Fitbit has always been focused on helping make everyone in the world healthier.

Millions of people around the globe use Fitbit every day — from checking how well they slept to doing a workout or mindfulness session in our app.

Now they have shared their next generation of Fitbit wearables that combine Fitbit’s health and wellness tools with the smarts of Google — Inspire 3, Versa 4 and Sense 2. These devices are even thinner and more comfortable, so you can wear them all day and night, and you don’t have to charge them every day.

Whether you’re focused on improving your mental health, gearing up to run a marathon, or starting a new health and wellness routine, you have a range of easy-to-use devices to choose from. By giving you information about your body that otherwise wouldn’t be top of mind, like your resting heart rate, oxygen saturation (SpO2), sleep trends and body’s responses to stressors, you can better understand how to manage your holistic health. Here’s a look at how each device can fit your needs.

First up is the Inspire 3. A fun, easy-to-use tracker that helps you stay on top of your health with 10 days of battery life. It’s a great entry-level device with a rich colour display that can track important metrics at our most accessible price point.

Fitbit’s Versa 4 is a more fitness-focused smartwatch that offers over 40 exercise modes, real-time stats, built-in GPS and Active Zone Minutes, plus Premium features like Daily Readiness Score to help you reach your activity goals – all with 6 days of battery life in a thinner and lighter design.

And lastly the Fitbit Sense 2 is their most advanced health-focused smartwatch with more than six days of battery life that helps you manage stress and track your heart health with sensors that can detect signs of atrial fibrillation through our ECG app and PPG algorithm (both FDA cleared and CE marked), heart rate variability, skin temperature and more. It also includes our new Body Response sensor, which measures cEDA for all-day stress management.

Fitbit’s newest offerings are just the start of how they aim to help you uncover information to improve your overall health and wellness.

With the Fitbit app, you can stay motivated and on track with weekly and longitudinal stats about your activity, heart health, sleep and stress. Plus you can log your hydration, menstrual health, mood, nutrition and glucose levels all in one place. Seeing all of your metrics together can help you better understand how the actions you take each day can impact your well-being and make better decisions for your daily life.

You’ll also access important health features, including Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications, which uses our photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor to assess your heart rhythm for signs of atrial fibrillation or AFib, for users 22 years or older with no known history of irregular heart rhythm. This feature has both FDA clearance and CE marking, and it’s compatible with a range of our heart-rate enabled devices.

Fitbit Premium, which is included with all new device purchases for six months, takes your experience even further with additions like Daily Readiness Score and Sleep Profile to dive deeper into your stats and progress, and over 1,000 workout and mindfulness sessions to keep your mind and body active.

The new Fitbit lineup will be releasing September 2022.

The post New Fitbits for 2022! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

As the smartphone industry took over globally for personal connectivity, smart wearables aligned becoming a multi-billion dollar industry in its own right.

Smart wearables mostly offer up similar functions delivered in varying ways. But only one is fully dedicated to you and your wellbeing. Only one is more than a smart device; Fitbit wearables.

Fitbit, a company that actually cares about their consumers, have already a quality lineup of smart health orientated wearables and have just released their Versa 2 smartwatch.

An improved version of last year’s Versa and Ionic devices, the Versa 2 is your personal trainer, coach, health adviser, wellbeing mentor and more that stays with you, uninterrupted for a full working week.

Boasting a five day battery life (I actually managed to get an entire week) the Fitbit Versa 2 seldom needs to be taken off.

With this, it means that the Versa 2 will accurately monitor your vitals, guide your fitness goals, keep your sleep stats in check (to an astounding granular-level) and act as a personal assistant for reminders and notifications, more indepth than any other smart wearable.

Not needing to remove the Versa 2 means that it keeps everything in check in real time for a longer duration retaining more accurately. No interruptions.

From the original Versa to Versa 2 the improvements are vast.

I do love the original Versa (and Ionic) but one small bugbear I had was that I did not always receive notifications from Apps on my iOS or Android device. Versa 2 does not have this problem, whatever you set to be notified on, it will, without delay or failure.

