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Fitbit Archives - Best News https://aitesonics.com/category/fitbit/ Fri, 05 Apr 2024 09:03:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.4 Fitbit's radically redesigned app is ready for public consumption https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-radically-redesigned-app-is-ready-for-public-consumption-171433809/ https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-radically-redesigned-app-is-ready-for-public-consumption-171433809/#respond Fri, 05 Apr 2024 09:03:16 +0000 https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-radically-redesigned-app-is-ready-for-public-consumption-171433809/ Fitbit’s redesign is finally here. Google just announced that the comprehensive refresh starts rolling out today after existing as a beta build since August. The update simplifies the experience by splitting everything up into three tabs. There’s the Today tab, the Coach tab and the You tab, with each offering unique metrics and access to […]

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Fitbit’s redesign is finally here. Google just announced that the comprehensive refresh starts rolling out today after existing as a beta build since August. The update simplifies the experience by splitting everything up into three tabs. There’s the Today tab, the Coach tab and the You tab, with each offering unique metrics and access to activities.

The Today tab boasts a fully customizable set of daily stats and metrics for easy perusal. Though called “Today,” it also provides access to health trends over the past month or year. The Coach tab is all about motivation, with curated lists of mindfulness sessions, workouts and more. The You tab is where you access achievement badges and related progress metrics. Google says that all of this information is kept private and won’t be leveraged for ads data.

The refresh doesn’t change what’s free and what’s only available to paying subscribers, so your basic fitness flow will remain the same, but the app’s visual language is markedly different, and there are some new features. Google encourages Fitbit users to use the new app to track physical activity with or without a dedicated device, as the update improves integration with smartphone sensors for more accurate step counts. The company also touts new privacy controls and increased customization options within the Today tab.

The update begins a global launch today for both iOS and Android platforms. This is a major release, however, so it could take a few days before the redesigned app hits your inbox. The redesign couldn’t arrive at a better time, as Fitbit sunsetted a number of features earlier this year, including open groups, adventures and challenges. While these features haven’t exactly returned with this refresh, the Coach tab will feature daily challenges and scenarios similar to what was previously available, and the You tab provides access to achievement badges.

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Fitbit's $160 Charge 6 fitness tracker brings back the physical side button https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-160-charge-6-fitness-tracker-brings-back-the-physical-side-button-150028424/ https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-160-charge-6-fitness-tracker-brings-back-the-physical-side-button-150028424/#respond Fri, 05 Apr 2024 08:52:32 +0000 https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-160-charge-6-fitness-tracker-brings-back-the-physical-side-button-150028424/ It’s been nearly two years since Fitbit announced the Charge 5. But the company has taken that time to deepen its ties with the Google ecosystem, following Google’s $2.1 acquisition of it in 2021. The new Charge 6, announced today, is Fitbit’s first fitness tracker specifically designed to take advantage of its new owner’s services. […]

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It’s been nearly two years since Fitbit announced the Charge 5. But the company has taken that time to deepen its ties with the Google ecosystem, following Google’s $2.1 acquisition of it in 2021. The new Charge 6, announced today, is Fitbit’s first fitness tracker specifically designed to take advantage of its new owner’s services.

The sixth-generation Charge will start at $160, which is $20 less than the Charge 5’s launch price (though, that’s fallen to just $150 these days). The bigger news, though, is that the navigation button is back. After an earful of complaints from buyers, Fitbit decided to bring back the physical side button that it removed on the Charge 5. This means you will no longer solely rely on tapping to navigate the watch’s apps — a relief for those with touchscreen fatigue.

The Charge 6’s face is made of aluminum, glass and resin and comes in black, champagne gold or silver. Each face can be paired with three new primary silicone bands that are water-resistant — an off-white porcelain, a black-like obsidian and a bright coral band. The loops are interchangeable with previously released Charge 5 accessories, giving buyers dozens of color combinations to choose from. Like the previous generation, the bands come in both small and large sizes, and connect to the tracker’s 1.04-inch AMOLED touchscreen.

The Charge 6’s battery is supposed to last seven days without a charge, like its predecessor, and can be fully recharged in about two hours. In terms of memory capacity, the new wearable can save seven days worth of detailed motion data and can sample heart rate data at one-second intervals during exercise tracking.

