New Fitbit to be released for 2017

[SunriseRun1250]

Usually rumours get me excited but the bezel on this thing looks massive. I hope someone from Fitbit is reading as this is is an issue with the blaze too - big screen but all the real estate is taken up with a border around it. That bezel must be a 1/4 of the 'screen' 

https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/01/fitbit-smartwatch-headphones/

Moderator edit: format

[FitE]

The only thing I care about is it being waterproof. 

[Rich_Laue]

We of course don't know what this "Project Higgs" is going to do or what it looks like.

This is like the prerelease photos of tye Blaze, which caused many complaints, because it showed features that did not match the final reales.

[ConnieL429]

I agree on the bezel but I don't know what's wrong with being retro. I like retro but I suppose if you're young, retro doesn't do anything for you. I could care less about built-in GPS but I can see where others would need it. Just one more thing to eat up battery life.  The look is fine. Just add in some more features, specifically customizing the screen. I'd like to change colors and fonts. Not a lot to ask.  One last note: I definitely do not want them to ever add in LTE like Apple 3 may do. All that does is eat up battery life and jack up the price.  I never intend for my watch to replace my phone, just compliment it.

[ConnieL429]

Yes and I'd actually see Fitbit offer a full line of trackers. A little something for everyone. Apple only has a couple, all expensive. I like that Fitbit can offer a wide range of prices and features. A high-end watch would be the icing on the cake. I have a Flex 2, Charge 2 and now a new Blaze. I like them all and use them all at different times.

[Fands]

so to get this version of the Blaze and head phones  they think customers are going to drop $450.00?  with the track record of inaccuracy of the Blaze?    no wonder the Blaze prices have been cut by $50.00 everywhere...and i expect to see it on the shopping channels "for an unbelievable value" just before the the new model comes on the scene   The inaccuracy is the first thing that needs to be addressed before the new bells and whistles.  no matter how great it looks, if it cheats your steps by 1/4 mile every 15 mins. it's not what you want.

[bbarrera]

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@ConnieL429 wrote:

Yes and I'd actually see Fitbit offer a full line of trackers. A little something for everyone. Apple only has a couple, all expensive. 

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my favorite tracker is the one I carry in my pocket - my phone. The rest of them don't add any practical value *to me* - now everyone has different ideas about 'practical value' - in my case I've tried both sleep tracking and 24x7 HRM, and am not interested. What I do want is HR accuracy when working out, and so far that means wearing a chest strap and pairing using either ANT+ or Bluetooth. Hoping that someday Fitbit will allow importing HR data collected with a more appropriate device (e.g. my bike computer), or allow pairing to chest strap with ANT+ or Bluetooth.

[pierrotsc]

If you want HR accuracy, get a Philips Health watch. Not a fitness tracker though but give you 24/7 HR that is excellent. I do HIIT on an elliptical and I move the watch up my arm and it is either right or 1/2 bpm difference. It also does not lag like other trackers.

[bbarrera]

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@pierrotsc wrote:

If you want HR accuracy, get a Philips Health watch. 

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I've got chest straps that have great accuracy, support heart rate variability (for workout planning), and are a lot cheaper. Thats why I think Fitbit should support ANT+ and Bluetooth chest straps. I'm happy wearing a chest strap, great accuracy and a lot cheaper than Philips Health Watch. I've tried 24x7 HR tracking, don't care enough to bother tracking it. So I put on a chest strap for 6-10 hours a week of cycling and get real fitness metrics for cycling.

Fitness trackers do a poor job of tracking fitness for a particular sport. Thats why I use a bike computer with a chest strap, because it supports actual cycling fitness metrics that tell me when my fitness is improving or declining. And if my body has recovered enough to go hard again. I might consider going all Garmin, except they haven't figured out how to transfer cycling fitness date from the Edge bike computers to the high-end 935 or Fenix5 multi-sport watches. 

Fitbit is more focused on step goals, and making it fun via challenges and adventures. Of course they've introduced other stuff, like auto-tracking (I don't care), sleep tracking (I don't care), and resting HR (I don't care). I don't find sleep or RHR to be of much practical use or value.