Keeping in the personal assistant space – there’s been another surprising addition that I’m totally stoked about; Alexa.

Ask anyone who has had a techie based convo with me, I’m always praising Amazon’s Alexa as an artificial intelligence assistant so in my professional and personal opinion Fitbit aligned with the right A.I.

A dedicated tactile button to the left of the 40mm high definition OLED watchface will activate Alexa.

The Fitbit Versa 2 has a built-in mic so you can ask Alexa your mind boggling questions and she will respond … albeit silently.

The Versa 2 does not have an internal speaker. This means that you cannot receive calls too well either.

The Versa 2 will notify of an incoming call – and you can swipe to answer it, but your smartphone needs to be within reach to actually speak to the human on the other end. There is also no built-in GPS.

I would’ve liked to seen both of these features as standard in this second Versa model which would make the device a stand-alone and an all-in-one.

Fitbit Versa 2 has its own Apps and can integrate with some third party ones. Connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth the Versa 2 can be controlled on your wrist with swipe menus. A big app feature for the Versa 2 is the Spotify integration. Dedicated to the music streaming service, Spotify can be controlled from your wrist excluding the need of your smartphone, if using a Bluetooth headset and near WiFi.

Fitbit have also rolled out Fitbit Pay and while this is still being undertaken by banks down under, it is another initiative by the health and wellbeing smart wearable company that cements themselves as serious players in the wearable tech marketplace.

The Fitbit App (iOS / Android) records your usage, sleeping, walking, breathing, heart health stats and beyond. Set up your own personal goals for exercise, add in your food and drink intake so that Fitbit can ascertain how your tracking as far as energy consumption. Trying to lose weight or gain it – Fitbit app will enable goals and remind you on how well you’re progressing.

Fitbit analyses to a micro level – truly making the wearable a spot on personal health assistant.

There has also been more depth added in to the sleep monitoring. Fitbit has collated data on 10.5 Billion nights of sleep. This is the largest database on sleeping habits and routines globally.

For example, New Zealander’s sleep an average of 7 hours and 56 minutes per night. This places Kiwi’s as the second highest ranking sleepers in the world.

However the stats on your Fitbit Versa 2 will record your REM, your deepest sleep, your light sleep, sleep routines, outputting how much ‘healthy’ sleep you have had.

Going for a nana nap in the afternoon for around one hour can have similar benefits as a longer night time sleep – but this is dependent on how you slept. The Fitbit Versa 2 is super ideal for those who are concerned whether they get enough rest, especially in the current world we live in where our attentions are so far spread and sleep times become shorter and shorter due to our life commitments.

If you are a restless sleeper or have trouble sleeping, Fitbit App and Versa 2 is also for you to try differing methods of falling asleep and tracking your rest (or lack of).

And for female Versa 2 owners, the app and the wearable will track ovulation and period cycles. Wanting to start a family, let Versa 2 help you with that.

At the time of the Fitbit Versa 2 release, Fitbit launched their subscription service.

For less than a healthy take-away lunch per month  you gain access to a world of like-minded Fitbit communities, user contributed trackings, routines, guides, fitness regimes and way more.

The subscription service is customised to you and similar to the free Fitbit Dashboard that you have on the Fitbit app, the paid service will offer up even more stats on your health and wellbeing, diet, goals and goal creation and sleep more detailed and comprehensive than you’d ever imagine.

I learned alot about my inner-wellbeing with the Ionic and Versa, but even more with the Versa 2.

The Fitbit Versa 2 is your companion. It’s a sleek looking, lighter than air, waterproof, smart wearable that can be customised (watch faces and straps).

For the younger to the older members of the family, friends or wider community, Versa 2 is designed for everyone and at a more than reasonable price point, undercutting all other smart wearable manufacturers.

Where other smart watch or wearable devices only give a vague and general overview, Versa 2 fully tells it like it is, in real-time.

Fitbit’s new smart wearable is designed for life. And like life itself, you do get out what you put in to it, though fair to say that with Versa 2, you get more.

