The Fitbit Flex fitness band has officially launched in the UK. It is available for pre-order from Amazon and Fitbit's own website for £79.99, considerably less than rival products who do the same thing.

Pocket-lint went hands-on with the Flex at CES 2013 in January and it offers many of the same features as its stablemates, the Fitbit One and Fitbit Zip. There's also a new mode, Active minutes. Active minutes tracks how many moderate-intensity cardio minutes a user has done in a day.

The Flex also tracks steps, distance, calories burned and sleep activity, and works in conjunction with the company's iPhone application to tell you exactly how you are performing in easy-to-understand graphs and statistic presentations.

It can also be synced with the app to show statistics in real time. Android device owners can make use of the NFC capabilities of the Fitbit Flex. They can tap it to their compatible phone in order to launch the Fitbit app automatically.

The Fitbit Flex is waterproof, so can be worn in the shower, and comes in two colours, black and slate (grey). A three colour band accessory pack is also available which allows users to switch colours depending on their mood, to teal, tangerine or navy wristbands. It will be on sale in the UK from 27 May.

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