Review: Oaxis Star.21

The Star.21, a wearable fitness tracker created by Taiwan-based company, Oaxis, was one of the many products that was made a reality thanks to crowd funding. Back in 2014, Oaxis turned to Pozible to start the funding of this fitness tracker and completely blew it out of the water with the funding exceeding over 300% with over a week left.

This tracker keeps track of health goals based on a 21 day cycle. The first 3 days are used to understand the user’s habits. Then it will calculate various goals for the user which includes sleep, steps taken and calories. The information is also made easily available based on the LED displays on the band. – hence the name Star.21. Let’s take a quick look at the specs and features before jumping into the review.

Specs:-

• Battery Life: Up to 15 days on a single charge (50 mAh battery)
• Sensor: 3-axis Accelerometer with Advanced Motion-Recognition
• Display: 21 LED Display
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0
• Weight: 18grams
• Strap Length : 155 mm – 210 mm (adjustable)

Review

Hardware

Design & Build Quality

The Star.21 band comes in 6 unique colors – Green, Rose, Sky Blue, Berlin Blue, Black and White. Regardless of color, the band is constructed of a bio-compatible thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) material, which Oaxis claimed to be comfortable for daily use without causing any skin irritation.

The band itself is lightweight and is relatively thin compared to the other fitness trackers that we have seen. The main module is made of plastic and houses the 21 LEDs and an array of sensors to track user’s activities. Users will also find the function button directly below that that will navigate through the display on the band. The function button was very well hid within the band and we like that it brings out the minimalist design in it.

At the bottom of the main module is where the microUSB port is located. A water proof cover goes over to microUSB port to give the band its IPX6 rating.

The band also comes with an adjustable buckle and was fairly easy to buckle and unbuckle during our use. It also did a good job preventing dust and dirt thanks to its TPU material. Though we had no issues with the functionality of the buckle, it could definitely use some improvement on the styling. The little diamond shape buckle came across to us as a little uninspired.

Display

Having 21 LEDs under a plastic cover, the Star.21 has limited information that it could show on the band. To navigate through each option, users will have to press the function button to activate it.

The initial user interface might require some time to get used to but after a couple days, all the information on the band could be easily read.

Overall, we like the simple design of the Star.21, providing users important information on a high level without complicating the product.

Battery Life

Oaxis rates the battery life of the Star.21 of up to 15 days on a full charge. However, we have had this band for 2 weeks (14 days) and have still yet to see the low battery indicator come up (flashing LEDs on the bottom row). We sync the device daily and have wore it almost constantly to track steps, sleep and calories. Heck, we even used it to tell the time!

We are very impressed with the battery life of this band despite only have a 50mAh battery in it.

Features

At the button press, users will be able to see the time illuminated by the LED. The first brightly lid LED shows the hour and the second flashing LED that follows after it tells the minutes.

The second button press shows the steps taken relative to the goals set. It will not show actual steps taken but rather how close users are to reaching their goals based on the illumination on the band.

The last option is a calorie display, like the previous menu it will only show how close users are to achieving their goals.

Holding the button for over 3 seconds will activate sleep mode. This will tell the band to start tracking the users sleeping habits.

Software

LifeBalanz, the smartphone app that is available on both iOS and Android, is what Oaxis uses to pair the Star.21 and sync information. The band interacts with the app on the smartphone via Bluetooth, which gives users all the sleep, step and calorie information on the dashboard. Though it was supposed to automatically pair with the band upon firing up the app, we find ourselves having to manually pair the band with the app very frequently.

LifeBalanz automatically graphs and charts all the data it pulled from the band and makes with available to users right upon the sync of the device. Information could be viewed either by day, month, week or year.

As part of the 21 day challenge, the app also made an interactive tracker that represents the users journey to a better health.

Final Thoughts

The Oaxis Star.21 is a decent fitness tracker and has a lot to offer to the average consumer. This fitness band offers long battery life, a water-proof body and a very comfortable strap. The tracker also has a surprisingly good software that works on both Android and iOS.

However, some users may find the lack of a conventional UI a nuance or even the absence of a heart rate monitor to be inconvenient. For a basic to mid level fitness tracker, the Star.21 would be a good choice despite very steep competition from the bigger names such as Fitbit, Jawbone and Garmin.

The Oaxis Star.21 could be purchased through Oaxis for $69.90.