The post Fitbit Versa 2 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Veterans of the smart wearables, Fitbit just announced the launch of Fitbit Versa 2, the next generation of its best-selling smartwatch, Fitbit Versa.

Versa 2 delivers a new precision-crafted swimproof design, includes innovative sleep features like Sleep Score and smart wake, and is packed with even more advanced health, fitness and smart features to elevate every moment. For next-level convenience, Versa 2 debuts an on-device microphone, which enables Fitbit’s first-ever Alexa smartwatch experience, along with a Spotify app that allows users to control their music and podcasts, and Fitbit Pay on all models. Coupled with even faster performance, thousands of apps and clock faces and a brighter, crisper display with an optional always-on mode Versa 2 is your 2/47 health and wellness companion – now with 5+ days battery life, at the same price as Versa.

“At Fitbit, we believe that health belongs to everyone and that people should not be priced out of having access to devices and features that can help them improve their health. That’s why we’ve designed Versa 2 to be a premium, full-featured and easy-to-use smartwatch at an accessible price point,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit. “Building on the success of our original bestselling Versa smartwatch, we believe the added value and innovation in Versa 2, with new features like Alexa, a Spotify app and advanced in-app and on-device sleep features, will bring more users into the smartwatch category, allowing them to unlock the benefits of better health.”

Sleep is critical to maintaining overall health and wellness, and when surveyed by Fitbit nearly two-thirds (64%) of participants list sleep as a very important health and fitness priority, but one-third of American adults do not get enough sleep on a regular basis.

Fitbit pioneered wearable sleep tracking more than 10 years ago, making information previously only available from a medical professional, widely accessible on the wrist. As a leader in tracked sleep, they have applied learnings from more than 10.5 billion nights of sleep tracked to innovate in this critical area of health, and the latest sleep features will not only help you better understand your sleep, but provide the features to help you improve it.

In addition to helping millions around the world better understand and improve their sleep, Fitbit continues to deliver the advanced health and fitness features that our users know and love. On Versa 2, these include: automatic activity tracking, PurePulse 24/7 heart rate tracking, 15+ goal-based exercise modes, connected GPS and water resistant up to 50 meters.

Alexa, can you help me get healthier?

Yes, Alexa can do that on Versa 2. Enabled by Fitbit’s first on-device microphone, Versa 2 is the first Fitbit smartwatch with Alexa Built-in, taking Alexa out of your home and onto your wrist to help support your active lifestyle, like starting a Fitbit Exercise on-wrist, finding the nearest gym, even learning the nutritional value of an avocado (in case you’re wondering, it’s 322). Alexa responds to voice commands on Versa 2 with discreet, silent on-screen text responses. With just a press of a button, speak into the microphone to use Alexa skills on Versa 2 for added convenience to anywhere you are. 

Alexa can also help with everyday tasks on-the-go, like setting alarms and timers, checking the local weather and news, controlling your smart home devices, and much more through the sound of your voice.

In addition to Alexa Built-in, Versa 2 comes with even more features to add convenience and ease to your day, like Fitbit Pay on all models, so you can make easy and secure wallet and phone-free payments at retailers and use to access seven transit systems worldwide, including New York MTA OMNY, TransLink in Vancouver, Transport for London (TfL), and Singapore Land Transport Authority.

Fitbit is also bringing the Spotify app experience to Versa 2, allowing Spotify Premium subscribers to control music and podcasts so you can find all-day motivation directly from your wrist. The Spotify app lets you control playback on-the-go, change playlists, like songs, and easily switch music output without skipping a beat. The ability to control Spotify adds even more music functionality to Fitbit for you to listen to your music for motivation. Additionally, Versa 2 has the ability to store and play 300+ songs from your personal music library, download Pandora stations, and add Deezer playlists.

To help simplify your life, Versa 2 offers all the essential smart features like smartphone notifications so you can view app, call, calendar and text notifications right from your wrist. If you have an Android phone, you can also use the new on-device microphone to reply to texts and notifications from the wrist. Plus, you can also choose from nearly 3,000 apps and clock faces to personalize the stats you see and access you need so everything is in one place, including the ability to choose up to five clock faces to store and switch between on the device.

