 Here's what you need to know about the Withings Activite. First is that it's pronounced Activite, not Activity or Activite or anything else. Activite. It's French. Second, you need to know that the Activite is not a smart watch. It's just a slightly smarter watch. For $450, the Activite combines a really handsome stainless steel and sapphire wristwatch with a pretty basic fitness tracker. It tracks your steps and your sleep using the accelerometer to figure out what you're doing. It has an alarm buzzing your wrist to wake you up in the morning. It syncs via Bluetooth to Withings Health Mate app, which is powerful and useful if not terribly beautiful. Activity support is iPhone only for now, by the way, but Android support is coming soon. I like the app, and I like that it takes your data and yells at you to do better or go to bed earlier or drink more water, but really none of that has to do with the watch itself. The watch is just a watch. That there's nothing else to say about it is exactly the point. It's beautifully, perfectly assembled, made in Switzerland and stamped with that oh-so-important Swiss made label. It has a really nice calf leather band that I like a lot, though I don't understand why it comes in only one size and why it's not a universal band so it's easy to replace. It's clearly designed to work for both men and women, and so it's right in the middle of the size spectrum. It worked fine for my average sized wrist, but it'll be just physically too small for a lot of people. The sapphire front face of the Activity has this cool rounded glass which bulbs out a little above the face. It looks nice like it's expensive and difficult to make, but it causes some awkward reflections and can make the watch hard to see in some light. The whole watch has a little of this curved aesthetic, which looks really nice but can be a little awkward and loves catching on my jacket sleeve when I try to take it off. Everything about its design is simple and understated. Twelve dashes and two hands show you the time, and a second small dial shows your step count progress from 0 to 100%. There's really no evidence that there's technology inside here. It just looks like a watch. Everything you do, all the settings, even changing the time, all happens inside the app. The watch is just a watch and a basic data collection device. There's one downside and two big upsides to that approach. The downside is that there's just not that much data on the watch, you have to do everything on your phone. The upside is that you won't need to upgrade your Activity for years. The software and algorithms will get better without needing new hardware, and you already have all the sensors and tools you need. The other is that since the watch isn't actually doing very much, it doesn't need much power. It runs on a watch battery and only needs to be replaced every 8 months. Every supposedly smart watch should be that way. Every watch should be like the Activity in a lot of ways, actually. It's clear that it doesn't take much to add fitness tracking tech to a simple wrist watch, and that it doesn't affect things like battery or design in a detrimental way. $450 here buys a watch you'll actually want to keep for years, which I really can't say about anything else you'd call a smart watch. It's expensive, yeah, but if you're willing to spend this much on a watch, this is a totally solid option. This isn't the future of smart watches, it's not even a smart watch. Don't buy it instead of a Moto 360 or an Apple Watch when it comes out. Buy it because it's a really nice watch, and because it's just a little bit smarter.
 Here's what you need to know about the Withings Activite.
 First is that it's pronounced Activite, not Activity or Activite or anything else.
 Activite.
 It's French.
 Second, you need to know that the Activite is not a smart watch.
 It's just a slightly smarter watch.
 For $450, the Activite combines a really handsome stainless steel and sapphire wristwatch with
 a pretty basic fitness tracker.
 It tracks your steps and your sleep using the accelerometer to figure out what you're
 doing.
 It has an alarm buzzing your wrist to wake you up in the morning.
 It syncs via Bluetooth to Withings Health Mate app, which is powerful and useful if
 not terribly beautiful.
 Activity support is iPhone only for now, by the way, but Android support is coming soon.
 I like the app, and I like that it takes your data and yells at you to do better or go to
 bed earlier or drink more water, but really none of that has to do with the watch itself.
 The watch is just a watch.
 That there's nothing else to say about it is exactly the point.
 It's beautifully, perfectly assembled, made in Switzerland and stamped with that oh-so-important
 Swiss made label.
 It has a really nice calf leather band that I like a lot, though I don't understand why
 it comes in only one size and why it's not a universal band so it's easy to replace.
 It's clearly designed to work for both men and women, and so it's right in the middle
 of the size spectrum.
 It worked fine for my average sized wrist, but it'll be just physically too small for
 a lot of people.
 The sapphire front face of the Activity has this cool rounded glass which bulbs out a
 little above the face.
 It looks nice like it's expensive and difficult to make, but it causes some awkward reflections
 and can make the watch hard to see in some light.
 The whole watch has a little of this curved aesthetic, which looks really nice but can
 be a little awkward and loves catching on my jacket sleeve when I try to take it off.
 Everything about its design is simple and understated.
 Twelve dashes and two hands show you the time, and a second small dial shows your step count
 progress from 0 to 100%.
 There's really no evidence that there's technology inside here.
 It just looks like a watch.
 Everything you do, all the settings, even changing the time, all happens inside the
 app.
 The watch is just a watch and a basic data collection device.
 There's one downside and two big upsides to that approach.
 The downside is that there's just not that much data on the watch, you have to do everything
 on your phone.
 The upside is that you won't need to upgrade your Activity for years.
 The software and algorithms will get better without needing new hardware, and you already
 have all the sensors and tools you need.
 The other is that since the watch isn't actually doing very much, it doesn't need much power.
 It runs on a watch battery and only needs to be replaced every 8 months.
 Every supposedly smart watch should be that way.
 Every watch should be like the Activity in a lot of ways, actually.
 It's clear that it doesn't take much to add fitness tracking tech to a simple wrist
 watch, and that it doesn't affect things like battery or design in a detrimental way.
 $450 here buys a watch you'll actually want to keep for years, which I really can't
 say about anything else you'd call a smart watch.
 It's expensive, yeah, but if you're willing to spend this much on a watch, this is a totally
 solid option.
 This isn't the future of smart watches, it's not even a smart watch.
 Don't buy it instead of a Moto 360 or an Apple Watch when it comes out.
 Buy it because it's a really nice watch, and because it's just a little bit smarter.