One of the biggest improvements to the Charge 6, at least according to Fitbit, is that it should provide heart rate readings that are up to 60 percent more accurate than its predecessor through its optical heart rate monitor and electrical sensors during vigorous activities like HIIT, spinning and rowing. Fitbit claims that the Charge 6 is the most accurate heart rate tracker it has made to date. This means you will get more precise information about calories burned and Active Zone Minutes, a metric unique to Fitbit that uses heart rate data to provide clearer insights into how effective your workouts are.

Another new key feature on the Charge 6 is the ability to pair the tracker with compatible exercise machines to see how your heart rate performs in real time during workouts. This will allow you to focus more on your movement and less on your wrist while you are on a treadmill, elliptical, rower or exercise bike. The tracker will pair with select workout machines that support Bluetooth Heart Rate Profile, like those from Peloton, Tonal and Nordic that the company has established partnerships with. While it is notable, this is a feature we’ve seen on devices from competitors.

Additionally, Fitbit says the Charge 6’s tracking capabilities have expanded with 20 new exercise modes and it will continue to offer a six-month premium Fitbit membership to new buyers. This will include smart recommendations for workouts based on your Daily Readiness Score, which helps users figure out how hard to push it at the gym based on things like heart rate variability, sleep quality and stress levels.

Furthermore, as part of its software updates, Fitbit’s Charge 6 will now give you the option to stream and listen to music through YouTube Music Controls. Everyone knows good tunes can make all the difference during a workout. This is a considerable change from the Charge 5, which removed all music control functionality, even for Spotify Premium users. Now, you don’t need to pull out your phone to pick a song mid-run and you can skip through 100 million tracks that are available through YouTube. However, you will need to pay for a YouTube Music Premium subscription.

In addition to tracking your pace and distance during runs and bike rides with GPS, the Charge 6 can now give you directions if you’re trying out a new route thanks to Google Maps integration. This means you can see turn-by-turn directions right on your wrist. In the same vein of expanding Google integration, you can also tap to pay with Google Wallet on the Charge 6, when previously you could only use Fitbit pay. All of these updates come in tandem with the launch of Fitbit’s redesigned app, which simplifies engagement to three categories on the Today tab, the Coach tab, and the You tab, each offering unique metrics and access to activities.

The Fitbit Charge 6 will work with most phones running Android 9.0 or newer or iOS 15 or newer and it still requires a Google Account. You can still get notifications for calls, texts, and smartphone apps like Google Calendar, Gmail, and WhatsApp and also send quick replies from your wrist.

Fitbit Charge 6 Fitness Tracker

$160 at Amazon

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Fitbit is getting an AI chatbot that can tell you why your run sucked https://aitesonics.com/fitbit-is-getting-an-ai-chatbot-that-can-tell-you-why-your-run-sucked-151545663/ https://aitesonics.com/fitbit-is-getting-an-ai-chatbot-that-can-tell-you-why-your-run-sucked-151545663/#respond Fri, 05 Apr 2024 08:45:01 +0000 https://aitesonics.com/fitbit-is-getting-an-ai-chatbot-that-can-tell-you-why-your-run-sucked-151545663/ At the ‘Made by Google Event’ in New York, Google teased a new "generative AI" feature that will be built into the Fitbit app sometime next year as part of the Fibit Labs program. The app, which will pair with new wearables like the Google Pixel 2 Watch and the Fitbit Charge 6, will use […]

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At the ‘Made by Google Event’ in New York, Google teased a new "generative AI" feature that will be built into the Fitbit app sometime next year as part of the Fibit Labs program. The app, which will pair with new wearables like the Google Pixel 2 Watch and the Fitbit Charge 6, will use artificial intelligence to analyze trends in a wearer's fitness capabilities and be able to provide insights about overall performance.

The app will feature a chatbot that can carry a conversation to help you understand how you did during a tracked run, for example, while providing debriefed stats on the activity, like overall pace and elevation gain. The AI tool will take it a step further and be able to explain why you performed the way you did by drawing on affiliated health data, like sleep hygiene, recovery history and other workouts. If you felt that a workout was extra difficult, the app will be able to look for related info to explain why you might be struggling.

