Fitbit’s Wearable Health Devices

James Park has a vision of revolutionizing the healthcare sector. As the problem in health care was that there were fewer devices that can monitor our daily activities like steps counting, calories burned, continuous monitoring of heartbeat, ECG, etc. James with his visionary thoughts laid the foundation of Fitbit. Fitbit is one of the leading tech companies in the vast booming market of wearables.

Fitbit has launched its wearable health devices in the market as fitness trackers, smartwatches, smart scales, wireless headphones, etc. Fitbit has launched its first device, simply called Fitbit in September 2009. It was a wireless-enabled device, which clipped onto the user’s clothing, uses an internal motion detector to track the wearer’s movement, sleep, and calorie burn during both the day and night.

Fitbit Smart Trackers:

A Fitness tracker is also known as an activity tracker. It is used for monitoring and tracking fitness. It uses smart sensors for data collection. Fitbit has launched many fitness trackers such as Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Charge HR, Fitbit Charge 2, Fitbit Charge 3, Fitbit Charge 4, Fitbit Charge 5, Fitbit Inspire, Fitbit Ace range, Fitbit inspire 2, Fitbit Luxe, and many more.

Fitbit Charge HR

It was announced in October 2014 and released in early January 2015. It is a modern tracker having various features. 

Features-

• Its display type is monochrome, OLED.
• It is water-resistant. 
• It can measures calories burned, distance traveled, floors climbed, heart rate, steps, and measure time.
• Monitor our sleep automatically and wake with a silent alarm.
• It is available in black, blue, plum, tangerine, teal colors.
• Its battery life is 5 days.
• It is available in three sizes large, small, X-Large.
• Its weight is 0.05 Pounds.

Price in India-

Its MRP is Rs 18,500/ Amazon Buying Link

Fitbit Charge 4-

This is the successor of  Fitbit Charge HR, Fitbit Charge, Fitbit Charge 2, Fitbit Charge 3, Fitbit Charge 4. The smart tracker was released in 2020. This is water-resistant and came with advanced features.

Sensors-

• 3-axis accelerometer
• Altimeter
• Optical Heart-rate tracker
• Vibration motor.

Features –

• It has a built-in GPS.
• It has sleep stages features. This is a very unique feature. Sleep has been divided into three stages- Deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep.
• It has a battery life of up to 7 days.
• It has a PMOLED display.
• It has 24/7 heart rate monitoring, counts floors climbed, step counts, measures calories burned, Workout zone.
• It is compatible with Android and iOS.
• Its weight is 30grams.

Price in India-

Amazon Buying Link

Fitbit Luxe

This is the latest Fitbit tracker launched on 30 April 2021. This is a fitness tracker but also it can be used as a fashion accessory.

Sensors-

• 3-axis accelerometer
• Optical Heart-rate tracker
• Vibration motor.
• Red and infrared sensors for oxygen saturation (SpO2) monitoring.

Features-

• It has a vibrant AMOLED color display.
• It has 24/7 heart rate monitoring, Oxygen Saturation monitoring, menstrual health tracking, 20 exercises modes, and many more features.
• It has sleep stages features. This is a very unique feature. Sleep has been divided into three stages- Deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep.
• It has 5-day battery life.
• It is water-resistant Up to 50 meters.
• It has dimensions 1.43” L* .69” w * .4”h
• Its syncing range is up to 30ft.

Price in India:-

Amazon Buying Link

Fitbit Smartwatches : 

It is called a smartwatch because it has more features than ordinary watches. It is like a personal medical assistant to the wearer. They can tell step walked, calories burned, current location, yoga assistant, etc.  Fitbit has launched its smartwatches series as

Fitbit Surge- 

This smartwatch was launched in the year 2015. It is very well known for its smart features. It has several features like it can count steps, calories burned, can track distance, can detect automatically sleep. It has various features like –

Size:-

The Fitbit surge is available in three sizes-small, Large, XL.

• In the small size, the wrist has a circumference of 14 cm -16 cm.
• In the large size, the wrist has a circumference of 16 cm -19.8 cm.
• In the XL size, the wrist has a circumference of 19.8 cm -22.6 cm.

Sensors: –

The Fitbit surge use sensors-

• GPS
• 3-axis accelerometers
• Optical heart rate monitor
• Altimeter
• Ambient light sensor
• Vibration motor
• Digital compass.

Features: –

Fitbit has many features-

• It has multiple sports modes, GPS, Heart rate monitoring features.
• It has a smartphones notification access, Music control feature.
• It has wireless syncing and its range is up to 6.1 m.
• It has an automatic sleep tracking feature.
• It is water-resistant.
• Its battery life is up to 7 days.

Price in India: –

Amazon Buying Link

Fitbit Blaze: – 

This smartwatch was launched in January 2016. It is very well known for its smart features. This was the smartwatch that compete with Apple, Pebble, Android smartwatches. It has a special feature called the sleep stages and many features are as follows: –

Shape and Size- 

• The Fitbit blaze is available in three sizes Small, Large, XL.
• The product weight is 43gram.
• The surface of the blaze is rectangular.
• The screen size is 1.66 inches and the screen resolution is 180*240 pixels.

