Misfit’s Shine 2 crams even healthier smarts into a dinky disc

The Shine’s first iteration looked much the same as its newer brother: a simple metallic circle that could be worn on the wrist or attached to clothing, with 12 lights around its visage to illustrate pedestrian progress and the ticking of the clock.

Its second coming takes all of that and adds some serious smarts: Shine 2 is more accurate, thanks to a 3-axis accelerometer and 3-axis magnetometer; it vibrates when you get a call or text; and it can wake you up or remind you to move throughout the day with a gentle vibration, like the nuzzle of a loyal labrador.

The makers over at Misfit have also worked hard to improve the capacitive responsiveness of the tap interface, meaning fewer frustrated occasions as you stand furiously ham-fisting your Shine on the bus.

Hang on, though: hasn’t a heap of wearable kit already hit the market with just those features? Well, yes. The activity tracking market is as tight as ever and, as functionalities align, style might come to be the determining factor.

Thankfully for Misfit, the Shine 2 has an ace up its sleeve: it connects to Misfit Link to let you use it as a remote control. Yep: turn off the lights; play some tunes; even snap a selfie – a double tap on the disc can be programmed to perform an array of awesome actions.

Sure, we haven’t tried it yet, but the melding of tracking wristwear with the connected home sounds to us like a pretty nifty idea. Even better, Misfit has wedged all of that into an even slimmer, larger-diameter aircraft-grade aluminium body – which felt properly premium on the original shine – without sacrificing on its 6-month battery life and 50m water resistance.

In short, the Shine 2 is a logical upgrade to a lovely device – and, launching for £80 this November, it’s timed and priced to slip its way into the stockings of smart, stylish stat-lovers.

Oh, and its lights are now multicoloured.