Rumors say that HTC will join its rivals in offering a wearable device this year. While previous reports claimed that HTC is prepping a smartwatch, all hints actually point to a fitness band that will work with the HTC One M9 smartphone. The new wearable device will dive into the large market of hundreds of thousands of health enthusiasts using devices by FitBit and Jawbone.
Forbes cited industry sources who confirmed that the company is indeed working on a fitness band. Another proof that it is creating this wearable is its partnership with Under Armour, a company that specializes in fitness, health and sports equipment and accessories to help HTC in manufacturing the said product.
The band can track health and fitness information and work hand-in-hand with the smartphone. Similar to other fitness trackers, HTC's fitness band will include features such as heart rate monitor, pedometer, calorie counter, GPS, sleep tracker, among others. If it works alongside the HTC flagship smartphone, the band can also include an LCD display to show notifications and updates received on the smartphone. This can be an advantage, especially when the smartphone is out of reach during fitness activities.
Since the fitness band will be paired with the HTC One M9, the wearable device will most likely be announced alongside the smartphone on March 1, which is a day ahead of the upcoming Mobile World Congress. The company already sent out invitations to the press for a launching event. The details of the event were kept under wraps though.
Meanwhile, rumors say that the HTC One M9 will come in two variants with full HD and quad HD screen resolutions. Some reports state that the models of the smartphone will come with different processors with one model powered by the latest Snapdragon 810 SoC from Qualcomm, and the other, equipped with a MediaTek MT6795 octa-core CPU with 64 bit architecture.
Other rumored features of the handset are 5- to 5.5-inch screen display, Adreno 420 graphic chipset, 3 GB of RAM, Android 5.0.1 Lollipop OS with HTC Sense 7 UI, 20.7-megapixel camera and 13-megapixel front-facing camera or an Ultrapixel shooter. HTC has not revealed the official specs of the handset so far.