Sensors –

• 3-axis accelerometers
• Optical heart rate monitor
• GPS
• Ambient light sensor
• Vibration motor
• Altimeter
• Digital compass.

Features-

• It has sleep stages features. This is a very unique feature. Sleep has been divided into three stages- Deep sleep, light sleep, and REM sleep.
• It has an altimeter that measures the number of floors climbed, every 10 feet of elevation counts one floor.
• It has multiple sports modes (walking, running, outdoor biking, elliptical, tennis, badminton, etc.).
• It has  GPS, Heart rate monitoring features.
• It has an automatic sleep tracking feature.
• It is water-resistant.
• It has a smartphones notification access, Music control feature.
• It has wireless syncing and its range is up to 6.1 m.
• Its battery life is up to 7 days.

Fitbit Ionic: – 

This smartwatch was launched in September 2017. It is very well known for its smart features. 

This was the smartwatch that compete with the Apple watch series 3 smartwatches. It is the successor of Fitbit Surge and Fitbit Blaze. It has an NFC chip that allows the Ionic to be used for credit card purchases at places that allow contactless payment and many features are as follows: –

Shape and Size- 

• The Fitbit blaze is available in three sizes Small, Large, XL.
• The product weight is 303grams.
• The surface of the Ionic is rectangular and Flat dial design.
• The screen size is 1.4 inches and the screen resolution is 348*250 pixels.
• Its pixel density sharpness is 306 PPI.
• It comes with Corning Gorilla Glass screen protection.

Sensors –

• 3-axis Gyroscope.
• Ambient light sensor.
• In-built GPS.
• 3-axis accelerometers
• Optical heart rate monitor
• NFC
• Vibration motor
• Altimeter
• Digital compass.

Features-

• It has an In-built GPS that is assisted by GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System).
• It is compatible with iPhones, Android Smartphones.
• The Ionic is shipped in three color combinations of the wristband and watch case: Charcoal & Smoke Gray, Slate Blue & Burnt Orange, and Blue Gray & Silver Gray.
• It has an altimeter that measures the number of floors climbed, every 10 feet of elevation counts one floor.
• It has multiple sports modes (walking, running, outdoor biking, elliptical, tennis, badminton, etc.).
• It has a Heart rate monitoring feature.
• It has an automatic sleep tracking feature.
• It is water-resistant and is IP certified.
• It has a smartphones notification access, Music control feature.
• It has wireless syncing and its range is up to 6.1 m.
• Its battery life is up to 6 days.

Price in India: – Rs 26,499/-

Why did Google Buy Fitbit? 

Google is an American multinational technology company. It is considered as one of the Big Five American information technology companies, alongside Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. Google was founded on 4 September 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in Menlo Park, California, United States. Alphabet Inc. is Google’s Parent company. Google specializes in Internet-related services and products, which include a search engine, online advertising technologies, cloud computing, software, and hardware. Its current Chief executive officer (CEO) is Sundar Pichai. 

Here is a big question why this IT giant has bought the smartwatch and tracker-making company? The most obvious answer is that Google sees a booming and profitable market in the wearable health care sector. As Fitbit is a brand whose wearables are in demand.

Fitbit has close to 29 million active users. Fitbit has so far sold more than 120 million devices in over 100 countries. The company’s users have logged a total of 275 trillion steps and over 15 billion hours of sleep using the devices.

Also, Fitbit is very close to Apple or Xiaomi in terms of shipments. So, Google thought to put a step in this sector via buying the share in Fitbit. Google’s goal is to become a leader in this sector. Pairing Google’s software and hardware with Fitbit’s technology can make more accurate products and it will be accessible to a larger audience.

Google has already spent big money on wearable tech- in 2019, it paid $40 million for technology and personnel from watchmaker Fossil Group’s research and development team. But company’s products are not able to compete with Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, etc.

According to time.com

That could also be the reason why did Google buy the Fitbit. As Fitbit is a tech master of this sector that’s why Google buy it.

The deal was originally announced in November 2019 for $2.1 billion. Google’s acquisition paves the path of entering in wearable market and renews its direct competition with Silicon Valley neighbor Apple inc. But overall this deal will also be beneficial to consumers as the competition will result in better and more cost-effective products.

References: –

• https://www.fitbit.com/global/in/home
• https://www.amazon.in/Fitbit-Wellness-Management-Tracking-Graphite/dp/B08ZF7QDXJ
• https://www.amazon.in/Fitbit-Charge-Heart-Activity-Wristband/dp/B00N2BWCDC?th=1
• https://www.amazon.in/Fitbit-Charge-Fitness-Tracker-Non-NFC/dp/B084CQ41M2
• https://www.amazon.in/Fitbit-Surge-Ultimate-Fitness-Super/dp/B00N2BWF6Q
• https://www.amazon.in/Fitbit-Blaze-Smart-Fitness-Watch/dp/B019VM3CPW
• https://www.flipkart.com/fitbit-ionic-smartwatch/p/itmcacae518f9bc9
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitbit
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Fitbit_products