The Fitbit products are something I’ve curiously observed from afar – while their smaller modules have held appeal to me (ie, not the wrist-mounted ones), I’ve just never quite brought myself to pulling the trigger (admittedly, it’s the sleep tracker that’s the most intriguing to me). For those who aren’t as averse to the wrist-mounted activity trackers, though, Fitbit’s latest may be of interest to you.
Called the Fitbit Force, they’ve included one bigger (small) feature that makes it hit these pages – a smallish OLED screen that can be used to display, among other things, the time. Yes, a small digital readout – you’re thinking a $10 drugstore special can do that. And you’d be right.
But those drugstore specials can’t do all of the other activity tracking that the Fitbit devices can do, including things like steps taken, how long you slept (and the quality of sleep), and your calories burned. This latest device also adds in an altimeter, so it can tell how many stairs you climbed (or how arduous your hike really was).
Another nice watch-like feature that it adds is a silent alarm – which, my guess here is that there’s a vibration motor that goes off, rather than beeping. And since things like this can’t help but to have smartwatch pretensions, the Force will sync via bluetooth to your phone, not only to communicate with native apps, but also to give you caller notification (well, it will eventually, when they build the functionality in).
At a price of $130, this is reasonably in-line with their previous activity trackers. While I still find myself drawn more to their One, I can see how many will be drawn more to the Force, especially those who aren’t already normally wearing a wristwatch. You can look for a hands-on review of this coming from John; in the meantime: for those of you using one of these sorts of devices, let us know in the comments how they’re working out for you. fitbit.com
