Announcements are coming thick and fast at CES 2016, with many new smartwatches being unveiled. Today, the company that arguably made wearable tech a household requirement had their turn. Following on from Casio, New Balance, Samsung and Huawei, Fitbit have announced a new smartwatch, the Blaze, adding to their ever-expanding collection of devices.
The Blaze is “its smartest, most stylish, most motivating fitness tracker yet” and is the first wearable Fitbit have made that looks like a traditional watch. The Blaze contains enhanced fitness features like ‘FitStar’ by Fitbit, on-screen workouts, Connected GPS, PurePulse heart rate tracking, and SmartTrack automatic exercise recognition.
There is no built in GPS in the Blaze, rather it relies on a connected smart phone’s GPS. This “Connected GPS” delivers real time exercise statistics such as distance, pace, and minute-mile splits which are then synced wirelessly to the Fitbit dashboard on your smart phone or computer to allow you to review your workout.
With it’s multi-sport mode it can record specific activities like biking, cardiovascular exercise, running, weights, and yoga. PurePulse allows the user to track training heart rate zones while in any of these sports.
The Blaze, using Bluetooth 4.0 delivers call, text and calendar notifications through on-screen messages along with a vibration alert. There is also on-screen music controls for music playing from the connected smartphone.
The Blaze seems to be positioned between the Fitbit Charge HR and the Fitbit Surge with the pricing starting at $329.95AUD. It will be available in March of this year but is available for pre-order now on the Fitbit website.
It will be available with black, blue and plum bands at release with other premium bands available as a separate purchase. These include a high performance elastomer band available in black, blue and plum ($49.95AUD), a genuine leather band paired with stainless steel display frames available in black, mist grey and camel for $169.95. To top off the accessory bands there is a Luxe stainless steel link band paired with a stainless steel display in silver for $219.95AUD.
Are you in the market for a new fitness smart watch? Is this the watch for you?
I hope my work gets these so I can test one out. I’ve been waiting for FitBit to step up their game.