Fitbit announces Charge 3: 7-day battery life, swimproof, new Sleep Score

Fitbit fans that weren’t swayed by the more traditional smartwatch looks of the Ionic or Versa will be thrilled to see the newly announced Fitbit Charge 3, a return to the company’s most popular device line. While the price point is the same $149.95 that the Charge 2 started at when it launched 2 years ago, Fitbit is calling this its most advanced tracker yet.

Battery life has to be the headline here as the 7 days of battery life claimed by Fitbit for the Charge 3 is well beyond most of the smartwatches on the market, and historically, the company has been dead on with these estimates in my testing. That battery life is made more impressive by the fact that they have bumped up the screen size by 40% and made the OLED touchscreen 1.5x brighter than the Charge 2.

The Charge 3 is more ruggedized as well, with a Gorilla Glass 3 display and water resistance to 50 meters. The case itself is constructed of aerospace grade aluminum in either graphite or rose gold, and they moved to an inductive button which presumably is helping boost the water resistance while sparing you a moving part that can break.

Looking to the software side of what’s new with the Charge 3, sleep tracking is getting smarter with the Sleep Score beta that will use the 24/7 PurePulse heart rate tracking combined with the SpO2 sensor to produce a more thorough rating of your night’s rest along with potential identification of breathing issues that could point to allergy, asthma, or sleep apnea.

Fitness tracking is getting smarter as well, with over 15 exercise modes and the ability to set goals for a variety of metrics that will then display your progress and offer notifications on the watch during the activity to keep you aware of your progress. While the Charge 3 lacks built-in GPS, it uses the same Connected GPS functionality found in the Versa that automatically connects to your phone when it detects that you are exercising. It’s also picking up some other features that debuted on the Versa like female health tracking and the on-device dashboard that shows you a quick breakdown of your stats for the day rather than forcing you into the app.

While the Charge 3 obviously isn’t as complete a smartwatch experience as the Versa or Ionic, it will probably tick the boxes for a lot of people with its ability to accept or reject incoming calls; view calendar, text and app notifications; and for us Android users, you can create custom quick replies to deal with simple text messages.

As with the Fitbit Versa, there will be a Charge 3 Special Edition with NFC for a $20 premium ($169.95) that adds the ability to make contactless payments using Fitbit Pay. And like the Charge 2 and the Versa before it, the Fitbit Charge 3 will have a wide variety of bands available using a new band attach system. These run the gamut from perforated silicon sports bands to Horween leather bands.

The Fitbit Charge 3 is available for pre-order on Fitbit.com today and will be coming to additional retailers starting tomorrow, with shipping and in-store availability expected in October.

Gallery

Show Press Release

Fitbit Launches Charge 3 – the Number One Fitness Tracker, Now Better Than Ever

Fitbit Charge 3 delivers a premium swimproof design, our most advanced health and fitness features, and is our smartest tracker yet – all with up to 7 days battery life

Fitbit announces Sleep Score beta to help users better understand trends and take action to improve their sleep quality; Charge 3 Charge 3 introduces first relative SpO2 sensor on a Fitbit tracker

SAN FRANCISCO – August 20, 2018 – Fitbit (NYSE: FIT), the leading global wearables brand, today announced Fitbit Charge 3TM, the latest evolution of its best-selling Charge family of devicesi. Charge 3 features an elevated, premium swimproof design with a touchscreen display, 15+ goal-based exercise modes, essential smart features to stay connected to what matters most, up to 7 days battery life,ii and Fitbit’s most advanced sensor and algorithm technology in a tracker. Charge 3 is available for presale today at Fitbit.com for $149.95 USD, with global retail availability starting October 2018.

Fitbit’s Charge family of products is the most popular of Fitbit’s lineup, with 35 million devices sold to date. According to Fitbit research, of the adult consumers who considered buying a wearable in the last year, 42% wanted a tracker versus 36% who wanted a smartwatch due to the slimmer design, easy-to-use features, streamlined experience and price point.iii Further, IDC estimates shipments of fitness trackers will continue to comprise a significant portion of the overall wearables category for the next several years.iv Trackers also make up the majority of wearable sales in major global markets like Australia, Great Britain, Japan, Singapore and Spain.v

“With Charge 3, we are building on the success of our best-selling Charge franchise and delivering our most innovative tracker, offering an extremely slim, comfortable and premium design, along with the advanced health and fitness features our users want. Charge 3 gives existing users a compelling reason to upgrade, while also allowing us to reach new users who want a sleeker, more affordable wearable in a tracker form factor,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit. “Our commitment to consumer choice and ability to meet the demand of millions of users by offering a range of products, from trackers to smartwatches, will enable us to expand our share of the overall wearables market.”

Premium design, intelligently crafted

Charge 3 is crafted from premium, lightweight materials, including an aerospace grade aluminum case and Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 display for a slimmer, modern silhouette, increased durability and more comfortable fit for men and women. It features a crisp, touchscreen OLED display that is nearly 40 percent larger and brighter than its predecessor, offering a more intuitive experience with easy access to your most important information.