However, the insights are not limited to chatting with the AI. Google showed off its ability to provide visual feedback, like charts illustrating how performance changed over time.

Google's James Park, the former head of Fitbit, said the new generative AI feature will be trialed by "trusted testers" before it officially launches.

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Pixel Watch 2 review: Not leading the way, but no longer lagging https://aitesonics.com/pixel-watch-2-review-not-leading-the-way-but-no-longer-lagging-170007702/ https://aitesonics.com/pixel-watch-2-review-not-leading-the-way-but-no-longer-lagging-170007702/#respond Fri, 05 Apr 2024 08:40:42 +0000 https://aitesonics.com/pixel-watch-2-review-not-leading-the-way-but-no-longer-lagging-170007702/ Being stressed is not usually a good thing. But when you’re reviewing a high-profile smartwatch that touts stress-tracking as one of its most noteworthy new features, experiencing stress can be helpful. During the time I tested the Pixel Watch 2, I was going through a lot emotionally. I was maid of honor at our senior […]

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Being stressed is not usually a good thing. But when you’re reviewing a high-profile smartwatch that touts stress-tracking as one of its most noteworthy new features, experiencing stress can be helpful. During the time I tested the Pixel Watch 2, I was going through a lot emotionally. I was maid of honor at our senior commerce editor’s wedding, had a family funeral to think about and was getting updates on the results of my best friend’s cancer diagnosis. Add to that the frenzy of Google’s hardware launch event and a super tight deadline for this review, and my mental landscape became the perfect testing scenario for the Pixel Watch 2’s body-response sensor.

That’s not the only new feature Google is bringing to its sophomore smartwatch. The company also updated the heart rate sensor, added a skin-temperature sensor, made the case lighter and used a more powerful processor that should prolong battery life. Though the Pixel Watch 2 doesn’t look like a major upgrade on the outside, it promises some improvements that should make daily use meaningfully better.

Google79100

Google Pixel Watch 2

The Pixel Watch 2 is a definite improvement over its predecessor, but Google is still only closing the gap between its rivals

ProsIntriguing body-response sensorExcellent heart rate sensorImproved battery lifeBeautiful designConsSoftware quirksFitbit branding causes disconnectNo wireless chargingSyncing requires Wi-Fi$350 at Google

Pixel Watch 2: Design

As much as I adore the Pixel Watch 2’s round, shiny case and how it feels, one thing sticks out. Literally. The crown on the right side of the case juts out and is extremely easy to trigger when bending your hand backwards – I’ve already accidentally summoned the emergency SOS menu twice.

It also gets in the way when I’m working out, especially while doing push-ups or on a stationary bike. The solution for this is to adjust the watch so the screen is on the inside of your wrist, but even then I’ve accidentally pressed the knob once. To be fair, I also have to do this with the Apple Watch, especially the Ultra, but the dial on Google’s wearable just feels a bit more in the way.

Thankfully, the accidental pushes don’t happen often enough to completely ruin my workouts, and I otherwise love the Pixel Watch 2’s aesthetic. In the year since I reviewed the original, I’ve become more adept at swapping out bands using Google’s press-and-twist mechanism and can switch out the boring gray sport band I received for something nicer, like the slim black metal strap that I saw at the Pixel launch event.

On paper, the watch is five whole grams lighter than its predecessor, which had a stainless steel case. This year’s model is made from recycled aluminum, and I have yet to scratch or damage it. Though it uses a less durable material, the new Pixel Watch has an IP68 rating for dust- and water-resistance, as well as the same 5 ATM water (pressure) resistance as the original. Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Series 9 has similar parameters, with an IP6X rating (dust-resistance only) and the ability to withstand up to 50 meters of submersion in water. The lightest model of the Series 9 also weighs about a gram more than the Pixel Watch 2.

Like it did last year, Google only offers the Pixel Watch 2 in one size: 41mm. For my relatively petite wrist and decent eyesight, this felt adequate. I had little trouble aiming at onscreen buttons, but I imagine there are probably people who wish this came in a larger size.

