An experimental analysis of active living technologies to review device accuracy

Active living is a way of life that promotes health and active behavior. Technology in modern life can either act as a barrier for active living or facilitate this lifestyle, depending on which technology people choose to use in their everyday lives. Finding a technology that facilitates an individuals' physical workout while also motivating them and promoting physical activity levels, first requires investigation of the current technologies available. Physical activity monitoring technologies have a range of types, mechanisms and capabilities. Physical activity trackers are also varied in their way of attachment to individuals' bodies. For example, they can be little devices for attachment, such as waist-clips or wrist-bands, or they can be applications installed one a user's mobile or tablet device. This paper is a part of our ongoing research into active living technology adaption and use. The focus of our current work seeks to find the most applicable and accurate types of these devices. We aim through the work presented in this paper to examine some of the current available physical activity monitors including Fitbit One, Fitbit Flex, Jawbone UP and Health iPhone application. In short, our study has revealed important variation being observed in the physical activity data, based on where monitors are held by or attached to a user.