Fitbit Ionic and Fitbit Flyer First Thoughts
I dont know who at fitbit thought it would be a good idea to announce a Bunch of new products the day after the season finally of Game Of Thrones… But Fitbit just unveiled their New Fitbit Ionic Smart Watch, Their first pair of wireless earphones the Fitbit Flyer, and their new Aria 2 smart scale. And I started wondering how will Fitbit’s new smart watch and earphones compare to their direct competitors the Apple watch series 2 and jaybird X3’s. Don't forget to like comment and subscribe and comment down below if you're interested in either of fitbit’s new products. Or comment down below with your favorite part of game of thrones season 7.
Ok… Fitbit Ionic, this thing has been leaked so many times that it was only a matter of time they finally announced it. This is basically a much better looking Fitbit Blaze with a touchscreen LCD on the front that will get significantly brighter so its easier to see in direct sunlight. To start its going to come in 3 different colors charcoal and smoke gray, slate blue and burnt orange and blue gray and silver gray. The Fitbit Ionic has quick release bands and its going to retail for $299.95. The Fitbit Ionic is going to come included with your classic fitbit silicon wrist band but you will also be able to get a Perforated sport band for $29.95 or a Perforated leather band for $59.95. And just like how apple teamed up with Nike to release a nike addition of the Apple watch, Fitbit teamed up with Adidas to bring you an Adidas edition Fitbit ionic. I'm guessing its going to have an exclusive wrist band and some extra software or skins.
Now I'm going to run down the tech specs and new features that really matter. For starters its supposed to have a multi day battery life of 4 days and a GPS battery life of 10 hours. Speaking of GPS, it has a built in GPS so you can go running without your phone. The Fitbit Ionic can also store 300 songs and pair directly to your wireless earphones via bluetooth 4.0. And the Fitbit ionic can also play music from Pandora. The Fitbit Ionic is also using a new heart rate monitoring sensor they are calling the “Triwave Color Sensor”. It basically uses a combination of red, green and inferred lights to detect your heart rate. And its water resistant up to 50 meters so you can go swimming with it and it will track your laps. The Fitbit Ionic will also play nice with most mobile devices, so if youre using an iPhone, Android, or Windows phone they should be able to work just fine. Fitbit will also be launching an App store so you can down load third party apps and new watch faces to the Fitbit Ionic and it also has a built in NFC chip so you can do payments straight from your wrist. And just like any other smart watch will be able to get phone notifications and do certain tasks straight from your wrist. And just like all other Fitbit Devices, the Fitbit Ionic will pair to Fitbit’s mobile app which is arguably the best and simplest fitness tracking app on the market. And for those wondering as of right now it seems like the Fitbit Ionic WON’T have wireless charging.
Now lets talk about the Fitbit Flyers. I did not see this coming, but these are Fitbit’s first wireless earphones. They are going to come in two color ways Lunar gray and night fall blue and they are going to retail for $129.95. They are pretty standard when it comes to sport wireless earphones. they are going to be sweat proof, they are going to come with multiple pairs of ear tips, wings and fins, they are going to have a 6 hour battery life and they are supposed to be very low profile so you can wear them even when you have a helmet on. And they're supposed to have quick charging so 15 minutes should get you an hour of playback.
But the Fitbit Flyers sound like a direct copy of the Jaybird X3 which cost the same or routinely go on sale on amazon for $99. And looking at the specs the X3 already have a leg up cause they have an 8 hour battery life while the flyers are supposed to have a 6 hour battery life. The Fitbit Flyers claim to have superior components and Superior Sound quality but every company does. The Fitbit Flyer is just another entry to a highly saturated market of wireless earphones. Reading off the spec sheet isn't going to help you make a purchase decision, so keep an eye out for a Jaybird X3 Vs Fitbit Flyer video in the future. I would have been very impressed with the Fitbit Flyers if they had a built in heart rate monitor like the JBL Under Armor Sport Wireless Heart Rate. i really liked those but they didn't sound too good.
Now is the Fitbit ionic going to be an Apple watch killer? No, I think the Fitbit ionic is going to be a better smart watch option for fitness focused people or people who are already heavily invested in the fitbit ECO system. I just want to see if Fitbit Acquiring pebble paid off. And right now the Fitbit Ionic is cheaper than the 38 mm apple watch series two, but that could change after apple’s Keynote in september. They could announce an Apple watch series 3 and put the Apple Watch series 2 on sale for less than then Fitbit Ionic.
Everything Fitbit Announced should start shipping in october and is already up for pre order. But personally I wouldn't run out and make a pre order just yet. We’ve got apple’s keynote to look forward to and the IFA convention in Europe is about to kick off. So we can see announcements from the likes of Samsung, Sony, and LG. But comment down below, is the Fitbit Ionic you're perfect Fitbit Smart watch or what would you have done differently.