A key part of the Pixel Watch 2’s updated design is on the underside of its case. It houses three new sensors — a multi-path heart rate reader, a skin temperature sensor and a continuous electrodermal activity (cEDA) sensor. The heart rate scanner is supposed to be more accurate since it has multiple diodes compared to a single LED in the middle. While I was initially concerned that that potentially meant increased contact with my wrist, which could be uncomfortable, I didn’t feel a noticeable difference.

Heart-rate and fitness tracking

The updated sensor array means the Pixel Watch 2 can track even more of your physiological data than before, like your overnight skin temperature and number of minutes a day you had a “body response.”

I’ll explain that latter term in a bit. But I want to point out that, because you need to wear the device to bed for at least three nights before you can get a body temperature measurement, I have yet to see a result. For one thing, I’ve been traveling over the weekend and forgot to bring the Pixel Watch 2’s charger, and on other nights I prioritized plugging the device so I could test it the next day. (I also hate wearing a watch to bed.)

With the new heart rate sensor, the Pixel Watch 2 is supposed to deliver more-accurate readings during vigorous activities, which should mean I’m getting a better report on my HIIT sessions.

I’ve been wearing the Pixel Watch 2 alongside the Apple Watch Series 9 to all my workouts this week, and they generally showed similar results. It’s worth mentioning that you still have to use the Fitbit app to view your stats from Google’s watch. On devices by Samsung and Apple, you’ll just use the native health apps. Oh, and a quick aside: The AI chatbot that Google showed off at its keynote last week won’t be available in the Fitbit app until 2024 at the earliest.

On the Pixel Watch itself, you’ll have to launch the Fitbit Exercise app or set up a tile to start a workout session. To see your data on your wrist, you’ll use the Fitbit Today app. I get that Fitbit doesn’t want to disappear into the Google ecosystem, but this still makes the Pixel Watch 2 feel a little disjointed compared to its competitors.

On my HIIT sessions, both Apple and Fitbit showed my duration and average heart rate as the exact same number. But they differed on stats like calories burned and how long I spent in each cardio zone. The Pixel Watch 2 tended to say I spent more time in “vigorous” and “moderate” ranges, while the Series 9 determined I hung out more in “Zone 1,” “Zone 3” and “Zone 4.” Apple clearly labels the number of beats per minute each of those zones include, while Fitbit doesn’t.

Based on my memory of these workouts (and how out of breath I felt), I think Apple’s calculations were more accurate. But these aren’t precise scientific devices and frankly this type of data is best used to look at your progress over time rather than for a snapshot of your performance in an individual session. I do appreciate that Apple automatically tracks and shows me my post-workout heart rate, since that metric is quite telling of my heart health.

One of the most glaring features missing on the original Pixel Watch was automatic workout start and stop prompts. While it would record your activities without you having to first launch them, Google’s debut smartwatch would not alert you if it had detected you had been, say, out brisk walking for a while. It also didn’t nudge you when you had stopped.

This year, the Pixel Watch 2 brings these reminders to start (and stop) for seven types of activities — walking, running, rowing, outdoor biking and more. It’s a very simple feature, but it brings me so much joy. The activity I track the most is the 20-minute trek to and from my gym, and I don’t always remember to start it when I head out. Having the reminder pop up when I’ve been walking for ten minutes is usually a relief, especially compared to the frustration I feel when I realize at my destination that I’d forgotten to launch the tracker.

New features: Stress and body-response management

Speaking of frustration, the feature I was most keen to check out this year was the body-response measurement system. Now, “body response” is sort of vague wording, but in this case it’s specifically referring to how your body reacts to stress. Using the cEDA sensor, the Pixel Watch 2 will look for physical signs of stress and prompt you to log your mood or take a walk when it detects these. Typically, cEDA sensors are looking for sudden changes in sweat levels, and Google takes that data, alongside your heart rate variability, to determine how stressed you might be.

In the few days I’ve worn the Pixel Watch 2, my stress levels have been fairly high. Like I mentioned before, I’ve encountered numerous moments of emotional intensity, and for the most part it seems like the device noticed about a third of them. For example, it registered that I had a body response at about 8:50 am on the morning of the wedding, which lines up with when the bridesmaids and I had to rush and finish getting dressed for photos. However, it didn’t notice my excitement when I got a message with some good news from my best friend about being in a relatively early stage of cancer. When it did detect a reaction, it usually served an alert about 15 to 30 minutes later, so I sometimes had to struggle to remember what caused my response.

