Fitbit has been leading the wearables’ market for quite a while now. The company has given us a long range of health-centric wearable devices. Adding to this list, Fitbit on Tuesday unveiled the Blaze, the company’s first wearable with a colour display at the CES 2016. The Blaze is the closest Fitbit has ever gotten to a smartwatch.
The Blaze contains all the regular features Fitbit generally offers in its devices which include a heart monitor, activity and sleep trackers and connected GPS capabilities. All in all, the software platform of the base is still very much stuck towards the health side.
Though the Blaze doesn’t have built-in GPS, it will pull GPS data from smartphones if you exercise with one in tow.
In addition to the normal goodies, the Blaze comes in with a color screen, custom clock faces and general connectivity features like call, test and calendar updates. You can also reject calls, manage your music and even get push notifications on the watch face. These are all new features and first timers for Fitbit. These features, in short, bring the Blaze very close to a modern-day smartwatch. The only difference is that the Blaze doesn’t come with an integrated app store.
The Fitbit Blaze also has a new set of features in the health department. This includes FitStar, which contains a suite of workout videos from personal trainers and SmartTrack, Fitbit’s automatic exercise-sensing software, which can detect specific activities without the user to presetting the device.
Now that we’re done with the software, let’s talk hardware.
The Blaze offers a variety of different bands which include a linked stainless steel option for $130, a leather strap for $100 and a plastic type for $30. Swapping the main cubic unit is also simple. It’s just a matter of snapping it onto the required band. Fitbit is also promising a five-day battery life.
The Blaze is also slimmer than Fitbit’s previous wearables including its last year’s beast, the Surge.
According to Fitbit, the Blaze will be out in the market sometime in March and will cost you around $200 for the base unit.
