Fitbit Charge, the next trendy smart health connected bracelet?

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World leader in bit Quantified Self ’Fitbit to be released soon two new smart health connected bracelets by the name of Charge and Charge HR. At least that's what the clichés obtained by Gizmodo magazine suggest. After being forced to withdraw the Fitbit Force from the market due to allergies, Fitbit was particularly discreet. A blog had just discovered three names that the brand had registered with the US Patent Institute: Charge, PurePulse and Surge. It’s finally the first name that would have been chosen for the next bracelet…

Fitbit Charge, copy of Force (nickel free)?

If Jawbone and Fitbit are slowly catching up with the competition from smart health connected watches, it would seem that the two are ready to do battle. According to the information retrieved by Gizmodo, The new Fitbit Charge would have a design quite similar to the Fitbit Force, with a screen that would display the data in real time (unlike the Flex or Jawbone UP24) on the bracelet. The latter would however be wider than the Flex (the pictures speak for themselves), which would certainly imply a heavier weight. So it would seem that the Fitbit Charge an improvement in Strength, with obviously less nickel to avoid skin reactions…

In terms of functionality, here is what we can note: the sensor will be able to measure the number of steps, the distance traveled, the altitude, the minutes of activity as well as sleep. The Fitbit Charge, on the other hand, would not be able to measure the heart rate, an indicator supported on the Pulse O2 from Withings or in many smart health connected watches. However, the Charge HR (HR for Heart Rate) will take this measure into account. It would thus be the first device in the Fitbit range to measure heart rate, a relevant indicator for regular athletes.

A screen to read the stats

On the screen, the user could not only see these statistics, but also the time or notifications from the smartphone (compatible with iOS or Android). It's the same principle as for its little brother, the Fitbit One which also has a screen. For this, it will be necessary that the phone is nearby to let pass a connection in Bluetooth 4.0. On the other hand, it would seem that the Healthkit compatibility is not for tomorrow, and that it will be necessary to wait before seeing the Fitbit Charge data sent to the Apple Health app.

We can also note the presence of a vibration system which allows to notify the user for messages received on the smartphone, or to use it as an alarm clock. This is already the case with many activity sensors such as the Jawbone UP24 or the Withings Pulse O2. A distinctive point of the device compared to its competitor Jawbone is the waterproofing: the Fitbit Charge should be but in itself, it's not really revolutionary. In any case, if Fitbit wants to look into the future with confidence in smart health connected watches, they will have to come up with more innovative products afterwards. We count on him to defend his number 1 place.

On the USPTO website, you can also see that Fitbit is currently working on new features such as the weather display or a GPS directly on the screen. In any case, it would seem that this data will not be available in the two smart health connected bracelets.

What prices for these Fitbit smart health connected bracelets?

The question everyone is waiting for: what could be the price of the Fitbit Charge and Charge HR? According to a Russian e-commerce site who would have already published the product sheet, the Charge would be sold for 7,500 rubles, or € 145. Charge HR would be sold for 9,000 rubles, or € 174. With these prices, it would be in the high range of the market, for characteristics which are not in themselves really revolutionary.

When we know that the Force was marketed for 119 €, we can doubt information from this site. The only point that could justify the revaluation of the price would be the battery, the duration of which has not yet leaked. The Fitbit Force was already autonomous for ten days, it will take the Charge to last at least a month to justify this price. But with a constantly lit screen and a heart rate sensor (for the Charge HR), we can doubt it…

The release date for the Fitbit Charge is not yet known, but the product should be released fairly realistically in the coming weeks. We will of course keep you informed of the specifications.

In the meantime, don't hesitate to tell us what you think of these new smart health connected bracelets.

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