When the Pixel Watch 2 notices one of these moments, it can prompt you to log your feelings or start a walk, as long as you’ve enabled the feature. The problem is, along with the generic “body response” wording, the results are hard to make sense of. First of all, when you’re looking back at your daily report in the Fitbit app, you’ll see in the “Body responses” section under “Stress and mindfulness” a number of minutes. Not the number of instances you were found to have been having a reaction, but a duration for all the emotions you logged that day.

So on Tuesday afternoon, all I see under “Body responses” is “5 minutes” and one mark on a horizontal scale showing 12 am on the left and 11:59 pm on the right. Tapping on that card brings up more details like a stress management score, number of mindful days and a weekly summary. Scrolling down shows me all the body responses logged in the previous days, and here I can see that Monday was particularly stressful, since I had 36 minutes of body responses that I had labeled as “frustrated.”

On days like Friday where I had logged different emotions, the app says I was “stressed then content.” It’s a tiny bit more useful than I had expected, and though I still find number of minutes to be a strange metric, I can see it being a handy reference when I’m comparing stressful days in future.

You can edit your logged moods via the app and add them to detected body responses that you maybe neglected to label in the moment. I encountered a strange quirk on Monday afternoon where, after I labeled what I was feeling on a bunch of body responses that had been registered on Friday, they showed up on the Fitbit Today dashboard on the watch as having been registered on Monday. It’s a bug that shouldn’t exist, especially when you consider that Fitbit’s been offering stress management tools since it launched the Sense smartwatch in 2020.

Google’s approach to tracking your emotional wellbeing is also slightly unsophisticated when compared to the option on watchOS 10. While Apple’s system doesn’t register changes in your body, it does offer more mood options for you to log. On the Pixel Watch 2, you can only choose from one of eight choices, like “Excited,” “Content,” or “Sad.” Meanwhile, you can choose from dozens of labels and varying intensities on an Apple Watch. I’ve found on at least two occasions that none of the eight words offered by Google fit what I was feeling, and went with, say, “worried” when it would have been more accurate to say I was feeling “unsettled.”

These are, however, issues that feel easy enough to fix via a software update in the future, and aren’t so major that they’d prevent me from recommending the watch. I’m encouraged to see more mainstream tech companies consider emotional and mental wellbeing as part of overall health, and giving users a convenient means to log their feelings will help people have more informed conversations with their therapists or healthcare professionals, too.

Performance and in use

Beyond the new sensors, the Pixel Watch 2 also has a new Snapdragon Wear 5100 processor that should be more responsive and power efficient. Swiping through the Wear OS 4 interface was a breeze and most stats displayed quickly. Using the smart home shortcut to turn my lamp off was satisfyingly convenient, and it reacted quite quickly.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my inbox load quickly in the Gmail app, and I have yet to struggle to read text on the screen. It’s mostly been cloudy these days, so I haven’t had an issue seeing what’s on the Pixel Watch 2’s AMOLED panel. It does go up to the same 1,000 nits as its predecessor, though it’s worth noting that the Apple Watch Series 9 can hit 2,000 nits.

The Google Assistant was slightly slow at noting what I was saying, especially compared to Siri on the Series 9, which processes on-device. I wish Google would make on-device Assistant processing available on its smartwatch soon. When I left my phones at home while going to the gym one day, Siri was still able to launch an outdoor walk workout while the Google Assistant was completely useless. Neither watch was set up with cellular connectivity, and they were both offline. I also had to laugh when I looked at the Fitbit app and saw it had recorded a 7-hour walk during which I apparently traveled just 0.9 miles.

This is what actually happened: I was on a fairly vigorous hike with some rowdy friends, racing each other up some hills, and I didn’t realize the Pixel Watch 2 was running out of juice. Before it died, though, it had recognized that I had been “walking” for a while and suggested I start tracking. I did, and shortly after that the watch conked out. It still had some power left, because tapping the screen aggressively would show the time and a red empty battery icon.