If I had to guess, based on Fitbit's CEO comments, I'd bet the Fitbit smartwatch is not going to go deeper on sport specific fitness like Garmin, and instead go for "fun" (music, headphones) along with better step tracking by using both watch -and- Fitbit headphones to improve step counting accuracy (just like my iPhone and Apple Watch do a better job at counting steps together). In other words, if you are getting steps from moving hands, by having a motion tracker in headphones (or eyeglasses) the Fitbit app would understand from headphones that you aren't moving, and throw out the false steps from watch that are caused by arm/hand movements. 

I'm hoping Fitbit smartwatch has payments, because I can't tell you how many times a week I find it faster and more convenient to pay with my watch. And while I don't use it much, its really handy sometimes to use watch for calls or dictating a reply to text or Skype. Be nice to have that too

[pierrotsc]

@bbarrera. I completely agree with you. If fitbit would be able to pair with chest strap, that would be awesome. I used to have few fitbits and I love the ecosystem.
I did use to ride a lot and had access to a garmin forerunner with chest strap. It was indeed an excellent solution. I especially like I was able to race against myself to improve my speed.

I now go to the gym so I need accurate wrist HR. I do not like to wear a chest strap at the gym.

The Philips is not a fitness watch but it is great at what it does. I have an Oura ring that tells me my HRV and recovery.
I tried a few garmin products and did not like their tech support and constantly releasing firmware updates like the whole world is beta testing.
The blaze paired with my phone during bike ride was great.
We'll see if the next fitbit will be great.

[Rich_Laue]

My thoughts are based on the Charge 2, Flex 2, and Alta HR, these three designs where based directly in response to Feature Suggestions. I'm thinking that by looking at the Feature suggestion forum we can get a pretty good idea of what this new traker will be like.

It might include some of the following user suggestions.

Play music directly to headphones without the phone

Built in GPS 

An App store

Clock designer

Set alarms right on the tracker,

Name alarms

Variable on time for clock face

Stopwatch and countdown timer

The ability to set a quick one button start of a favorite exercise.

Voice cues without the need of a phone.

Allow third parties to design clock faces

.Better sleep anylises .

Reject phone calls from the wrist on all phones. 

Answer text messages from wrist.

Multiple vibration patterns for different notifications 

Add the ability to hook up a third party HR monitor

Yes possibly a lot of bells and whistles, but this is what has been requested.

[bbarrera]

The Blaze and Surge have both suffered from various issues on bike rides. Inconsistent issues. So frustrating that I gave up. I'm not alone. Life is too short and bike stats on the wrist is not a good idea anyways.

I wish Fitbit would just a) add support for importing bike rides with HR and GPS from 3rd parties, and b) enhance MobileTrack to support bike riding. If Fitbit had enhanced MobileTrack when Blaze was launched, and created Connected GPS by keeping GPS data on phone rather than relying on transferring GPS data to Blaze, it would have eliminated the many Connected GPS problems that we've lived with and reported on for over a year.

Re: support and firmware, every company is a bit different. I haven't had any real issues with Garmin Edge bike computer support or firmware. Once there was an annoying issue and it was easy to rollback to previous firmware. Otherwise reported issues tend to get fixed quickly in my experience.

Fitbit support works differently, they tend to "solve" software/firmware problems by sending a new tracker. Which isn't resolving the issue when its a software problem. Not sure I understand why they do that... Firmware updates take a long time to appear, and reported issues that get fixed will often remain unresolved for months (again, in my experience). And generally speaking, Fitbit likes to introduce new features in new trackers to promote sales. Some new features trickle down to previous trackers.

My iPhone and apps are updated frequently, and same with the Garmin Edge 520 bike computer. I prefer more frequent updates, its my choice to update or not. Sometimes new problems appear but those are fixed soon enough.

It will be interesting to see what choices Fitbit makes, the CEO and management tell investors they know how to get customers to upgrade. Which I didn't have a problem with when the trackers were $60 or $80. What I haven't seen from Fitbit is launching a new "best" tracker (e.g. $250 Surge) and then keeping it the best like Garmin does.