Fitbit Charge 3 is the first wearable with an inductive button, which includes new patent-pending technology that provides a streamlined, swimproof design, increased space in the device to add more sensors plus a larger battery with up to 7 days of use, and more effortless interaction while maintaining the performance expected from our most advanced fitness tracker.

To complement the elevated hardware, the interactive software experience was redesigned to more deeply engage and motivate users to reach their goals each day. The high-resolution touchscreen display brilliantly

showcases crisp, grayscale graphics with new playful animations and expressive graphics which surprise and delight, creating fun moments to help you celebrate milestones and stay focused on hitting your next goal.

Superior health & fitness experience

Charge 3 also delivers the most advanced health and fitness features found on a Fitbit tracker to date. With more than nine trillion minutes of heart rate data tracked to date,vi Fitbit has enhanced its 24/7 PurePulse® heart rate technology for even greater accuracy during exercise compared to Charge 2, and provides a better measure of calorie burn and resting heart rate to optimize workouts and help uncover health trends.vii The addition of a relative SpO2 sensor – a first for a Fitbit tracker – allows for the potential to estimate changes in blood oxygen levels and help track new health indicators, like sleep apnea.

Additional health and fitness features include:

• ●  Goal-based exercise modes: Choose from 15+ exercise modes like bike, swim, run, weights andyoga; set a goal for calories burned, distance or duration, and see real-time stats, progress andcelebrations on device when you reach your goal.
• ●  Water resistant to 50M: Wear in the shower, rain, pool or ocean. See real-time duration on yourwrist with Swim Mode, or use SmartTrack® automatic exercise recognition to see laps and pace inthe Fitbit® app post-swim.
• ●  Go the distance: Stay motivated with Connected GPS from your phone for real-time pace anddistance on device, plus Run Detect with auto pause and auto stop in the future.
• ●  Female health tracking: Gain a deeper understanding of your menstrual cycle by using the Fitbit appto log your period and ovulation (coming soon), record symptoms and compare cycle trends over time. With all your health and fitness stats in one place, you can better manage your health; easily see where you are in your cycle in the on-device dashboard.
• ●  Information at a glance: Easily navigate the new personalized, on-device dashboard to see daily activity stats and health metrics like female health tracking, hydration, sleep and weight (coming soon).viii
• ●  Personalized insights: Know yourself to improve your health with new dynamic insights about your activity, heart rate, nutrition and sleep to help you reach your goals with positive reinforcement and tips to course correct when needed (coming soon in the Fitbit app).
• ●  Social motivation: Connect to one of the largest health and fitness social networks in the world with more than 25 million active users for added motivation to reach your goals when you engage with friends, family and others through Feed, Groups and Challenges in the Fitbit app.ix
• ●  24/7 guidance and motivation: Stay on top of all your daily activity and get a more complete picture of your overall health with features like automatic exercise recognition, Reminders to Move, Relax guided breathing, sleep tracking with Sleep Stages and Sleep Insights, and more.Advancements in Sleep Tracking & Analysis Fitbit helps millions of users better understand their sleep patterns and the lifestyle habits than can impact them. Fitbit was the first wearable brand to offer sleep tracking and has built one of the largest databases of sleep over the past nine years with more than 7.5 billion nights tracked.x Fitbit also introduced Sleep Stages & Sleep Insights based on heart rate variability to give you an even more in-depth understanding of sleep quality.”Fitbit continues to harness its data to give users actionable insights into their health and wellness. For example, we’ve found that 1 in 4 people get significantly more sleep on weekends than weekdays, which implies they are trying to make up for reduced sleep during the week.xi We can deliver insights to these users through the Fitbit app to make them aware of how this behavior affects their well-being and suggest

how to set up a sleep schedule,” said Shelten Yuen, VP of research at Fitbit. “In the future, we hope to provide more guidance to our users to reduce the risk disease so they can become the healthiest versions of themselves.”

Fitbit continues to make advancements in sleep and is announcing a new Sleep Score beta from Fitbit Labs that will be available to Fitbit users later this year. Using key metrics tracked by any Fitbit device with advanced 24/7 PurePulse heart rate tracking, Sleep Score will provide a nightly score to help give you a more complete picture of your overall sleep quality and what factors affect it.

In addition, for devices with a relative SpO2 sensor, including Charge 3, Fitbit IonicTM and Fitbit VersaTM, Fitbit will test the tracking of breathing disruptions, which can be indicators of health issues such as allergies, asthma or sleep apnea.

“With the Fitbit Labs Sleep Score beta, we’re pioneering an intuitive way for people to understand their sleep. It’s an example of how we are continually evolving the health experience for our users,” Yuen added.

Separately, Fitbit will continue to develop and clinically validate FDA regulated software as a medical device for various health conditions including sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation. Fitbit is one of nine companies in the FDA’s digital health software precertification pilot program, which is designed to streamline the approval process for software as a medical device.

