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Disappointed with FtiBit Ionic - especially in Canada

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‎10-06-2017 10:39

‎10-06-2017 10:39

Picked up an Fitbit Ionic yesterday. Nice fitness watch but disappointed with the limitations and issues as a smartwatch. Especially if you are in Canada. Short list of issues since I put it on last night.

 

 - NFC not supported in Canada
 - Pandora music not available in Canada
 - on device music doesn't work with iTunes Apple Music because of DRM restrictions. So between that and Pandora I seem to be stuck with regards to on device music.
 - Starbucks app is supported but doesn't show up unless you change your location to US. You can change your location back to Canada after its installed.
 - no ability to view calendar information other than through reminder notifications which is a basic smartwatch feature.
 - buggy as well. Device locked up in shower because it was detecting water drops as touch points and none of the side buttons would work. Had to do a full soft reset to get functionality back.

 

All the typical Fitbit tracking features work fine. But really, not much of an improvement over the Blaze other than water proofing and GPS. 

 

I am sure that most issues will improve with updates but out of the gate, bit of a disappointment for Canadians and people looking for more smart features. I will probably still keep mine and hope that things improve quickly, but many may not want to deal with the hassles and will want to wait until it becomes more a more viable smartwatch option.

Best Answer
8 REPLIES 8

‎10-06-2017 10:45

‎10-06-2017 10:45

@gdakin wrote:

Picked up an Fitbit Ionic yesterday. Nice fitness watch but disappointed with the limitations and issues as a smartwatch. Especially if you are in Canada. Short list of issues since I put it on last night.

 

 - NFC not supported in Canada
 - Pandora music not available in Canada
 - on device music doesn't work with iTunes Apple Music because of DRM restrictions. So between that and Pandora I seem to be stuck with regards to on device music.
 - Starbucks app is supported but doesn't show up unless you change your location to US. You can change your location back to Canada after its installed.
 - no ability to view calendar information other than through reminder notifications which is a basic smartwatch feature.
 - buggy as well. Device locked up in shower because it was detecting water drops as touch points and none of the side buttons would work. Had to do a full soft reset to get functionality back.

 

All the typical Fitbit tracking features work fine. But really, not much of an improvement over the Blaze other than water proofing and GPS. 

 

I am sure that most issues will improve with updates but out of the gate, bit of a disappointment for Canadians and people looking for more smart features. I will probably still keep mine and hope that things improve quickly, but many may not want to deal with the hassles and will want to wait until it becomes more a more viable smartwatch option.

My strategy all along was to let the early adopters serve as beta testers and wait on the inevitable Black Friday sale and pick one up then. I've lurked on this board and noticed some have had success and some haven't but the one thing everyone would probably agree on is that fitbit is having some software issues. I think they'll get it sorted, but if they can't sort these things out by Thanksgiving they have a much bigger problem than just firmware. 

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‎10-06-2017 12:08

In response to datalore

‎10-06-2017 12:08

Your comments ring true. It does feel a bit like a public beta program. I am just disappointed on how some key features that have been marketed, (and I was anxious for) are not options right now unless you live in the US. NFC and on device music are two big features that are very limited for us right now.

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‎10-07-2017 12:00

In response to gdakin

‎10-07-2017 12:00

Agreed here.  At $300 / £300 I'm not really paying to be a beta tester.  I'm paying for a device with at least nominal smartwatch functions.  I'm going to have to return my Ionic unless Fitbit provides basic messaging functions so that I can at least justify waiting for the rest of it.

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‎10-07-2017 15:51

In response to Bejammin

‎10-07-2017 15:51

The Ionic is still an upgrade to the Blaze that I was using. So I will probably be keeping it. But I was expecting that more of the commonsense smartwatch features of the pebble watches would have made their way to the ionic. I think that the Ionic will get better with each update, similar to what happened to the Blaze. But I was hoping for more out of the gate and I am disappointed that some key features are not even an option if you don't live in the US.

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‎10-07-2017 20:31

‎10-07-2017 20:31

Seriously, if I wanted a giant fitness band, I'd have bought a Blaze. I wanted a watch that would have the functionality of a Smartwatch.

NO calendar functionality whatsoever,

NO watchface

NO message notifications.

A $500 watch that doesn't do what it's purported to do will be going back for a refund tomorrow. It literally does nothing that I need.

Best Answer

‎10-20-2017 07:14

‎10-20-2017 07:14

Hi,

 

I feel your pain, the UK have even fewer features and no Starbucks😥

 

In total agreement that that it is a Blaze which is waterproof with GPS....really struggling to justify the £300 price tag to myself!

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0 Votes

‎10-30-2017 07:20

In response to palerose2014

‎10-30-2017 07:20

No way to have starbucks! And yes i try to pretend i am american on settings! If it work in canada why not put it for us too?

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0 Votes

‎10-30-2017 09:12

In response to mellyblog

‎10-30-2017 09:12

I had to change my location settings in my profile on the Fitbit website in order to get the Starbucks app. Changing locations in the phone app didn't work.  

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0 Votes