Meet the Misfit Phase, a gorgeous hybrid smartwatch

Misfit offers some of the most fashionable fitness trackers out there; even after Fossil acquired the wearable tech company, Misfit’s been keeping itself busy with products like the Misfit Shine 2. Now, we have the first real timepiece from the company, the Misfit Phase. It may not have a touchscreen, but it has all the essential smartwatch features you need. And a beautiful design.

From the looks of it, it’s going to be hard to tell that the Misfit Phase is actually a smartwatch. Its aluminum and stainless steel case encloses a minimalist watch face, which is not a touchscreen. In many ways, it is an iconic Misfit device with the emphasis on aesthetics and simplicity. You have the option to choose between silicone and leather for your bands, which come in various color options, my favorite being silver. The starting price for silicone is $175 and $195 for leather bands.

As for the features, the Misfit Phase does everything that a regular fitness tracker should: counting steps, tracking distance, calculating calories, and looking at sleep patterns. But it goes beyond that. You may not be able to rotate the bezel or play around with the screen, but Misfit’s new smartwatch does have a small LED window at the bottom of the watch face, and you can fully customize that by designating a specific color to a specific person. It also has haptic sensors so it vibrates when you have an email or a text message. All this is very subtle and discreet, something that might be a deciding factor for you.

There are two buttons to the side of the watch. One is pretty straightforward: it’s an activity button that’s used to set alarms. The other is for Misfit’s Link system, so you can customize it to take a photo from your phone, play music, control Misfit’s smart lightbulb, etc.

The watch is in fact, showerproof and swimproof, and on top of that, the replaceable CR2430 coin cell battery inside will last up to six months. That’s for sure a differentiating factor when most touchscreen smartwatches out there last three days if you’re lucky.

What are your thoughts on the Misfit Phase? How important is touchscreen on a smartwatch? Let us know by leaving a comment below!