I believe it was probably still tracking the duration of my workout in the background but couldn’t log any other metric (like distance or steps). This is funny, since Google says your stats will be recorded up till the device dies, and then be uploaded and synced with the Fitbit app after it’s recharged and turned back on.

That’s another small gripe I have about the Pixel Watch 2 — for your data to show up in the smartphone app, you’ll have to be connected to the internet. It doesn’t matter if your devices are paired over Bluetooth. You’ll have to be online for the information to sync.

If you’re a Fitbit Premium subscriber (for $10 a month), you’ll be able to send emergency communications over LTE even if you don’t have a cellular plan for your watch or you’re not within range of your own provider. To be clear, this only works on the LTE model, not the Wi-Fi only version. This is particularly handy for the new Safety Check feature, which Google brought over from the Pixel phones. With it, you can select an activity like walking alone, hiking or going for a run. Then, start a timer for however long you think you’ll be out and confirm your emergency contacts.

When you are one minute away from the countdown ending, the watch will buzz and nudge you to end the timer. If you don’t, your contacts will get a selection of information that you can choose, including your live GPS location and whether you’ve called emergency services. You can also decide to alert them when your battery dies.

All of this is stuff you’ll have to set up in the Fitbit or Watch app on your phone, which brings me to another observation: I never really have to go deep into the Apple Watch’s settings to enable new, helpful features. With the Pixel Watch 2, I had to be sure to enable everything, even the reminders to start and stop workouts, which seemed like things that should be on by default anyway. This is pretty emblematic of the Android vs Apple experience, where the former is typically more involved, but is more customizable. You can add a tile to make your favorite functions easier to find, for example. Apple products, meanwhile, don’t require a lot of work out of the box, but you don’t have as much freedom to organize your apps.

It’s not really a criticism of the Pixel Watch 2, though I will point out that this year’s model comes with Always On Display enabled by default, whereas the original didn’t. Google was probably taken to task for not making this the primary setting out of the box, and it’s possible the company turns more features on by default in future. AOD activated makes so much more sense, but I understand the impact it has on battery life.

Battery life and charging

With its new processor and slightly larger battery, the Pixel Watch 2 is supposed to last 24 hours with the AOD enabled. I was pleased to see that when I took the watch off at the end of the day, it usually still had about 35 to 40 percent left. That’s enough to track your sleep at night, according to Google.

My concern is if I do opt to wear the watch to bed instead of charging it overnight, it might not juice up fast enough for my morning workouts. The Pixel Watch 2’s overhauled contact charging system is supposed to get you back to 100 percent in 75 minutes, which is a grand total of five minutes shorter than last year’s model.

That’s not a dramatic improvement, but thankfully I was able to get the watch from 29 to 44 percent in about 5 minutes, and that lasted me through two outdoor walks, a circuit training session and several workouts with heart-rate range and pace alerts enabled. By the time I was able to plug the watch back in after all that, I still had 21 percent left.

In general, the Pixel Watch 2 lasted almost as long as the Apple Watch Series 9 (41mm model), which means it’s closer to being on par with its main competitor. Of course, Samsung watches and other activity trackers tend to last longer, but Google has a higher pulse sampling rate of once every second. Sadly, like its predecessor, the Pixel Watch 2 doesn’t support wireless charging, so you can’t use your Pixel or Samsung handsets to share a bit of juice when you’re on the go.

Wrap-up

I’m conflicted. The Pixel Watch 2 is a definite improvement over its predecessor, and offers several unique features that set it apart from the competition. In particular, the stress management tools are things that rivals like Apple are yet to offer. Fitbit (or Google) continues to offer industry-leading heart rate measurements and insights, thanks to years of experience and expertise. But some software quirks and confusing data presentation get in the way.

With the Pixel Watch 2, Google is reducing the gap between it, Apple and Samsung on things like battery life, while giving itself an edge with its approach to measuring stress as part of wellbeing. It’s still far from being the best smartwatch around, but for Android users at least, it’s becoming more of a solid contender.

