Amazon’s truly wireless Echo Buds earbuds are excellent for their $130 price, to the point that they were the elephant in the room when we reviewed Apple’s new AirPods Pro. And they managed that resounding feat without one of their biggest rumored features — the ability to double as a fitness tracker and measure the calories you’ve burned.
Amazon’s own Echo Buds may have revealed a future fitness tracking feature
CNBC spotted the mystery option, and so did we
CNBC spotted the mystery option, and so did we
Photo: Chris Welch / The Verge
is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
But don’t rule out fitness tracking just yet, because CNBC and The Verge both spotted a new “Fitness” tab in the Echo Buds section of the Alexa app today. You can see a few screenshots from our app below:
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While we’re waiting on an Amazon spokeperson to confirm whether we should actually be excited for more functionality — or if this just a vestigial component of an earlier test — CNBC’s Todd Haselton says he managed to successfully start a few workouts, ones where the Echo Buds appeared to be tracking his steps.
It’s not clear how well the Echo Buds would work as a fitness tracking device. They’re advertised as “exercise ready” with IPX4 water and sweat resistance, but many modern fitness trackers and smartwatches use heart rate monitors to improve their accuracy beyond what simple accelerometers can estimate. The Echo Buds don’t appear to have a heart rate monitor built in.
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