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The Fitbit Versa 2 has a similar look, but a lot of new features.
Sarah Tew / CNET
September announces it as a big month for smartwatches. Fitbit announced Wednesday its new Versa 2, which will arrive in stores on September 15th. Samsung has a new smartwatch arrived two days earlier on September 13 and a new Apple watch is probably around, too. But the $ 200 Fitbit Versa 2 offers new features that could outpace the competition. Fitbit's new generation of smartwatchs feature Amazon connectivity, better display, faster processor, and longer battery life.
Fitbit is also launching a new subscription service for coaching and fitness advice called Fitbit Premium. This will cost $ 10 a month or $ 80 a year and is not exclusive to the Versa 2. Fitbit Premium will offer guided plans and workouts covering everything from workout diagrams to weight loss and weight loss guides. counting calories, as well as Fitbit's promises combination of suggestions based on your collected fitness data.
Will Fitbit Premium be worth the cost of the subscription compared to the already robust and free application of Fitbit? I can not say it yet because I have not tested it. But it seems like it could offer more proactive lifestyle coaching in addition to tracking your information, what I was looking for in a fitness tracker and still not found yet.
Fitbit has announced its new watch and new service, as well as a new basic smart balance called Fitbit Aria Air of $ 50, which measures weight and body mass index, at an event in New York where I I was able to look closely at Versa 2 and its accessories.
Alexa is integrated and gives textual answers to the wrist.
Sarah Tew / CNET
What Alexa Can and Can not Do
Fitbit has never had a microphone or voice assistant on his previous fitness trackers. You can activate Alexa's voice assistant from Amazon on the Versa 2 by holding down the single button. Give your order and wait for the action or answer to appear on the screen. You will not hear Alexa's voice though: as the show lacks speaker, answers are provided via text responses.
Alexa will work on Android phones or iPhones (provided that the Alexa app is also installed) and will be able to search for general information, control smart home devices, search for local businesses, start or stop timers and perform other tasks similar to Alexa. It can also transcribe voice responses to messages, but only on Android phones. However, he will not control the music on the Versa 2 and will not control the fitness tracker controls until the end of the year. I'll know more about how Alexa works on the Versa 2 after having it tested in our full report.
Nevertheless, adding Alexa is a step forward compared to previous Fitbits and a fascinating new direction.
Look at this:
Fitbit Versa 2 and Fitbit Premium promise to reorganize my …
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Spotify on board, but not really
Fitbit had musical support on his previous Ionic and Versa watches, but he could only load MP3 files from a computer or work with Pandora Premium and Deezer. Spotify Premium is a new app that will also come on other Fitbit Versa watches later in the year. But while I originally thought it would allow Spotify downloads on the watch, much like you can do on Samsung smart watches and Garmin watches (Garmin recently added Amazon Music It turns out that it's only a remote Spotify Connect application that lets you control songs from the Spotify phone app … which is not really a feature. Fitbit Versa 2 can store music, but only via side loads, premium service from Deezer and Pandora.
Spotify finally gives the Versa 2 the appearance of a musical watch.
Sarah Tew / CNET
Versa 2 adds some late updates, but no GPS or ECG
The battery life is another advantage of the Versa 2 compared to its predecessors: the battery now lasts five days instead of four. Its AMOLED display can work in a new mode that is still active for a few days. Applications load faster and the watch is more responsive with this new processor. It has the same water resistance as previous models and is compatible with the same Versa chargers and watchbands. Fitbit Pay, a competitor of Appleless and Samsung Pay for contactless payment, is also integrated – and not just in the Premium Edition like the one of the last time.
But the Versa 2 also lacks some features: it does not have an on-board GPS, which makes aging Fitbit Ionic the only Fitbit device compatible GPS. Fitbit has not added any integrity functionality approved by the FDA. While waiting Apple Watch Series 4 and Samsung Galaxy Active 2 Watch both have electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) technology for feel atrial fibrillation, although Samsung is not yet authorized by the FDA.
A group of new straps, which also work with older Versa models (the patterned one on the right comes with the special edition).
Sarah Tew / CNET
Sleep Score, the latest Fitbit health addition, does not need a new watch
Fitbit's most important new health-related features are sleep-related and could promise to take a step toward sleep tracking where competition has not yet done so. A new sleep score feature that was in beta earlier this year will provide more detailed results and assess your sleep according to your resting heart rate, REM sleep and deep sleep measurements, and sleep time. . (I've tried the beta version of Sleep Score earlier this year and it was a decent upgrade.) The Sleep Score feature will work with any Fitbit that follows the heartbeat, but results and instructions more detailed will require a Premium subscription. Fitbit has also added a "smart alarm clock" feature that will time an alarm on a window in a sleep cycle that will be less disturbing, according to the company.
The additional programs of Fitbit Premium will focus on coaching in health.
Fitbit
Fitbit Premium will eventually offer personalized health advice
Fitbit's subscription service will focus on exercise, weight loss and general wellness information when it's launched in September. They will prepare a wellness report that you can show to a physician and plan to summarize the key fitness data collected by Fitbit. This looks like a summary chart of exercise, sleep, heart rate and weight over time.
Additional health reports will be added later, focusing on other chronic diseases. This seems to go hand in hand with an additional service coming in 2020 and being piloted in the US later this year. The new service will also add personalized health coaching, with personalized advice resembling a digital coach. It appears that Fitbit is becoming more involved in becoming a digital health services provider, but the jury has not yet determined how much these personalized services would help solve problems such as weight loss or diabetes management. two of the conditions Fitbit mentions in his press release.
Will Fitbit Premium start becoming a service that looks like a home coach? His extras (which include social fitness games and a limited selection of programs called "Get More Zzz", "Habits for Restful Sleep, Understanding Calories and Kick Your Salt Habit") will be essential? Fitbit offers a 90-day trial period for Premium service, but only with the $ 230 special edition of the Versa 2, which comes with a beautifully woven nylon stripe. Otherwise, it will cost you $ 10 a month or $ 80 a year.
The Fitbit Versa 2 seems to be the best Fitbit device to date. But Fitbit's subscription service suggests a future where software might be more important to the company than hardware.
Correction, 13:24 PT: The Spotify application does not allow downloads, just remotely control the phone application.
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