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Fitbit's Inspire 3 fitness tracker drops back to an all-time low of $70 https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-inspire-3-fitness-tracker-drops-back-to-an-all-time-low-of-70-162153884/ https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-inspire-3-fitness-tracker-drops-back-to-an-all-time-low-of-70-162153884/#respond Fri, 05 Apr 2024 07:05:36 +0000 https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-inspire-3-fitness-tracker-drops-back-to-an-all-time-low-of-70-162153884/ If you’re looking to buy a fitness tracker for the new year, a sale on Fitbit devices that kicked off earlier this week may be of interest. Chief among the discounts is the Fitbit Inspire 3, the top budget pick in our fitness tracker buying guide, down to $70 in multiple colors. That matches the […]

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If you’re looking to buy a fitness tracker for the new year, a sale on Fitbit devices that kicked off earlier this week may be of interest. Chief among the discounts is the Fitbit Inspire 3, the top budget pick in our fitness tracker buying guide, down to $70 in multiple colors. That matches the lowest price we’ve tracked. Fitbit normally sells the device for $100, though we’ve seen it fall $80 at several points in the past year. The sale is available at multiple retailers, including Amazon, Walmart and Fitbit’s online store.

Fitbit

Fitbit Inspire 3

$70$100Save $30

This matches the best price we’ve tracked for this recommendation from our fitness tracker buying guide.

$70 at AmazonExplore More Buying Options$70 at Target

The Inspire 3 is an entry-level fitness band with a simple interface and no built-in GPS, so it’s not ideal for dedicated runners or cyclists. (Instead, you’ll need to bring your phone with you to map runs and bike rides.) For more casual users who just want a dedicated device to log their everyday activity, however, it should be enough. It’s slim, light and easy to wear, and navigating its color OLED display is straightforward. Its step, sleep and heart rate tracking is relatively accurate, and it can detect various workouts automatically. Fitbit rates its battery life at 10 days per charge — you may not always reach that, but it’ll last longer than most smartwatches either way. The design is also water-resistant up to 50 meters, so it’ll be safe in the pool. And while there’s no support for contactless payments or digital assistants, it can still display basic smartphone notifications.

Fitbit’s app remains an uncomplicated way to view all your metrics after a recent makeover, though it did lose some longtime social features last year. New users will also need to log in with an account from Fitbit’s parent company Google. We wouldn’t be surprised to see more Google-related tweaks going forward, but for now, the Inspire 3 is still a good buy at this price for those who only need the essentials.

If you do have a little bit more to spend and want a Fitbit smartwatch, however, the Fitbit Versa 4 is also worth a look at $150. That one is bigger and gets less battery life but has built-in GPS and more of the smart features the Inspire 3 lacks. We’ve seen this price for much of the last few months, but it’s only $10 above the best deal we’ve tracked.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

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Google lays off hundreds of employees in its Assistant, hardware and other divisions https://aitesonics.com/google-lays-off-hundreds-of-employees-in-its-assistant-hardware-and-other-divisions-082540416/ https://aitesonics.com/google-lays-off-hundreds-of-employees-in-its-assistant-hardware-and-other-divisions-082540416/#respond Fri, 05 Apr 2024 06:52:16 +0000 https://aitesonics.com/google-lays-off-hundreds-of-employees-in-its-assistant-hardware-and-other-divisions-082540416/ Google laid off "several hundred" workers in multiple divisions on Wednesday in a new round of belt tightening, according to reports from The New York Times, 9to5Mac, Semafor and other news outlets. Divisions affected include hardware (Pixel, Nest and Fitbit), core engineering and Google Assistant. The cuts — which appear to be at least 600 […]

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Google laid off "several hundred" workers in multiple divisions on Wednesday in a new round of belt tightening, according to reports from The New York Times, 9to5Mac, Semafor and other news outlets. Divisions affected include hardware (Pixel, Nest and Fitbit), core engineering and Google Assistant. The cuts — which appear to be at least 600 but may be higher — are already effective and workers impacted have reportedly been informed.

"We’re responsibly investing in our company’s biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead," a Google spokesman told the NYT in a statement. "Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organizational changes, which include some role eliminations globally."

As part of the cuts, Google is said to be reorganizing its Pixel, Nest and Fitbit divisions, and Fitbit co-founders James Park, Eric Friedman and other leaders are leaving the company. The company will reportedly have one team responsible for hardware engineering across all three divisions.

