Alleged Leaked Fitbit Photos Show Upcoming Smartwatch Looks Like a Blaze

[MacRumors]

Photos emerged online overnight that allegedly reveal the design of Fitbit's first "true" smartwatch, rumors of which we covered last month. The images were originally published by Yahoo Finance and appear to show that the company's upcoming Apple Watch rival looks very similar to the $150 Fitbit Blaze fitness watch, which has been on sale since early 2016.

The watch's square face, physical buttons, and flexible elastomer wristband closely resemble the company's Blaze. Several Fitbit employees who saw the design are said to have complained about it, according to previous reports.

Specifications of the smartwatch, which is said to be codenamed "Higgs" internally, include a color display with 1,000 nits of brightness similar to the Apple Watch Series 2, built-in GPS, heart-rate monitoring, a full-fledged app store, contactless payments, storage for music, Pandora support, and four days of battery life. The $300 watch was previously thought to have an aluminum unibody design that supports swappable watch bands.

The smartwatch was initially said to be launching this spring, but technical problems have reportedly plagued the product and the company is now thought to be aiming for a fall release.

Fitbit is also rumored to be releasing a pair of Bluetooth earbuds similar in design to Apple's BeatsX buds. Codenamed "Parkside" internally, the $150 wireless earbuds will hang around the neck and be marketed as an accessory for the forthcoming smartwatch.

A lot is riding on the success of Fitbit's upcoming products, after the company faced one of its "largest declines ever" in the fourth quarter of 2016, which resulted in layoffs of about 6 percent of its staff. Although the company remained above Apple Watch in the number of units shipped, it has gradually been losing market share to rivals Apple and Xiaomi.

Article Link: Alleged Leaked Fitbit Photos Show Upcoming Smartwatch Looks Like a Blaze

 

[Sunny1990]

Watch looks slim and beautiful, but i will still perfer apple watch over this

 

[d5aqoëp]

I have to admit that this one looks quite sexy. But I will still not buy it.

 

[iDento]

Looks beautiful and competition is always good for customers

 

[ffnc1020]

Fugly. Fine by fitness tracker standard. But if it is marketed and a "watch", this is embarrassing.

 

[nnoble]

I'm happy with my Blaze, it does one job quite well without all the complications of a smart watch. If I had to choose between Fitbit smartwatch and an Apple watch, then I may as well go with the latter. Can't see this turning out well for them.

 

[Keane16]

With space so scarce on the wrist the large chin/bezel seems wasteful.

 

[nnoble]

With space so scarce on the wrist the large chin/bezel seems wasteful.

The Blaze is nice, light and surprisingly comfortable. I'm guessing this smartwatch will be heavier. Still, the current Fitbits will still be around for some time to come. Let's hope this venture doesn't bankrupt them.

 

[profets]

It follows the design that Fitbit has been using for the Alta and some other devices. Not really too surprising to see this as their new watch design.

 

[HoosBruce]

Watch looks slim and beautiful, it will be a tough fight for apple watch

What? It looks terrible...Why are the bezels so thick?? Why did they put "Fitbit" right there on the front under the screen? It won't be much cheaper than the Apple Watch, and they are having trouble getting the GPS and waterproofing right, so they're going to be a year behind on that as well. Good luck to them, but this looks awful, and does not seem like a comparable option to the Apple Watch at all.

 

[thisisnotmyname]

four days of battery life or 45 minutes of GPS, whichever comes first.

 

[Born Again]

Arguably no better position than the Apple Watch.

 

[oneMadRssn]

Fitbit is also rumored to be releasing a pair of Bluetooth earbuds similar in design to Apple's BeatsX buds. Codenamed "Parkside" internally, the $150 wireless earbuds will hang around the neck and be marketed as an accessory for the forthcoming smartwatch.

I hope these have heart-rate tracking. I think there is a market for earbuds that reliably track heartrate, but none of the current offerings are very good. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/12/hear-the-pulse-heart-rate-monitoring-fitness-earbuds-tested/

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

That looks nice.

 

[nnoble]

What? It looks terrible...Why are the bezels so thick?? Why did they put "Fitbit" right there on the front under the screen? It won't be much cheaper than the Apple Watch, and they are having trouble getting the GPS and waterproofing right, so they're going to be a year behind on that as well. Good luck to them, but this looks awful, and does not seem like a comparable option to the Apple Watch at all.

That's because the images show the current Fitbit Blaze lineup and these are not the proposed Smart Watch.

