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Fitbit today announced the "Fitbit Charge 3," its latest fitness tracker that includes improvements to health and workout features, a 7-day battery life, and advanced sleep tracking with an upcoming "Sleep Score" beta. The Charge 3 is completely swimproof and includes a touchscreen display, but is considered a "tracker" and not a "smartwatch," like the Fitbit Versa or Apple Watch.

The Charge 3 has an aluminum case, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 display, and a 40 percent larger OLED display than the Charge 2. Additionally, the company says that the Charge 3 has "the most advanced health and fitness features" on one of its trackers to date, including the addition of a relative SpO2 sensor that can estimate changes in blood oxygen levels to track new health indicators, like sleep apnea.

fitbit-charge-3.jpg

Other health features include:
Goal-based exercise modes: Choose from 15+ exercise modes like bike, swim, run, weights and yoga; set a goal for calories burned, distance or duration, and see real-time stats, progress and celebrations on device when you reach your goal.

Water resistant to 50M: Wear in the shower, rain, pool or ocean. See real-time duration on your wrist with Swim Mode, or use SmartTrack® automatic exercise recognition to see laps and pace in the Fitbit app post-swim.

Female health tracking: Gain a deeper understanding of your menstrual cycle by using the Fitbit app to 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.

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).
For the Sleep Score beta, the company says that users will be able to access this feature later in the year. Sleep Score will provide users with a nightly score so they can see a "more complete picture" of their overall sleep quality and what factors could be negatively affecting it.

fitbit-charge-3-image-2.jpg

Like other Fitbit trackers, the Charge 3 can also display smartphone notifications for calls, texts, and other apps. Fitbit Pay will be available on the Charge 3 Special Edition, letting users checkout at NFC-compatible locations using the smart tracker.

There is also a new line of accessories for the Charge 3, including classic bands, sports bands, woven bands, and Horween leather bands. These accessories range from $29.95 to $49.95.

The Fitbit Charge 3 itself is available to pre-order today on Fitbit.com (and other retailers tomorrow) for $149.95 in black with a graphite aluminum case or blue gray with a rose gold aluminum case. The Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition with Fitbit Pay will cost $169.95. The tracker will officially launch in stores this October in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Article Link: Fitbit Announces 'Charge 3' Fitness Tracker Launching in October for $150
 

picaman

Cancelled
Oct 6, 2005
154
363
I went through three different Fitbits (my employer gives discounts on health insurance for using them). In my experience they are poorly built pieces of crapola. Wish my employer supported the Apple Watch, which never fails me.

Now I manually type my steps onto a website, rather than having to spend one more penny on their awful products.
 

CarpalMac

macrumors 68000
Nov 19, 2012
1,617
3,984
UK
Quite happy with my Charge HR 2. Certainly not going to praise their build quality and they should have at least offered the option of GPS with this new version but I love the fact that I can wear it guilt free in all environments, especially when racing where I quite like to get an idea of what my HR is doing. It goes where I won't dare to wear my Garmin Fenix.
 

n-evo

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2013
1,756
1,462
Amsterdam
I wanted to buy a Fitbit until I read they refuse to support HealthKit. I don’t feel like resorting to third-party apps or workarounds. So no deal.
 

DrumApple

macrumors 6502a
Jan 30, 2009
546
1,417
Are there any graphite/carbon fiber Apple Watch bands like the FitBit one in the middle?
 

gene731

macrumors 6502
Oct 28, 2015
407
423
My GAWD....they are still trying to hang in there?
One day they will realize the end is here. It took I think until Apple Watch S3 for Apple to get it close to right and my gosh, the number of people that have Apple Watches just seems to keep growing from what I can tell. You’ll see the Fitbit and some samsung watches but for the wearables I think Apple has pretty well got it nailed down.
 

manu chao

macrumors 604
Jul 30, 2003
7,219
3,031
Additionally, the company says that the Charge 3 has "the most advanced health and fitness features" on one of its trackers to date, including the addition of a relative SpO2 sensor that can estimate changes in blood oxygen levels to track new health indicators, like sleep apnea.
I cannot find any mention of a relative SpO2 sensor on Fitbit's website.
 

nburwell

macrumors 603
May 6, 2008
5,434
2,351
DE
One day they will realize the end is here. It took I think until Apple Watch S3 for Apple to get it close to right and my gosh, the number of people that have Apple Watches just seems to keep growing from what I can tell. You’ll see the Fitbit and some samsung watches but for the wearables I think Apple has pretty well got it nailed down.

Same experience that I have seen. I primarily see the vast majority of people wearing AW with a small population wearing Fitbit's. Few and far between do I see Samsung/Android wearable's.

Apple definitely knocked it out of the park with the AW.
 

knemonic

macrumors 6502a
Jan 14, 2009
682
153
One day they will realize the end is here. It took I think until Apple Watch S3 for Apple to get it close to right and my gosh, the number of people that have Apple Watches just seems to keep growing from what I can tell. You’ll see the Fitbit and some samsung watches but for the wearables I think Apple has pretty well got it nailed down.

My huge issue is battery life with the AW. I want to be able to wear it while I sleep (one of their big selling points), though the ideal time to charge is when you sleep. I think 7 days is the sweet spot so you can forgo one night of sleep tracking to charge it. Maybe Apple will get closer to this in September. (Wish Nokia/Withings would add 3rd party notifications to the steel hr as aesthetically it’s the most beautifully designed smartwatch ive seen and amazing battery life of 14 days, though I hear an update is coming soon).

The article mentions 3rd party notifications work on the charge2 (ie whatsapp, SmartThings, fb messenger, etc) but I was under the impression it does not? I had an Alta hr for a day and fitbit’s website (in their comparison tool) claimed it did 3rd party notifications, which I found it did not. So I’m curious if that’s accurate. Maybe the bigger screen on the 3 will accommodate that.

After buying vector and pebble, I’d like to think Fitbit will up their build quality, battery life and features, so maybe this is a good start.
 
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k2k koos

macrumors 6502a
I've had A Fitbit Charge, which was poor quality, and now on a Charge 2, which is a lot better. I can't afford an Apple Watch at this moment, but I have to say that the Fitbit app is a lot better for tracking workouts and registering it than what I've seen for the Apple Watch. A smart watch these certainly are not, but as a fitness tracker, they beat the Apple watch (in combination with the Fitbit App and website) at the moment, for a fraction of the price. I just wish that Fitbit would support Healthkit so my data can be shared with the health app... So either Fitbit does that, or Apple up their game and come up with decent Fitness tracking software like Fitbit...
 
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manu chao

macrumors 604
Jul 30, 2003
7,219
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I cannot find any mention of a relative SpO2 sensor on Fitbit's website.
Digging further it appears that the SpO2 sensor is mentioned on Fitbit's website in some countries and not in others. The same sensor already appeared in previous Fitbit products (Verso, I think also Ionic) as well as other products like the Apple Watch without its data having been available to the user using Fitbit's (or Apple's) software or to third-party developers via an API. Some have speculated that regulatory reasons in regard to medical devices are responsible for this delay or that these companies simply haven't found a reliable use for this sensor. Though Fitbit's mention of using the sensor to detect things like sleep apnea later this year indicates that it finally might be put to some use.
 
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