At this month’s IFA conference in Berlin Dutch consumer electronics maker Philips once again reaffirmed that it was going to remain dedicated to fitness, as it showcased its Activa portable music player. The device was unveiled earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but this month Philips offered a bit more information on this “much more than an MP3 player” device.
While the Philips Activia is going to go head to head with the iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano and iPod Touch, it has some features that the iPod simply can’t touch. The Activa will keep track of fitness progress and while there is some musical shuffling of sorts, it actually picks songs to provide vocal feedback and plays music to match the tempo of your workout.
The device can keep track of your exercise, noting whether you’re running, rowing or even cycling. It can track your progress and motivate you through the TempoMusic. The feature analyses the music stored on the device and actually picks songs that have a tempo to match the speed of your current workout. After the workout users can also download the analysis to a PC to track progress and burn rate.
We haven’t heard about price or release date but this will be one to watch, and listen for in the coming months.
[Via Laptops.co.uk: Philips Activa to compete with iPod Nano]