When will Fitbit give us some real new features.

[SunsetRunner]

Beginning to believe it will never happen as all we see are bug fixes and the suggestion box is being ignored.

Looking like this is all there will be.

[SunsetRunner]

Maybe some of the mods here can pose this question to their handlers and see if we are expecting anything in the feature requests.

[Rich_Laue]

What type of me features are you looking for?

You might want to tag a mod, if your looking for an answer from one.

[SunsetRunner]

ANY of them. New watch faces would be the most popular, so many to list just read the board. The mods have read this many times.

[bbarrera]

Idle alerts is the only new feature that I remember being promised by a mod. Any others?

[SunsetRunner]

I do not think the mods promised anything. What I am talking about is the suggestion box they keep telling us to fill and no one suggestion has been granted. Just read the threads where people are making suggestions and the mods tell us where to post them, no one granted.

[Rich_Laue]

One thing the Blaze has not been out long enough for circuit to test any of the suggestions, if they are working on them.

The Stopwatch, Countdown timer, Quick view, watch staying at it's previous screen(this was a highly requested feature for the Surge, now people don't like it), the more exercises, seconds on the Charger and HR, hourly movement, the interchangeable bands, the ability to answer phone calls on iOS... These are just a few suggestions that have been implemented

[Jason212]

I would have to agree with @Rich_Laue the request board is not being ignored, but the Blaze is a new product and they are still getting bugs out of it, give it some time and I am pretty sure new features will be implemented.  It just takes time as they have to be coded and tested first.

[SunsetRunner]

I will take that bet as to me it looks like all they are doing is bug fixes and if you want new features, they will come with the Blaze2 Prove me wrong Fitbit!

[Rich_Laue]

By Blaze 2 I'll assume that you mean  an update to the firmware, simply because  ac Blaze 2 well be released under a different name.

[racertempo]

Adding features to something that they never advertised probably won't happen, why did someone buy it if they wanted "reminders to move" since the Blaze was never advertised to have it?  I believe Fitbit should focus on tweeking the existing features and getting them working correctly and take suggestions and ideas for the next product.

[wxman123]

The nature of a smart watch (even a fitness-focused one) is to add new features.  $200 is a significant investment in a fitness tracker and unless fitbit keeps people excited about the product as by offering new features, it will lose users and market share in an increasingky competitive space.  No matter how diehard Fitbit fans may whistle in the graveyard, the Blaze will be compared not only to the Apple Watch, but also to the new Garmin smartwatch due out in April (and I'm sure others as well).  Garmin already has a whole ecosystem of Apps with more on the way.  So, I believe Fitbit will have to update Blaze to stay in the game.  If their answer is buy the next version, I will not be back and beleive many feel likewise.

[racertempo]

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@wxman123 wrote:

The nature of a smart watch (even a fitness-focused one) is to add new features.  $200 is a significant investment in a fitness tracker and unless fitbit keeps people excited about the product as by offering new features, it will lose users and market share in an increasingky competitive space.  No matter how diehard Fitbit fans may whistle in the graveyard, the Blaze will be compared not only to the Apple Watch, but also to the new Garmin smartwatch due out in April (and I'm sure others as well).  Garmin already has a whole ecosystem of Apps with more on the way.  So, I believe Fitbit will have to update Blaze to stay in the game.  If their answer is buy the next version, I will not be back and beleive many feel likewise.

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But the Blaze is a not a "fitness focused smart watch".  It is a fitness tracker.  There are no real smart features and it was not advertised as such.  I don't want third-party apps on it, it iwll only kill the battery life and the advantage of the Blaze is charging only needed every 4-6 days, while the other smart watches required daily charging.  

I disagree that the Blaze needs an update to "stay in the game", every single app addition or other major features will hinder battery life, which I believe is what most fitbit users like,and I think the sales number increase over the ChargeHR and Surge show that people what the Blaze for what it IS, not what it SHOULD be.  Be hey, we all get an opinion.

[SunsetRunner]

What? So giving us a few new watch faces will kill the battery? Please!

[Rich_Laue]

Did you add your votes, no watch faces won't add to the battery drain, but they will need to be designed, maybe even some marketing done to see what the users want, tested, debugged, fine tuned, then added to the server. 

Since the faces are loaded when chosen these might not require a firmware update, but can not happen overnight.

[racertempo]

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@Greggebhardt wrote:
What? So giving us a few new watch faces will kill the battery? Please!

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No, but the comments that wxman123 made would certinly kill battery life, liek "ecosystem apps" that are third party.

[wxman123]

Respectfully, you dont know what you're talking about.  Apps are optional.  If you dont want them, dont add them.  You dont even need to use messagaing if your goal is solely battery life.  If all you wanted was a wrist-based fitness tracker, you could have saved a lot of money by purchasing a cheaper option versus the Blaze, with a price point that is clearly in smart watch territory.  BTW, pretty much everybody (but you) would consider a watch with user-selected faces, text message notices, phone notices, multiple alarms, etc to be a "smart watch."  

[racertempo]

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@wxman123 wrote:

Respectfully, you dont know what you're talking about.  Apps are optional.  If you dont want them, dont add them.  You dont even need to use messagaing if your goal is solely battery life.  If all you wanted was a wrist-based fitness tracker, you could have saved a lot of money by purchasing a cheaper option versus the Blaze, with a price point that is clearly in smart watch territory.  BTW, pretty much everybody (but you) would consider a watch with user-selected faces, text message notices, phone notices, multiple alarms, etc to be a "smart watch."  

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Yes, the app would be optional, but then someone like you would download 10 of them and run them all the time and get online here and complain that they are not getting the advertised 5 days battery life.  There is a reason the apple watch needs to be charged daily, and the Samsung every 2 days.

It is a fitness tracker with a few smart features.  It offers little more than the ChargeHR except have a color display that offers 4 faces, text notifications and a nicer user user interface.  Would you consider a flip phone with no Internet capabilities as a smart phone?  No, it is a cell phone, not a smart phone

Fitbit calls it a Smart Fitness Watch, which I think is a good characterization.  Either way, maybe Fitbit will offer something new in the future, I have no doubt, but to say they are lagging behind because the Blaze is not what you want it to be if an opinion.  It is as advertised, they should focus on operational excellence, not feature additions that were not planned for the product in the beginning.

I think Garmin needs to make changes to stay in the game.  Fitbit is not "in" the game, they are the leader in the fitness tracking industry based on sales and numbers, I think others need to catch up and are trying to do so.

[racertempo]

The new garmins are $250, $330, and $400.  I personally don't see garmin or any other watch on people in the mass quantity that you see Fitbit.  At that cost it better come with a car GPS and a cell phone built-in.  

This article with statistics shows that fitbit does not need to adjust to stay in the game, they need to keep doing and changing the way they have been.

[Rich_Laue]

The pressure gauge is totally useless to maddie elevation until it is calibrated, and for calibration you will need to know your current elevation. Also measuring elevation by air pressure at best is flaky, on a typical plane flight the pilot has to request his elevation several times, so he can recalibrate the altimeter.

You would be doing the same recalibration through out the day, and will need to know your true altitude at this time.