Fitbit, the world’s largest wearables manufacturer, yesterday unveiled the Fitbit Blaze smart fitness watch, billing it as its “smartest, most stylish, most motivating fitness tracker yet.” While the Fitbit Surge HR blurred the lines between fitness tracker bracelet and smartwatch, there is no question that the Fitbit Blaze with its high-resolution, colour touchscreen is indeed a smartwatch.
“One of the first things we learned in this industry is that fitness is personal – and if something isn’t your style, you won’t wear it,” said James Park, CEO and Co-Founder of Fitbit. “With Fitbit Blaze, we pushed the boundaries of what’s possible to create a beautiful, versatile device that can be customized to fit your personal style – while packing a powerful fitness punch to help you reach your goals. Fitbit Blaze delivers a combination of innovative features that were carefully selected with intention and purpose, designed to motivate and offer a fitness experience that is more effortless and more useful with advanced guidance and coaching.”
The Fitbit Blaze can be customized in a number of ways. The tracker itself can be fitted into a number of frames using quick release spring bars. It also supports a range of interchangeable bands made from genuine leather, stainless steel or an elastomer. Multiple watch faces are also available for it.
Under the hood, the usual Fitbit fitness tracking capabilities are all included. It supports a range of sports and fitness activities including cardio, running, weights, yoga and more. It can also track a range of continuous movement activities like biking, hiking and running as well as aerobic workouts such as Zumba and cardio-kickboxing. Information tracked includes real-time exercise stats like distance, pace and minute-mile split times when connected to a smartphone’s GPS. Heart-rate tracking adds all day information about overall health, including resting heart rate and heart rate trends over time.
Integration with FitStar, a personal fitness app that Fitbit acquired last year, offers free guided instructions and animated images to three personal trainer workouts.
The Fitbit Blaze is now available for pre-order. It is expected to begin shipping in March. It sells for US$199.95 (CA$249.95). It will also be possible to pre-order it in Canada through Best Buy, Indigo and London Drugs.
Additional elastomer bands available in black, blue and plum can be purchased for US$29.95 (CA$39.95), leather bands paired with stainless steel display frames for US$99.95 (CA$139.95) and the stainless steel link band paired with a stainless steel display frame for US$129.95 (CA$179.95).
Source : Fitbit