 

[bodonnell202]

Wow, just when I thought Fitbit couldn't create something uglier than the blaze they come up with this.

 

[honglong1976]

What? It looks terrible...Why are the bezels so thick?? Why did they put "Fitbit" right there on the front under the screen? It won't be much cheaper than the Apple Watch, and they are having trouble getting the GPS and waterproofing right, so they're going to be a year behind on that as well. Good luck to them, but this looks awful, and does not seem like a comparable option to the Apple Watch at all.

I have an Apple Watch and a Fitbit Blaze. Both are well designed, the Apple Watch feels higher quality but, the Fitbit blaze having a gap between the bezel and watch band allows more air in and less sweat. It's a really great design.

On a 30 mins bike ride the inside of my AW will be dripping wet, the Fitbit Blaze will be nearly dry.

Sure, the Apple Watch has an App store but really, I think all we need are great fitness tracking along with a way to con-tactlessly pay for things and notifications.

Apple wins 2 out of 3
Fitbit wins Fitness tracking (the app, fitness aspect is a millions times better than AW)
[doublepost=1493737260][/doublepost]If Fitbit makes a watch it has to have removable watch bands!

 

[NinjaHERO]

Isn't Fitbit supposed to be using their Pebble acquired technology here? Interested to see what they do with the E-Ink tech. I still get 7 days of battery life out of my Pebble.

 

[44267547]

Isn't Fitbit supposed to be using their Pebble acquired technology here? Interested to see what they do with the E-Ink tech. I still get 7 days of battery life out of my Pebble.

"Pebble's acquired Technology?" You mean how E-Ink has been around for years and is completely dated. E-Ink serves its purpose for the minimalistic display and low power draw, but Pebble's technology was one of the reasons they failed as a company, they remained stagnant and would not graduate to newer technology, not to mention Apple and Fitbit were reasons with advancements of their own. By the time Pebble actually tried to make changes with adding a heart rate sensor and fitness options, etc., it was already too little too late for them.

You may still get seven days of battery life out of your Pebble Watch, but that's not enough to save a company from failing to innovate and bring necessary changes to keep them afloat.

I also believe Pebble was bought out from Fit bit, was because Fitbit wants to gain as much control of the wearable market as possible.

 

[CrzyP]

Someday Fitbit will design a tracker that looks good. That day has yet to come

 

[apple.net]

Hope they fixed the flimsy charging port on Surge.

 

[stevemiller]

I like the minimalism of the charge 2, but this does not speak to me at all.

 

[NT1440]

"Pebble's acquired Technology?" You mean how E-Ink has been around for years and is completely dated. E-Ink serves its purpose for the minimalistic display and low power draw, but Pebble's technology was one of the reasons they failed as a company, they remained stagnant and would not graduate to newer technology, not to mention Apple and Fitbit were reasons with advancements of their own. By the time Pebble actually tried to make changes with adding a heart rate sensor and fitness options, etc., it was already too little too late for them.

You may still get seven days of battery life out of your Pebble Watch, but that's not enough to save a company from failing to innovate and bring necessary changes to keep them afloat.

I also believe Pebble was bought out from Fit bit, was because Fitbit wants to gain as much control of the wearable market as possible.

Pebble was the only company that I've ever seen that was able to get stutter free animations on color e-ink displays to market. That was truly glorious of them. It's a shame the company was a one trick pony, I loved my (original) pebble until I got an Apple Watch.

 

[44267547]

Pebble was the only company that I've ever seen that was able to get stutter free animations on color e-ink displays to market. That was truly glorious of them. It's a shame the company was a one trick pony, I loved my (original) pebble until I got an Apple Watch.

Pebble did a lot of things right. Their CEO, Eric Migicovsky became complacent in a shaky wearable market and undermined the companies opportunity to expand the product line. When they finally did, Apple impacted the market. Also, I feel Pebble failed to market their product line appropriately, which I am shocked how many had no idea Pebble was even in a player in this game. I don't recall seeing any advertisements boasting their line up besides through Kick Starter.

 

[bodonnell202]

Pebble was the only company that I've ever seen that was able to get stutter free animations on color e-ink displays to market. That was truly glorious of them. It's a shame the company was a one trick pony, I loved my (original) pebble until I got an Apple Watch.

Almost 2 years now with my Pebble Time Round and nothing has come out that remotely interests me to replace it. I'm contemplating buying another one as a backup but I'm worried that iOS 11 or some other update will break some of the functionality and that'll be it with no one to support and update the App.