"We’ve had to make some difficult decisions about ongoing employment of some Google employees and we regret to inform you that your position is being eliminated," the company told some employees in the core engineering division, according to a note seen by the NYT.

The company declined to respond to The Verge when asked if it reduced headcount in any other divisions — so the total number of layoffs isn't clear. Last year, Google made some of its largest job cuts ever, laying off around 12,000 people in January. As of late last year, the company employed 182,381 people, and counted 118,899 at the beginning of 2020, just ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That was part of a wider reduction in jobs across the industry in 2023, with over 220,000 layoffs during the year. Those came from larger companies like Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Spotify and Amazon, along with numerous small, medium-sized and startup firms. Engadget has reached out to Google for comment about the layoffs and will update the story if required.

On Friday, the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA issued a statement in response to Wednesday's layoffs:

"On Wednesday night, over a thousand Google workers were shocked to learn via email that they were being laid off. These firings are coming less than a year after Alphabet laid off 12,000 of our coworkers in 2023, and the terms of severance have only gotten worse. These layoffs are unnecessary and counterproductive. Alphabet says it is doing layoffs in the interest of efficiency, but we know the truth, because we see the real impacts. The layoffs introduce chaos and instability into the workplace and force workers to make do with less. The real reason for them is simple: corporate greed. In the last year, the company earned tens of billions in profit, held over $100 billion in cash reserves, and raised its stock by 40 percent. Executive pay has gone untouched, all while thousands of our coworkers have had their lives turned upside down and those that remain on the job work in constant anxiety that they will be next.

The only way to keep these layoffs from happening every January is if we as Google workers act together and build the power to stop them.”

Update, January 12 2024, 3:35PM ET: This story has been updated to add a statement from the Alphabet Workers Union in response to the layoffs.

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Fitbit’s health chatbot will arrive later this year https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-health-chatbot-will-arrive-later-this-year-210609008/ https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-health-chatbot-will-arrive-later-this-year-210609008/#respond Fri, 05 Apr 2024 05:22:21 +0000 https://aitesonics.com/fitbits-health-chatbot-will-arrive-later-this-year-210609008/ Like most other corners of the tech world, Google sees AI powering the next innovations in health technology. The company’s annual The Check Up event expanded on its plans to add a personal health chatbot to the Fitbit app, expand Google Lens for better skin condition searches and use a version of its Gemini chatbot […]

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Like most other corners of the tech world, Google sees AI powering the next innovations in health technology. The company’s annual The Check Up event expanded on its plans to add a personal health chatbot to the Fitbit app, expand Google Lens for better skin condition searches and use a version of its Gemini chatbot in the medical field.

One of the more intriguing of Google’s announcements on Tuesday was more detail about an experimental AI feature for Fitbit users, briefly teased last year. Fitbit Labs will let owners draw correlations and “connect the dots” from health data tracked using their wearable devices. A chatbot in the mobile app will let you ask questions in natural language and create personalized charts to learn about your health.

The company hasn’t yet gone into great depth about the Fitbit chatbot, but an example it published Tuesday shows a user asking about potential connections between activity and sleep. The Fitbit assistant answered that the user’s days with higher activity scores correlated with better sleep (while cautioning not to assume that’s the only reason).

The Fitbit generative AI tool will arrive later this year. Google says it will (at least initially) only be available to Fitbit Premium subscribers with Android devices enrolled in the Fitbit Labs program.

The company sees Google Lens as filling some healthcare gaps where text-based searches fall short. It says a feature (introduced last year) that uses Lens to identify “visually similar matches from the web” for skin conditions is now available in over 150 countries. It can work even when you don’t know where to begin when describing a dermatological disorder.

In a similar light, Google has added new images and diagrams to its web results from reputable online sources to help you understand conditions like neck pain. Up next: The company sees the visual results powering its searches for more health conditions, including migraines, kidney stones and pneumonia. The visual search engine updates are expected to roll out over the next few months.

The company also mentioned that Fitbit and Google Research are partnering with health and wellness experts and other medical professionals to create a new AI model for health and wellness. The long-term goal is for the Gemini-powered large language model (LLM) to power its future AI features across Google’s various health offerings.

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