Fitbit Unveils Fitness 'Superwatch' and Continuous Heart-Rate Tracking Devices Atul Singh Monday, 27 October 2014 7 Comments

Fitbit Unveils Fitness 'Superwatch' and Continuous Heart-Rate Tracking Devices

Fitbit unveiled a series of new wristband fitness trackers on Monday, marking its first major launch since the recall of its ill-fated Fitbit Force.

In line with rumors, the company has added three devices to its lineup: the Fitbit Charge (a reboot of the Fitbit Force), the Fitbit Charge HR (which comes with heart-rate monitoring) and the Fitbit Surge, a device specialized for runners (with some smartwatch capabilities). The products and the corresponding apps work with iOS, Android and Windows phones and come in small, large and x-large sizes.

Fitbit — which maintains 69% of wearables marketshare, according to NPD Group — will launch the Fitbit Charge in time for the holiday shopping season, but the Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge won't be available until early next year. It's unclear if the latter two were subject to any delays related to the supply chain or production, but CEO James Park told Mashable he isn't concerned with the timeline.

"Everything might not be ready for the holiday shopping season, but we are focused on delivering the best products and won't ship any before it's ready," Park said.

Fitbit Charge

The Fitbit Charge ($129.95, launching in mid-November) is the replacement to the Fitbit Force that was recalled six months ago after users reported allergic reactions to the wristband. Park said the company "took the Force issue very seriously" and "learned a lot from what happened."

       

"It"It 

While the reboot is strikingly similar in design to the Force, there are some differences: to start, the wristband itself is more texturized, with small ridges that form a subtle pattern. It's also a bit lighter and the clasp has been tweaked too to avoid it from falling off the wrist, another complaint some users have had in the past.

From a tracking standpoint, it still monitors steps taken, calories burned and displays the time, but it also added a feature to track sleeping without needing to put it in sleep mode — it knows when you're sleeping automatically know by keeping tabs on your movement.Other additions include smartwatch-like alerts, such as showing you in real-time who is calling or texting. This will likely come in handy when you don't want to reach from your smartphone and can see the notifications directly on your wrist instead. Although Fitbit said this feature was going to be available as an update to the Fitbit Force, it never launched due to the recall.

It's also possible to call out workouts now and monitor how many calories were burned during a specific period. Software updates to the app include a feature called Challenges, which lets you go head to head with friends throughout the week, weekend or daily to see how you stack up against one another. Considering those who have at least one friend hooked up to an account tend to be 27% more active, it's no surprise Fitbit wants to make the app more engaging so users spend more time with it.

The Fitbit Charge will launch in two colors (black and slate) and will be available in burgundy and blue starting in 2015.

Fitbit Charge HR

IMAGE: FITBIT

The Fitbit Charge HR is nearly the same as standard Fitbit Charge but it comes with one differentiator: a continuous heart rate tracker, which is where the "HR" gets its name. Fitbit is calling its heart-rate tracking technology PulseRate and lets users get a read on their heart rate at all hours of the day, not only during workouts but even when resting or sleeping.

This is definitely an attractive feature — while some fitness trackers monitor heart rate while you're going for a run, it's less common for a device to track it at all times. This creates a huge pool of information that can reveal a lot about your health — sometimes you're resting heart rate is more telling than it during high intensity times.

IMAGE: MASHABLE, LUKE LEONARD

While the Fitbit Charge ($149.95) lasts about seven days on one charge, this version will get you about five. But overall, the $20 added to the price for continuous heart rate monitoring is a good deal for those really looking to monitor their health.

It will come in black and plum when it debuts in 2015, with other colors like blue and tangerine coming later on.

Fitbit Surge

IMAGE: MASHABLE, LUKE LEONARD

The Fitbit Surge, which the company calls a "superwatch," is the closest to a fitness smartwatch that we've seen from Fitbit yet. While it might look like a smartwatch, with its rectangular-shaped OLED display, and act like one too — it lets you see incoming calls and text alerts — it's still a fitness device at the core.

Fitbit's demographic is typically people who want to track steps and calories, but athletes who are training for marathons would likely go for running-centric devices instead like the $130 Garmin vivofit. The Surge, which promises up to 7 days of battery life on a charge, may give runners more of a reason to consider the Fitbit brand for rigorous workouts and includes a sleeker design than other models on the market.

IMAGE: MASHABLE, LUKE LEONARD

Like the Fitbit Charge HR, it comes with continuous heart-rate monitoring, as well as built-in GPS, sleep analysis and activity tracking. Under the hood, there are also eight sensors, a gyroscope, compass, ambient light sensor, GPS and an LCD backlit touch screen display. Users can also change their watch faces (of the display) and control their music via the device.

As for whether or not Fitbit will ever launch a true smartwatch (not focused on fitness) of its own, it seems unlikely for now.

"There will always be an element of fitness to our products; that's what we were founded as a company," the spokesperson said. "We can't say inevitably where things will go and we'll continue to learn about the market and make products relevant, but in the near future, this is the plan."

All the Credits For this Post goes to : Samantha Murphy Kelly,Mashable

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by Atul Singh

Atul Singh is a Tech blogger. He enjoys to share tech news. He always try to make his readers comfortable. For more iformation you can contact him.

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