James Park, chief executive of Fitbit, said the Blaze will be a “smart fitness watch”, which means that it won’t have room for third party apps like other smartwatches.
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The module features a hexagonal watch face with a color display, and custom watch faces, but being a Fitbit wearable its core functionality still remains fitness tracking. It’s also worth noting the built-in Global Positioning System capabilities that are part of the Fitbit Surge will not be featured in the Blaze, though the fitness-focused wearable can still track Global Positioning System data as long as it is connected to a smartphone.
According to Fitbit, the Blaze will be out in the market sometime in March and will cost you around $200 for the base unit. Scal took a slight dig at Apple during his remarks today, noting that “what you really need when you maximize workouts is a tool, not a toy”. It can automatically track some moves like running, elliptical workouts, tennis, basketball, and soccer, so it’s not necessary to manually start monitoring a workout from the band.
Amongst these are a £89.99 metal link band, a £59.99 leather strap and a cheaper £19.99 sport-focused elastomer band. It also features a constant heart monitor to ensure that your heart beats at a constant rate that is important when you do aerobic exercises.
Connected GPS helps users train smarter by delivering real-time exercise stats such as distance, pace and minute-mile split times when connected to a smartphone’s GPS.
Adding the “smart” aspect of the FitBit Blaze, it includes numerous standard smartwatch features, including being able to send and receive calls and texts, receiving calendar updates and controlling music from the timepiece.
Keep in mind that the bands come in three sizes: Small, Large and XL.
The Fitbit Blaze looks more like a smartwatch than a basic-looking rubber fitness band, CNet reports.
The nice colorful touchscreen on the Blaze is a brand new thing for Fitbit. Fitbit hopes that buyers will customize the Blaze with one of the many straps and bands that are offered. The Blaze is compatible with Android, iOS and Windows devices.
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The main new addition is the color screen, which allows the device to provide richer notifications, more tracking details on a variety of new watchfaces, and visually guided workouts. While it’s not the company’s first smartwatch – that would be the Fitbit Surge, which is President Barack Obama’s favorite – it is certainly its first that places an emphasis on fashion while maintaining the tracking technology Fitbit has developed over the past several years.
