David Wang Creates Personal Activity Logger

David Wang wants to motivate the average person to achieve fitness goals by staying active in the real world.

With his startup Striiv CEO David Wang is betting that a sophisticated pedometer that encourages activity using digital aids like games and apps will be the mobile device that ultimately unifies our virtual and physical lives.

Striiv looks like a miniature mobile phone designed for a keychain or a belt. Fitness buffs know the limitations of pedometers when it comes to accurately measuring distance covered, but Wang claims the Striiv device can accurately differentiate between walking, running, climbing stairs and hiking, providing an accurate measurement of a user’s activity level.

Wang has a strategy to differentiate the Striiv device from other dedicated fitness devices like Adidas MiCoach Pacer, Affectiva Q Sensor, BodyMedia BodyFit, Digifit, Fitbit, Hitachi Life Microscope, Jawbone UP, Nike+GPS, Philips DirectLife and Valencell.

For one, Striiv comes with a digital game world called MyLand that translates movement into new flora and fauna appearing on an “enchanted island” — the more you move, the richer your Striiv universe. It connects to PCs via USB so the user can download new apps, play games or post progress to Facebook. Points earned from activity can be used to donate clean water to children in South America or polio vaccines to children in India via Striiv’s partnership with GlobalGiving and, in the future, other charities.

“For many people, especially moms juggling careers and family, finding time for exercise is hard to fit in to a busy day,” said Wang in a press release. “We’ve combined charities, gaming, and personal challenges with cutting-edge technology to create a seamless way to motivate physical activity. We’re building a playful and inspiring ‘movement around movement’ so that fitness now fits throughout your day.”

“We want to build a movement around movement,” Wang said. “We see it as the intersection of social gaming, digital health and next generation of philanthropy.

“There are the Type A people who are self-motivated. We wanted to do something for the people who aren’t like that. We believe the current definition of fitness is leaving out so many people. This has the potential to transform your identity, or how you feel about yourself.”

The device lets you take on daily challenges like taking 2,315 steps in ten minutes. It provides prompts so you can walk the number of steps in the Eiffel Tower or a distance equal to the length of the Golden Gate Bridge. You can have your own personal walkathon to raise money toward charities.

Striiv will have to content with rivals like Basis which makes a wrist band that you wear so that it can measure both your movement, heart rate and perspiration — metrics not provided by Striiv’s product. On the other hand, Striiv has sensors that can capture data not measured by other devices. For example, it know when you’re walking up stairs using the firm’s proprietary TruMotion technology.

The device can go for four or five days on a single charge despite a high-resolution screen powered by a dual-core ARM-based processor.

The biggest advantage of Striiv may be its ability to engage the user. Wang says that the engagement of the 300 people currently testing it is on par with social sites like Facebook.

Wang founded Striiv in 2010 with a staff that includes lead designer Lexi Franklin — with whom Wang worked at Booyah — and other veterans of the social game and tech industries. Wang’s own background is in location-based technology. Wang was a member of the Booyah team that made MyTown, a location-based game that works like Monopoly in the real world. So far Wang has raised $6 million from iD Ventures and several angel investors including Dado Banatao, Ronald Chwang and Colin Angle. The company already has 22 employees and plans to debut its device for $99 around the middle of October.