Hands-On: Ozmo Smart Water Bottle

A water bottle with smarts

As a big fan of the Apple Ecosystem, I am very much used to entering my vitals into the Apple Health App. One area which I am not very good at is maintaining my levels of hydration. I have a busy schedule, a stressful job and a whole host of other excuses I can use…

As an Apple Watch and smart scales owner most of my vitals are already automatically pushed to the health app, and although I’ve tried using many hydration tracking apps I often forget to update them. Which is when I decided a ‘smart bottle’ was the way to go. After a little bit of research, I settled on the Ozmo Smart Water Bottle.

Hands-On: Ozmo Smart Water Bottle

I’ve owned the water bottle since July 2018, so I think it’s fair that I make note of my thoughts on the bottle. Overall I am impressed with it, there are some pitfalls and some annoyances, but they don’t bother me enough to dump it and find a replacement.

Design

The overall design of the bottle I think is good, it’s ergonomic and fits well in your hand, it also has a handy carry handle on the top, which unlike some others is fixed in place. I actually like this. The lid on the top of the bottle does a good job of filling the spout to prevent any leakage once full. Which I’ve proved to work perfectly, as I’ve hopped around the house on crutches whilst holding the bottle.

Smarts

The Ozmo iPhone app looks like it was designed for the iPhone 5, and doesn’t scale well at all on newer iPhone models. Definitely not well on my iPhone X. However, I am happy to dismiss this, as that’s not so important to me. What does get tricky sometimes is the keyboard often lays over and doesn’t collapse correctly on some of the screens, which renders the application next to useless at times. It does also seem to have a tendency to crash frequently. Although the Ozmo brand and company look well established with a range of smart hydration tracking products for sale, the iOS app is definitely an afterthought.

Although the Ozmo app leaves a lot to be desired, the measuring of the fluids, your intake and the reminders given by the bottle work well. Inside the bottle is a channel which contains sensors to measure how much fluid you’ve consumed. This is transferred via Bluetooth to the Ozmo app and then from there is synced to the Apple Health app without issue. The bottle is also smart enough to know if you’re drinking a cold or hot drink!

Function

As I am trying to improve my levels of hydration, I generally (more often than not) use the bottle for cold drinks (mainly water), for which the bottle functions perfectly fine delivering everything you’d expect (no leaks). I have on occasion used the bottle to carry hot coffee, and each time I have I’ve been impressed with the length of time the bottle keeps the drink piping hot. So much so that almost the first thing I do when I sit down without is remove the lid to allow it to cool a bit quicker. All in all, I can’t argue with the function at all – it really does what it says on the tin… (or website at least)

Price

When I purchased the Ozmo bottle it was much cheaper then it is now (by at least £10) so I think I’d be reluctant to pay the £45.65 price quoted on amazon currently. Perhaps if/when the bottle is on offer again, I’d be tempted.

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Activ8rlives App now integrates with Apple Health

Activ8

Activ8Aseptika Ltd have recently unveiled an all new version of the popular health and food diary monitoring app Activ8rlives App, version 3.2 now integrates seamlessly with the stock Apple Health application*.

The Activ8rlives App is designed to collect a whole range of health and fitness information including Steps, weight, BMI, body fat, muscle, Peak Flow, FEV1, SpO2, heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, blood glucose, Calories, and more. All of which it’s now capable of sharing with Apple Health.

Activ8rlives

Whats more Activ8rlives can also be used to create any number of customised fields or “trackers” to be synchronised with other fields as they are added to Apple’s Health App.

Aseptika Limited is a healthcare company developing and marketing an integrated suite of self-monitoring devices and services under the Activ8rlives brand. We are developing integrated systems which can be used by laypeople and their healthcare service providers to better self-manage long-term health conditions (LTHC) through self-monitoring.

The Company gained the UK patent in 2013 protecting the invention of a test for biomarkers of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) in the sputum of patients, which can be used to detect the on-set of an exacerbation and profile the efficacy of antibiotic treatment for each patient.

For more information on Aseptika Ltd, Activ8rlives and products, check out their website

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*Apple Health app, is only available on iPhones and iPads running iOS 8 or above.

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Hands On: Fitbit Charge HR

fitbitI have always been a big believer in tech driving fitness.. As I work in the IT industry, gadgets play a very large part in my life. I believe having daily targets and goals to achieve is perhaps on of the best methods of improving health and fitness. So what better enabler could there be then a fitness tracker!?

The market is flooded with wearable tech at the minute, and a large percentage of that tech is aimed at the fitness fanatics. There’s some big players in this area of the market, each bringing their very own USP.

I’ve decided to invest in the FitBit Charge HR, not only because I was an early adopter in the FitBit on near day of release (which I lost whilst out one evening) but because I knew and felt comfortable with its software and dashboards. So I headed out to my local Argos store and picked one up, and heres what I think of it… (more…)

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Review Ozeri WeightMaster II Digital Bathroom Scale

Ozeri WeightMaster II

Hands On:

On taking the scales out of the box, I was immediately impressed by the build quality of this instrument.
The scales are very tactile and Have been ergonomically designed, The top of the scales is warm to the touch and feel comfortable when you stand on them in your bare feet. the surface of the scales has been treated with microban antibacterial material which is a bonus when standing on the scales one different people stand on scales in their feet.

The scales can be utilised by up to eight different users, each one can set up their own profile on the scales and then subsequently the scales will automatically recognise the user by their weight.
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Ozeri Precision II Digital Bathroom Scale

Ozeri Precision II Digital Bathroom ScaleKeeping fit and healthy is something I often (sometimes not often enough) strive to do. So keeping a keen eye on what I eat and what I weigh is an important part of my lifestyle. The market is awash with all sorts of personal health and fitness related technology from wearable tech to home gym equipment. One area of the market which in its self has a mass collection of varying tech is that of the bathroom scale section.

Each set of scales offers its own collection of features and fittings, some being so over complex they even offer pitfalls. However, the American based firm Ozeri are known for their easy to use intuitive product range, and the Precision II doesn’t vier far from default.

 

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