Bought one on Sunday and so far I’m not terribly impressed - everything is rough around the edges. I have a Charge 2 and an Apple Watch Series 2, and I was looking to get the fitness-focused simplicity of the Charge 2 with some notification capabilities, and the ability to control my phone’s music and podcasts on my wrist. The battery life is as advertised, and I’ve had no issues syncing or sleep tracking or tracking exercise, just as I did not have those issues with my Charge 2.
The heart rate and step tracking appear to be just as promised, and appear to do a nice job keeping up unless there are sudden spikes (as with circuit training). For the life of me, I will never understand why Fitbit has not integrated chest-strap HRM support via bluetooth in the same way Apple and Garmin have. If Fitbit is trying to seize the “fitness-first” portion of the market, they absolutely need this feature to lure a discerning user. Also, the GPS works fine, but I don’t understand why Fitbit doesn’t include connected GPS for those situations where I have my phone with me (say, in an armband). This would save even more on battery, and it has worked flawlessly on my Charge 2 in the past.
The overall look is in the eye of the beholder. In my opinion it’s not bad - certainly from the side I like how the case curves to conform to the wrist. And from certain angles it looks good. But looking at the watch face-on as I do throughout the day, it looks octagonal - and with the giant bezels and unnecessary “fitbit” branding, it seems like a combination between a Casio calculator watch and one of those portable TVs from the 90s. I also don’t understand why the “charcoal” and “smoke gray” option still seems pretty light in color, and not that far off from the blue/silver model.
There are a decent number watch face options, but in my opinion they are mostly pretty unattractive, and seem to have no forethought or efficient use of the watch’s screen. Many faces have gobs of negative space, but display only one or two stats and require endless taps to cycle through information. Somehow the act of displaying information seemed more streamlined and user-friendly on the Charge 2’s tiny display than the Ionic. I am currently using the Moment face, which is nice, but I can’t change the red numbering to anything else. The other color options only change the background. And the “customize stats” option doesn’t appear to work either. The overall face installation process also takes way too long - there is zero need for it to buzz my wrist to inform me that it has started installing a new face (and then do nothing once that process is complete). And another aside, why do end users need to know the file size of the clock faces or what version number it is? I couldn’t care less. Seeing descriptions like “<developer name missing>” in the face gallery also just makes everything look slapped together. I’m hoping there are many more third-party faces added to the watch, and soon, and a more elegant process for installing faces.
I think the stock band is pretty lackluster - I like the way the band “snaps” into other holes to ensure it won’t stick out, but the buckle sticks out an absurd amount. It is neither sporty nor formal/sleek. That “snap” also makes it really difficult to get the band out of the buckle and off my wrist. I would like to try out the black sport band, but the release date is a mystery. Anyone who has tried the Apple Watch bands will agree the difference in elegance and comfort is night and day in favor of Apple.
I can control music and such from my phone, but that’s still a bit clunky. Since I have the AirPods I was looking for a quick way to adjust volume on the go or during a workout. But that’s not the simplest process - I can hold down the top-right button, but by default I only get a display of the current track playing with a seek forward, play/pause, and “more” options. I have to tap on “more” to then open a new menu, from where I can adjust volume (with no visual feedback on the watch as to what the volume is currently at, just up and down buttons). Not the sleekest process if I’m running, and so far I don’t see a way to change this.
I knew what I was getting into with the notifications - strictly non-actionable. But I don’t understand why the watch lacks emoji or rich text support, which are very commonplace in texts and in many app notifications (specifically for me, Carrot Weather for iPhone). The simple emojis work, but I am seeing way too many boxes with question marks in them for other common ones. And bringing up the notification “drawer” via touch is very hit-or-miss and often fails to respond. (I do appreciate that I can hold down the bottom-right button instead, that is a nice touch).
I haven’t bothered with Pandora, because let’s be clear - nobody uses Pandora’s premium service, relatively speaking. Spotify is king, and that was a huge missed opportunity for Fitbit. I also haven’t bothered with Wallet, since I use Apple Pay on my Phone already (which allows me to switch between cards on the fly) and I hate having to put in a PIN code constantly on my watch just to use the thing.
Overall, this might wind up back at the store, or in a drawer for a while, just to see if Fitbit gets a vibrant app and watch face platform going, and works out the kinks. More than anything Fitbit needs to make this act like a flagship product if people are going to forgive its limitations.
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