This $129 wearable looks beyond 10,000 steps to gauge health

While wearables were not the most exciting product category in 2016, some makers have figured out how to make the most of the technology by focusing on fitness. One of the main pillars of activity tracking is the goal of reaching 10,000 steps per day, but there's evidence that this number is at least somewhat arbitrary. The company Mio is addressing that with its Mio Slice tracker, a new $129 wristband unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Mio Slice uses heart rate data to generate a Personal Activity Intelligence score based on a study from 1984. To calculate the score, the user specifies his or her age and gender, and the wristband calculates the user's resting and maximum heart rate. The score is based on data over a period of seven days. The idea behind it is that users want to keep their PAI score above 100 to ensure they are engaging in a healthy amount of activity.

Many activity trackers these days have heart rate monitors. Those went mainstream last year. The real innovation of the Mio Slice is on the software side. By this point, many people are used to the 10,000 step rule, but wrist-worn wearables might be getting more accurate data from a heart rate monitor, which could make this a useful metric going forward. There have been many complaints over the years concerning the accuracy of pedometers in smart watches. Wearables now have enough technology to use new standards to determine healthy activity levels.