Stay connected with the right mix of smart features

Along with its advanced health and fitness features, Charge 3 is Fitbit’s smartest tracker yet, offering the best smart features to stay connected to what matters most without overwhelming you with technology or distractions you don’t want or need.

• ●  Expanded smart features: Easily customize and view call, calendar, text and smartphone app notifications (like Facebook and Uber), xii accept or reject calls,xiii and respond on the go with pre- populated or custom quick replies for Android users.xiv
• ●  Essential apps: Make the most of your day with top-requested convenience apps like Alarms, Timer and Weather; plus Fitbit Leaderboard and Calendar coming soon with future updates.
• ●  Popular brand apps: A select number of popular brand apps will be added on device in the future, similar to those offered on Ionic and Versa.
• ●  Easy and secure payments: Leave your wallet at home and use Charge 3 Special Edition devices to make easy and secure payments with Fitbit PayTM contactless payments; supported by more than 100 financial institutions in 18 countries.
• ●  Broad compatibility: Compatible across most Android and iOS devices, with Windows coming soonxv, so you can choose the wearable you want, regardless of your phone.xviAccessories, Pricing & Availability Customize your Charge 3 day and night with a redesigned, easier-than-ever band attach and a range of accessory options. These feature premium materials like refined polygonal-textured and stain-resistant classic bands, breathable perforated silicone sports bands, fashionable woven bands and premium Horween hand-crafted leather bands. Charge 3 Special Edition with NFC features an exclusive, white silicone sports band with a graphite aluminum case or lavender woven band with a rose gold aluminum case, and offers two looks in one with the inclusion of an additional black Classic accessory band in box.Charge 3 is available for presale today on Fitbit.com and select online retailers tomorrow for $149.95 USD in black with a graphite aluminum case or blue gray with a rose gold aluminum case; accessories range from

$29.95-$49.95 USD. Coming soon, Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition with Fitbit Pay will be available for $169.95 USD. Charge 3 will be available in stores in Americas and EMEA beginning October 2018 and in Asia Pacific starting November 2018. (See Table 1 for international product pricing.) North American retailers include Amazon, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Target, Verizon and Walmart.

Additional details about Charge 3 can be found here. Table 1:

	Fitbit Charge 3	Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition	Accessories
Australia	$ 229.95 AU	$269.95 AU	$49.95-$69.96 AU
Canada	$199.95 CAD	$219.95 CAD	$39.95-$64.95 CAD
China	RMB 1,228	RMB 1,398	RMB 298-398
Europe	€149.95	€169.95	€29.95-€69.95
India	₹13990	₹15999	₹2990-₹4490
Japan	¥19,980	¥23,630	¥2,970-¥3,650
New Zealand	$269.95 NZ	$299.95 NZ	$49.95-$69.95 NZ
Singapore	$238 S	S$268	S$39.90-S$69.90
United Kingdom	£129.99	£149.99	£19.99-£59.99

About Fitbit

Fitbit helps people lead healthier, more active lives by empowering them with data, inspiration and guidance to reach their goals. As the leading global wearables brand, Fitbit designs products and experiences that track and provide motivation for everyday health and fitness. Fitbit’s diverse line of innovative and popular products include Fitbit Charge 3TM, Fitbit Alta HRTM, Fitbit Alta®, Fitbit AceTM, Fitbit Flex 2®, and Fitbit Zip® activity trackers, as well as the Fitbit IonicTM and Fitbit VersaTM smartwatches, Fitbit FlyerTM wireless headphones and Fitbit Aria 2TMWi-Fi Smart Scale. Fitbit products are carried in over 39,000 retail stores and in 86 countries around the globe. Powered by one of the world’s largest social fitness networks and databases of health and fitness data, the Fitbit platform delivers personalized experiences, insights and guidance through leading software and interactive tools, including the Fitbit and Fitbit Coach apps, and the Fitbit OS for smartwatches. Fitbit Health Solutions develops health and wellness solutions designed to help increase engagement, improve health outcomes, and drive a positive return for employers, health plans and health systems.

Fitbit and the Fitbit logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fitbit, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Additional Fitbit trademarks can be found at https://ift.tt/2db6FEv. Third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and share your Fitbit experience.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, that involve risks and uncertainties including, among other things, statements regarding the future retail availability of Charge 3; the availability of other product features described in

this release; potential for users to upgrade to new product offerings; our future share of the wearables market; future potential of the product features described in this release, including, not limited to the relative SpO2 sensor and 24/7 PurePulse heart rate, to provide health insights; and future development of FDA regulated software as a medical device. These forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual results due to a variety of factors, including the effects of the highly competitive market in which we operate, including competition from much larger technology companies; any inability to successfully develop and introduce new products, features, and services or enhance existing products and services; product liability issues, security breaches or other defects; and other factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in our most recent report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained herein are based on information available to us as of the date hereof and we do not assume any obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events.

source: androidandme