Now packed with more advanced features, Versa 2 is also powered by a faster processor compared to Versa for better performance and seamless navigation. Plus, a larger AMOLED display delivers a superior experience with boosted viewability and crisper color, and enables an optional always-on display mode,26 which boasts a 2+ days battery life so you can easily check the time and see your stats during a workout without lifting your wrist or pressing a button.

Versa 2 is Fitbit’s most premium, modern smartwatch design yet. It is precision-crafted with subtle material, finish and form updates, giving the smartwatch an elevated, yet universal appeal. The watch is durable and water resistant up to 50 meters, yet lightweight and comfortable enough to wear all day and night with rounded edges and a curved case.

An anodized aluminum finish in a natural color palette gives a sophisticated, modern aesthetic to compliment any style or look and with the simplified onebutton design, Versa 2 has a sleek silhouette reminiscent of a classic timepiece. Applying design to style, Versa 2 Special Edition features a premium jacquard woven band in navy and pink with a copper rose aluminum case or smoke with a mist grey case, plus a contemporary colour-matched classic silicone band in navy and olive, respectively, for two chic styles in one. All special edition devices will also come with a free three-month trial of the Fitbit Premium membership for an elevated holistic health and fitness experience.

Versa 2 is available for presale today from select online retailers for $199.95 (USD) in black with a carbon case, petal with a copper rose aluminum case, and stone with a mist grey case; accessories range from $29.95-$99.95 (USD). In New Zealand, Versa 2 is available for $359.95 (NZD) and Special Edition is available for $399.95 (NZD) in navy and pink with a copper rose aluminum case and smoke with a mist grey case. Versa 2 will be available in stores worldwide beginning September 15th, 2019.

Two exclusive editions – emerald and plum, both with a copper rose case – will also be available this near release date, but only on Fitbits Official Website and select retailers.

The post Fitbit Launches Versa 2 appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The masters of fitness wearables, Fitbit recently released the Versa smartwatch.

Slightly before the Versa the Ionic launched, bigger, badder, more powerful and with a builtin GPS.

Similar to in appearance to most smartwatches the Ionic will connect to your smart device, Android or iOS (Apple) via Bluetooth  or Home wireless and will instantly begin recording your daily fitness regime which can be tracked and viewed in the Fitbit App on your phone.

Within the Fitbit App itself, you have full control over the input information of your daily food and liquid intakes, setting fitness goals and weight loss or weight gain targets.

Being a Personal Coach on your wrist the Fitbit Ionic is not always so reliant on your smart device.

Utilizing ‘Smart Track’ the builtin GPS records on the wearable your journey’s around town, or where ever you are, and when near your phone again it will send the data over to the APP. This enables you to see in real time your pace, distance traveled on the watch’s display. It will also keep note of elevation climbed, split times and a map of your route. It also means that you can keep your phone at home.

As with the amazing Versa, the Ionic has an astounding battery life. Giving up to 4 days before requiring a charge.

This does depend on your activities of course. The builtin 4GB of storage means that you can load music on to your Ionic and when paired with bluetooth headphones or earplugs you can listen to your workout or running / jogging playlists from your wrist.

If you choose to you can also stream music from the builtin Deezer function.

A recent update to the Fitbit smart wearables; Versa and Ionic has allowed for Android System notifications.

With Quick Response available for Messaging and taking calls from your wrist, the Android notifications make the Ionic an all rounder.

Almost. The Android Notification function does still need some work.

More often than not the Notifications will suddenly stop coming through. When checked, the Fitbit App on your phone is advising that you need to restart your device to continue receiving System notifications. At times, even after a device restart the notifications still do not always come through. So it is, at the moment, hit and miss and I’m sure it will be corrected with a future firmware update.

On the wrist, the Ionic is larger than it’s newer cousin the Versa. The Ionic has a rectangular frame with a 1.42″ inch touch screen at with 348 x 250 pixel resolution and with the added GPRS is just a smidgen heavier than the Versa.

