Health Tech
Fitbit goes for fashion
Fitbit has come full circle with an elegant fitness tracker that includes many features of advanced smartwatches, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK
The name says it all: Fitbit Luxe. Not since the stylish Alta has the Fitbit brand been associated with elegance. In its quest to bring smartwatch features to activity and wellness tracking, it had abandoned the refinement of a slim wrist piece in favour of the chunky rounded-edge square style introduced by Apple Watch.
The Fitbit Charge series maintained the relatively slim approach of the Alta, but without the finesse, while remaining a monochrome device without advanced capability.
That all changes with the Luxe, launched on Monday night. It is described as “a fashion-focused fitness and wellness tracker designed to help users take a more holistic approach to health and wellness”.
A colour screen and wide range of accessories – including bracelets and wrap straps – sets the Luxe apart from most smartwatches, but it is the smarts built into the device and the associated app that signals a new era in health analytics.
The device comes with a six-month trial of Fitbit Premium, which provides deeper analysis of personal data. This all feeds into a Health Metrics dashboard in the Fitbit app which, among other, helps identify changes caused by increased stress or fatigue.
“Over the past year, we’ve had to think differently about our health and wellness, from keeping an eye out for possible Covid-19 symptoms to managing the ongoing stress and anxiety of today’s world,” says James Park, co-founder and general manager of Fitbit. “Even though we are starting to see positive changes, it has never been more important to control your holistic health. That’s why we’ve doubled down on our efforts to introduce innovative tools and insights to support you in staying mentally well and physically active.”
According to Fitbit, a survey conducted after the pandemic began found that 50% of people felt the physical and mental effects of stress. As a result, it was decided to add relevant stress management tools to trackers for the first time. Specifically, a Stress Management Score provides a daily assessment of a person’s ability to handle stress, based on activity levels, sleep and heart rate.
Says Park: “We’ve made major technological advancements with Luxe, creating a smaller, slimmer, beautifully designed tracker packed with these advanced features – some that were previously only available with our smartwatches – and providing access to these tools to even more people around the globe.”
Go to the next page to read about the new services that accompany the Fitbit Luxe.
