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.
Fitbit has also partnered with mindfulness and “integrated medicine” pioneer Deepak Chopra, who participated in the launch on Monday, providing media with a guided meditation session. He has created a wellness collection called the Mindful Method, with a range of sessions of mindfulness practice. These are included in the Fitbit Premium service, which normally costs R149 a month. It includes access to a range of workouts and nearly 200 stress-relieving mindfulness sessions from the likes of Aaptiv, Aura, Breethe, and Ten Percent Happier.
Chopra says: “I share Fitbit’s belief that mindfulness and mental wellbeing are an important part of our holistic health, and by better managing your emotional wellbeing, it can help make a positive lasting impact on your overall health, including better sleep, improved mood and more meaningful personal relationships. For example, I regularly see my heart rate lower after doing a meditation session and over time, my heart rate variability trends have improved.
“The Mindful Method makes a regular mindfulness practice easy and accessible – no matter whether you are learning how to begin, or are interested in taking your mindfulness practice to the next level.”
The Health Metrics dashboard also tracks changes in wellbeing, with insights into breathing rate, heart rate variability (HRV), resting heart rate (RHR), and skin temperature. Next up, promises Fitbit, will be measurement of oxygen saturation (SpO2), directly from the device.
The Luxe has a 5-day battery life, thanks to its lightweight form factor, which also offers maximum comfort, so that it can be worn to bed and help users track and manage sleep patterns. As with other Fitbit devices, a Sleep Score helps users better understand their sleep quality over time, and bedtime reminders help establish a consistent sleep routine.
It also comes with tools now regarded as smartwatch standards, such as food, hydration and weight logging, and menstrual health tracking. However, it adds blood glucose logging for the first time. Premium members also receive access to extensive nutrition content, including curated healthy recipes.
Wait, isn’t this about fitness?
That almost goes without saying, but the range of fitness options deserves spelling out: on the wrist, one can choose from 20 exercise modes, including golf, pilates, spinning, or tennis. It still lacks the GPS functionality of bulkier models like the Versa 3, Charge 4 and Sense. However, one can link exercise modes like running, biking or hiking to connected GPS from a phone, allowing one to track pace and distance.
The Fitbit Luxe will be available at most health and electronics retailers in South Africa later this year, at R3,399, including a six-month trial of Fitbit Premium. Meanwhile, Fitbit will offer a virtual try-on at some retailers, where shoppers can scan a QR code at Fitbit displays to see how the Luxe will look on the wrist.
Perhaps, one day, we won’t even need a physical device to track our health.
* Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter on @art2gee