Fitbit have done exceedingly well though, the Ionic is still light enough so that you almost forget that you are wearing it – until it vibrates to remind you that you have not been keeping up with your Fitness schedule, or that it’s time to stand if you have been sitting too long.

Fitbit as a company care about your health and wellbeing and they have built this in to their products. With the Ionic you can keep track of your sleeping patterns, your heart rate which can all be viewed in real and historical time.

Using ‘Pure Pulse’ the Ionic keeps an eye on your heart rate 24 / 7. Whatsmore the Ionic is also water resistant up to 50 meters so you can use it if swimming is a part of or is your chosen method of keeping fit.

The Fitbit Ionic is for the more astute and serious tech and fitness aficionados. It out performs any other smartwatch currently on the market, being that it has a GPS but can stay alive for up to 4 days use.

Built for exercise, it is rugged without being difficult to swap straps and you will find in the box two sets of silicon straps for small and large.

The Fitbit Ionic is not an accessory, it is a necessity. Whether you are already a fitness guru or someone who likes to go for leisurely walks, be informed, be encouraged and be wiser with wearing an Ionic.

The post Fitbit Ionic Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

A smart wearable you don’t even feel.

My first impression of the Fitbit Versa that I was given from FitBit New Zealand to review was how crazily light the smartwatch actually is.

And, it is a smartwatch, one that takes care and keeps check of your health. Literally.

The just released Fitbit Versa is a full sized watch, with interchangeable straps and customizable faces (via the Fitbit App).

Sure, you already own a smartwatch, why would you need another one?

The Fitbit Versa is more than a smartwatch. With it you are able to keep track of your BPM with indepth analysis to altering times of the day and activities. You can set up schedules and reminders for weight loss or weight gain, by entering in your proposed meals for the day and your hydration levels by adding consumption of liquids.

Set goals on a daily basis for your activity per hour. The Versa will send you notifications every hour (if you choose) to remind you keep active and how you are doing with your proposed schedule.

Having trouble sleeping, or feel as though you’re sleeping too much?

The Fitbit Versa intuitively knows when you are in ‘rest mode’. While your sleep and waking times can be manually entered in, the smartwatch will gain an insight in to your awake and asleep habits the more you wear it. You can check via the Fitbit App for both iOS and Android as to how well you slept and to the hour the times that you were restless.

The Versa is designed to be worn more than not.

The more you wear it, the more it will learn about you and your diet, your physical activities and rest cycles.

Being super light weight you can wear the Versa to bed – it’s like it’s not even there.

Fitbit have taken steed into their customer feedback and have created the Versa accordingly.

The Versa has an outstanding 4 day battery life and a full charge generally took around one hour.

Now, the Fitbit Versa has a little more to offer for the ladies.

Fitbit, as a company are serious about their customers wellbeing. This includes female menstrual cycles. By inputting your usual monthly cycle, the Versa will notify you when to prepare, keep track of your cycle and monitor your body throughout, and will also warn of anything it thinks maybe irregular or if the cycle is too short or too long and will help with those that are planning a family with ovulation, fertility times.

This also gives the wearer of the Versa a more detailed view of their menstruation time enabling them to notice anything for themselves aswell.

The App that you need to download on to your smartphone to use the Versa with has a multitude of functionality. Asides from the customization and wellbeing charts and monitors you can connect with other Fitbit users Globally and message one another your Goals, Achievements and general banter.

It’s also water resistant upto 50 meters and capable of music streaming and in Australia and most of the world – except New Zealand – you can use Fitbit Pay.

as a smartwatch Fitbit has it’s own interface and software;  Fitbit 2.0. Touchscreen and similar to Androids WatchOS in navigation and functionality, the Fitbit OS 2.0 is super smooth, and light weight with no lag that some smartwatches get laden with when swiping through Android’s WatchOS.

Currently though, what the Versa wont do, which those with a smartwatch will be used to, is to receive your email, message, social media and call notifications.