[ConnieL429]

Hey, which Garmin are you partial too? Just curious

Connie Litrenta
Sent from my iPad

[bbarrera]

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@Rich_Laue wrote:

I'm thinking that by looking at the Feature suggestion forum we can get a pretty good idea of what this new traker will be like.

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Having been a product manager, and knowing Fitbit, I have a different opinion. The product manager is going to define a target user and how they will use and interact with the smartwatch. This will be based on what is possible given the price target, how to maintain simple user experience, and a lot of competitive data from having played with and evaluated Apple Watch, Garmin, Android Wear, along with interesting niche companies. The Fitbit product manager is smart enough to know that potential customers will first be comparing to existing smartwatches, so there has to be a simple story based on why Fitbit versus AW/Garmin/Samsung. And that has -absolutely nothing- to do with the Feature suggestion forum.

A few user suggestions for -minor- features will make it in, things that annoy Blaze and Charge 2 owners and give them another reason to upgrade. In any case, a lot of user suggestions you listed (music, apps, answer texts, different vibrations, external sensor support, etc, etc) are based on having seen (YouTube or friend) or used the feature in a competitive product. 

We already know the major features, they have been publicly leaked by the Fitbit CEO. Most recently on August 3rd earnings call he stated:

"Our upcoming smartwatch device will deliver a combination of features that consumers have not yet seen in a smartwatch, including a health and fitness first focus, cross-platform compatibility, water resistance to 50 meters, industry-leading GPS tracking, and an easy-to-use software developer kit that will enable innovation and deeper connections to the healthcare system. All of this will come with multiday battery life at an attractive price."

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4094101-fitbit-fit-q2-2017-results-earnings-call-transcript?part=si...

So the Fitbit CEO has confirmed the following:

- app store, initially launching with only a few partners

- swimproof (assuming this isn't the Surge "50 meter" water resistance but don't swim with it)

- new biometric sensors

- multi-day battery life

- attractive price compared to competitors

- available 2017 holiday season

Rumors: music, headphones, and payments.

[SunriseGirl]

I am really hoping for chest strap compatability for better accuracy with some exercises.  I am considering other fitness watches because of this but really love and would prefer to stay with Fitbit.

[SunsetRunner]

I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if Fitbit ends up supporting ANT+, given ANT+ is ultimately a Garmin-owned technology and Fitbit and Garmin seem to have no interest in being friends.  Bluetooth Smart chest-strap compatibility though seems like a no-brainer.

[SunriseGirl]

I would be thrilled with any chest strap comparability!

[bbarrera]

I'd also be thrilled with chest strap compatibility.

@SunsetRunner wrote:

I'd be (pleasantly) surprised if Fitbit ends up supporting ANT+

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The real reasons Fitbit would likely only support Bluetooth: ANT+ is not supported on a large number of phones (without a dongle), gym equipment increasingly supports Bluetooth (and ANT+), and Fitbit is more focused on stepping activities like walking and running. 

As a cyclist, I prefer ANT+ because it is rock solid and it supports simultaneous connections to multiple devices. Its been adopted and used by a lot of companies. Our gym has Stages SC3 stationary bikes with power meters. I take my bike computer to the gym because it prompts me on today's workout (e.g. 1 minutes at 275-300W, 1 minute at 150-175W) and alerts me to the next interval. With an ANT+ HRM, both the Stages and Garmin bike computers receive my heart rate data. With Bluetooth I'd have to pick one computer and only use that. And in my experience Bluetooth can be a little flaky, generally works well but sometimes momentarily loses connection.

[SunsetRunner]

I was surprised about your device support statement but I looked it up and you are right.  I didn't realize that iPhones don't come with ANT+.  I have a Galaxy.

I agree with you with preferring ANT+ over bluetooth.  Easy to connect and keep connected.  Many to many capability. I've had nothing but problems over the years with bluetooth.  It seems like the spec isn't deployed consistently across manufacturers, especially Samsung.

[SunriseGirl]

I also didn't know about the specifics between ant+ and bluetooth connections.... appreciate the info!