Fitbit Charge New Activity Bands review
Fitbit recently given to the globe its newest try of latest fitness trackers: the Fitbit Charge and its larger brother, the Fitbit Charge hour. The new activity bands ar a natural upgrade to the Fitbit Flex, and it’s the non-heart rate sensing version that we’re running the rule over during this review.
Fitbit Charge: style and build
“Use the Force” could be a abundant overdone phrase at the instant with the new Star Wars trailer obtaining everybody all Jedi-hyped however it looks Fitbit took the recommendation of Obi-Wan virtually by taking the recalled Fitbit Force, adding a replacement band and one or two of additional options, and presenting it because the all new Fitbit Charge.
In fact, once you try the Charge with an humanoid device, Google’s OS recognises it as ‘Force’ leading us to believe Fitbit had many spare hardware modules it required to expend.
In case you’re unacquainted the troubled tale of the Force, enable us to induce you up to speed: it absolutely was discontinued earlier this year when it absolutely was found to cause a nasty skin irritation for a few users.
But don’t worry as there’s no danger of catching scurvy or having your arm fall off with the Fitbit Charge, because it comes wrapped in a very versatile, sturdy material material almost like that utilized in several sports watches. We’ve had ours on for per week roughly and our gliding joint, we’re happy to report, is scab free.
The new strap is unsmooth as hostile the matte end of the Force however except for that it's close to identical. That’s not a foul factor because the Force and, as such, the Charge could be a cute huntsman – albeit one with to a small degree a lot of heft than the likes of the Fitbit Flex, the Garmin Vivosmart and also the Jawbone UP3 – as it’s 21mm wide.
But it’s comfortable to wear (coming in 2 sizes) and is hardly significant at beneath 23g.
Fitbit Charge: show and notifications
The big maximize from the Flex is that the inclusion of atiny low, monochrome, OLED show – once more, sounding sort of a broken record, an equivalent one we tend to saw on the Force.
It’s clear enough and interruption fairly well beneath bright lights however it will look a shade plastic and, dare we are saying it, low cost if you consider it up closely.
The Fitbit Charge OLED show doesn’t be smartwatch notifications as per the coming Fitbit Surge; its solely smartphone syncing ability is display for incoming calls.
It’s reasonably handy, we suppose, for having a fast look of who’s attempting to achieve you however it’s few notable inclusion – certainly Fitbit may have thrown in (at least) basic notifications like texts and emails while not hiking the £99.99 / $129.95 worth up an excessive amount of.
The show is nice for supplying you with an summary of your activity although – you wake it up by either sound (firmly, we tend to should say) the world below it or by pushing the button on the facet.
For each press of the button you’re given a replacement screen supplying you with a breakdown of your daily activities, that we’ll bit on, in additional detail next.
Within the app, you'll be able to play with what’s on show with the show – dynamic things just like the clock kind and also the order of the displays.
There’s no setting for a watch mode, wherever the time would remain all the time, or an choice to have the time seem once you flick your gliding joint upwards – a la humanoid Wear – that could be a shame because it makes telling the time on the Charge quite an hard affair.
Fitbit Charge: Activity following
The Fitbit charge tracks regular activities like steps, distance cosmopolitan, calories burned, floors climbed and extremely active minutes. There’s additionally sleep observation and also the sleep following kicks in mechanically (unlike the Flex that needed a manual sleep command) and there’s a vibration-based silent alarm on provide too.
The OLED show can provide you with your stats in period of time, as mentioned and inside the app you'll be able to amendment things like your target goals and also the metrics than ar most significant to you.
The Fitbit Charge devices synchronize to your smartphone app mistreatment Bluetooth four.0, or your computer or mackintosh employing a wireless electronic device that comes within the box. we tend to didn’t have any trouble syncing our Charge to either our phone or our mackintosh.
The app is out there on Windows Phone, iOS and humanoid and also the knowledge will synchronize with the data from your Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Scale, and brings in your knowledge from your previous Fitbit device.
Both Charge bands tracks seven days of elaborated motion knowledge – minute by minute – and keep daily totals for the past thirty days. we tend to tested the Charge aboard its older brother the Flex, with distances and steps just about on a par. {like any|like all|like several|like every} fitness huntsman that bases its calculations on AN measuring system and an algorithmic program, the recordings ar supposed as a guide instead of a precise science.
Unlike the forthcoming Jawbone UP3, activities and individual sports aren’t detected by the band itself, therefore you’ll ought to enter the app and manually assign sports to your active minutes.
There’s no GPS on board the Charge, as per the Microsoft Band – and, as you most likely guessed, there’s no pulse observation either as that’s what the hour guilty hour stands for.
The first factor you’ll do is synchronize your new Charge to the Fitbit app – an equivalent app you’ll already be mistreatment for the other Fitbit device. the other Fitbit device you’ll need to forget, that's – the app can’t handle over one huntsman at a time and you’ll need to delete your existing Flex, for instance, before you'll be able to try your Charge.
That looks to a small degree nuts as wearables, particularly ones that arrange to be style aware like Fitbit’s, ar certainly meant to be chop-and-changeable. It looks to a small degree restrictive to solely be allowed to use one at a time.
The Fitbit app enables you to see progress, record workouts, share and contend along with your friends, log your food intake and earn badges supported your activity achievements.
There’s nothing new here for Fitbit users to induce excited regarding and, though it’s a good enough app, it might are nice to check some further options other for the new device.
Fitbit Charge: Battery life
You charge the Fitbit employing a magnetic clasp that’s on the tip of a small USB cable. Yep, another cable for your assortment.
Charging is completed inside one or two of hours and you'll be able to then expect a life cycle of around 5 to seven days.
The Fitbit Charge is 1ATM water resistant, which means you‘ll be alright within the shower however don’t wear it within the bathtub or a pool. That does, of course, place it at a drawback to the cheaper unusual person Flash once it involves following activity within the water.
Fitbit Charge New Activity Bands review