For Android this is coming real soon and for Apple devices some of that functionality will be released in time. Apple is, well, being Apple.

When this functionality is added, this will make the Versa your go to smartwatch for everything.

Compared to other smartwatches the price point of the Fitbit Versa is unbeatable and if you are serious about your health, fitness and overall wellbeing, then the Fitbit Versa is a necessary investment.

The post Fitbit Versa Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Fitbit, the global wearables brand, recently unvieled their Fitbit Versa, a modern, intuitive smartwatch at an approachable price.

Fitbit’s lightest smartwatch offers a comfortable design and a new dashboard that simplifies how you access your health and fitness data. Advanced health and fitness features like 24/7 heart rate tracking, onscreen workouts, and automatic sleep stages tracking meet smart features like quick replies on Android, wallet-free payments and on-device music – all with 4+ days battery life. 

Fitbit also announces new female health tracking to help women track their menstrual cycle, view holistic health data in one place, and better understand connections to their overall health. Female health tracking will be available on-device for Fitbit Versa and Fitbit Iconic users, and to all Fitbit app users starting in May 2018.

“As the wearables category continues to grow, Fitbit Versa fills a critical need in the market by delivering a beautifully designed, full-featured smartwatch that is easy to use at a very competitive price,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit. “Versa brings consumers the advanced health and fitness features Fitbit is known for, along with broad compatibility across mobile platforms and 4+ days battery life to provide users with a better picture of their overall health, making it stand out from any smartwatch available today.”

Versa launches with Fitbit OS 2.0 for the company’s smartwatches, including a new personalised dashboard that provides a more simplified, intuitive and holistic view of your health and fitness data, bringing the best of our mobile app to the wrist, including stats at a glance where you can see your daily and weekly health and fitness stats, historical activity, heart rate, and exercise summaries, action-oriented motivational messages, tips and tricks, and daily guidance – all on your wrist.

Further to that are reminders, celebrations, logging, insights, sleep summaries and social challenges, with prompts to take actions based on your data, coming later in 2018.

Versa also offers all the health and fitness features Fitbit users love most with 4+ days battery life.

The personalised fitness guidance enhances 24/7 PurePulse heart rate tracking, on-screen personal workouts from Fitbit Coach. 15+ Exercise Modes, Connected GPS, swim tracking with water resistance up to 50 meters, plus automatic activity and of course exercise tracking. 

Using Sleep Stages and Insights to see how well you’re sleeping and set a restful sleep schedule, and Cardio Fitness Level to see how fit you are; move more throughout the day with Reminders to Move. A relative SpO2 sensor opens the potential to track important health indicators in the future, such as sleep apnea.

Fitbit is also introducing female health tracking to help women understand how their menstrual cycle connects to their overall health. According to a recent Fitbit survey, 80% of women did not know how many phases are in a menstrual cycle and more than 70% were unable to correctly identify the average length of a cycle, demonstrating a lack of awareness about women’s health. Created for all Fitbit app users who identify themselves as female ages 13 and over, the feature lets you easily log your menstrual cycle data, and record symptoms like headaches, acne and cramps; helps you be more informed about your health and life planning, and, as needed, can help you show your doctor specific details for more personalised care. 

See dynamic cycle predictions for where you are in your cycle and when to expect your period using Fitbit’s new proprietary cycle algorithm that gets smarter over time the more you log; see where you are in your cycle at-a-glance on your wrist and view holistic data in one place to reveal connections between your cycle and other stats in the Fitbit app, such as activity, sleep and weight trends to better manage your activity and sleep needs during certain times of the month.

Learn more about the menstrual cycle, ovulation, fertility and common misconceptions with educational content on the Fitbit blog through the Fitbit app while joining other women through Groups in the Community tab of the Fitbit app for support around key topics like periods, birth control, trying to conceive, pregnancy, and perimenopause and menopause.

In the future, as the database of female health metrics grows this data may help enable Fitbit to deliver even more insights, such as how your cycle impacts your activity, sleep, weight and nutrition, and potentially how these things can affect your cycle.

