all-screen “Watch” – don’t look like traditional timepieces. Instead, manufacturers seem keen on making these devices look as much like a mini computer as possible.
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The Nokia Steel HR does the opposite. It is a fitness tracker that doesn’t shove exercise numbers in your face. Instead, it actually looks like an old-school wristwatch that our parents used to wear.
Design and hardware
This Steel HR comes in two sizes – 36mm or 40mm – and has the classic timepiece aesthetic of circular stainless steel casing with a crown. In this case the crown isn’t a rotating switch but a button that turns on a tiny monochrome display in the shape of a sub-dial on the watch’s face. This is where you’ll see your fitness stats.
