Tech Check: We Can't Wait to Try This New High Tech Air Pollution Tracker

For those of us Beijingers who keep our eyes constantly glued to AQI apps and monitors, neurotically checking for updated readings to keep our precious lungs as pink and protected as possible, a forthcoming gadget just might make our lives a whole lot easier.

RELATED: You've Just Lived Through the Worst Week of Bad Beijing Air in Recent Memory

Plume Labs, a French tech firm, has developed a new air quality tracker called Flow that is designed to give users AQI updates in their immediate vicinity. The palm sized device features an aesthetically pleasing, porous upper half for air intake, an LED display at the bottom to give you a basic indication of pollution levels from the last 12 hours that you can check at a glace without looking at your phone, along with a leather strap to hook onto your bag while you're on the move.

The device contains sensors that can measure pollutants like particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen oxides, ozone, and volatile organic compounds, according to CNET. Its bluetooth component quickly sends updates about those more complex readings to an app on your phone.

Frustratingly, the company has yet to divulge details about the availability of this gadget, or how much it will cost. Us AQI nerds and tech junkies are certainly eager to try, especially given the airpocalyptic pollution levels that have engulfed our city and made the international news as of late. According to Tech Crunch pre-orders are likely to begin by this Spring, though we really hope that Beijing's wintery, burnt coal laden, ashen air will have improved drastically by then.

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Photos: Tech Crunch, Plume Labs