“Female health tracking will empower women with a greater understanding of their menstrual cycles in conjunction with their physical and mental health, as they start to recognise what are normal trends over time versus what could be an issue to share with their doctor,” said Dr. Katharine White, MD MPH, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston University School of Medicine and Fitbit Advisor. “The nuances of the menstrual cycle have not been as widely studied across populations as have other areas in healthcare. This exciting development by Fitbit could help potentially create one of the largest databases of menstrual health metrics in the world, providing healthcare and research professionals with an unprecedented ability to study menstrual cycles and women’s health with real world data.”

Our lightest, most approachable watch yet, Versa is comfortable, durable and versatile enough for all-day and night wear. It features an ultra-thin, anodized aluminum case and is slightly tapered and angled in its design to fit small or large wrists. The rounded square silhouette display features a bright, colorful touchscreen and sharp graphics up to 1,000 nits, providing the ideal format to see all of your data on your wrist.

Versa offers a variety of stylish accessories so you can change your look based on your outfit or activity.

Aswell as being a necessary device for your personal wellbeing, Fitbit’s Versa offers a range of smart features to help you manage your day and quickly get the information you need most. 

View app, call, calendar, and text notifications from your smartphone, right on your wrist. Android phone users can send quick pre-populated or customisable replies to text messages and messenger apps (coming soon).

Listen to phone-free music anywhere using Bluetooth headphones like Fitbit Flyer, including 300+ songs from your personal music collection and now your own or curated playlists as well as Flow from Deezer.

Similar to Android Pay, you can leave your wallet at home and easily pay in any store where contactless payments are accepted with Fitbit Pay, supported by nearly 40 banks in 14 countries including Australia and Singapore, through American Express, Mastercard and Visa networks, with more countries and banks rolling out in 2018.

Personalise your device by choosing from a wide range of apps and clock faces in the Fitbit App Gallery, including those from Fitbit, Fitbit Labs, and popular apps like Strava and Weather. The Fitbit App Gallery has more than 550 apps and clock faces available today, many of which developers are working to make available to Versa users soon. 

An R&D initiative introduced last year focused on accelerating innovation and driving behavior change, Fitbit Labs is introducing a New Parent app to help parents more easily stay on top of their baby’s schedule. By logging their infant’s feedings, diaper changes and sleep, plus their own mood, all from their wrist, new parents can better understand the connections between their sleep and mood, and, over time, help build a healthy routine for themselves and their baby.

Versa is compatible across Android, iOS and Windows devices so you can use most smartphones.

“We are thrilled to offer Fitbit’s global smartwatch community convenient and easy access to the music they want to help them stay motivated on their fitness journey,” said Riad Hawa, Global VP of Hardware Partnerships at Deezer. “With this partnership, we’ve made it easier to have relevant and fresh music on your wrist with Flow, a personalised soundtrack, and a wide selection of playlists – all without having to bring your phone when you’re exercising.”

Versa’s new software features are part of the latest Fitbit OS update, the operating system for Fitbit smartwatches. This software update will also be available for Ionic users.

For those interested in developing for the Fitbit OS, Fitbit is also launching its first online simulator.

This will allow you to easily build and deploy apps and clock faces for Ionic and Versa, without requiring a device of your own. By developing for multiple devices, you can increase the visibility of your app to reach Fitbit’s global, established health and fitness community.

Fitbit Versa is now available on the Official Fitbit site and select retailers for $349.95 NZD in black with a black aluminum case, gray with a silver aluminum case, or peach with a rose gold aluminum case. Fitbit Versa Special Edition retails for $389.95 NZD and accessories range from $49.95 NZD to $159.95 NZD. 

With the introduction of Versa, Fitbit expands its smartwatch offerings, providing consumers with greater choice across its product lineup of trackers and watches, and positioning the company to capture greater share of the overall wearables category.

According to IDC, the worldwide wearables market is set to nearly double by 2021, with watches driving this growth in the long term.

The post Fitbit Introduces Fitbit Versa, the Smartwatch for All appeared first on Shane the Gamer.