The Fitbit Charge 4 is official and, as revealed by Wareable, consists of GPS for the primary time – and places a renewed concentrate on coronary heart charge, health and exercises. It’s already obtainable for pre-order forward of a 15 April release date.
The Fitbit Charge collection has all the time been the Fitbit of selection for exercise followers, providing probably the most superior function set of any Fitbit exercise tracker – and typically receives innovative tech earlier than the corporate’s smartwatches, such because the Fitbit Versa 2.
From the pictures it doesn’t appear to be a lot has modified. Indeed, the physique of the Fitbit Charge 4 stays untouched from the Charge 3.
That’s not a unhealthy factor essentially – we’d have beloved to have seen a slimmer band or higher show, however Charge Three straps are nonetheless suitable with the new machine, so there needs to be loads of low-cost choices for customisation.
Fitbit Charge 4 – GPS and new options
So what has modified?
Adding GPS was high of our wishlist for new options, and we now have it. It’s now been added to the Charge 4, permitting customers to trace outside exercises with out the necessity for a paired smartphone.
GPS has, till now, been restricted to “specialist” Fitbit units such because the Fitbit Ionic and Surge – outliers within the firm’s vary – a watershed second for Fitbit and not earlier than time.
The Fitbit Charge 4 nonetheless has 5ATM water resistance, 7 days of battery life, coronary heart charge, VO2 Max monitoring, an SpO2 sensor that estimates blood oxygen variation.
But runners and HIITers on the market have way more to cheer about.
Active Zone Minutes debut
Fitbit has launched Active Zone Minutes, which use coronary heart charge zones and resting coronary heart charge data to raised reward actions. This will probably be unique to the Charge 4 for now, however will come to different units – possible the Versa vary – earlier than too lengthy.
The concept is to measure the center charge zone of your actions, and supply double the credit score if that exercise hits the cardio and peak zones. This ought to supply higher insights for people who get out for runs and health club lessons, which till now received the identical credit score for 30 minutes of burn as somebody taking a brisk stroll.
And it appears like Fitbit goes to place extra concentrate on coronary heart charge zones in post-workout evaluation. This appears a pure development, and may assist folks perceive and enhance from the sensors on their wrist.
“Active Zone Minutes is predicated on suggestions from main well being organizations, together with the World Health Organization and the NHS, which advocate getting 150 minutes of reasonable or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise every week.”
Spotify customers even have one thing to cheer about. There’s now Spotify Connect & Control, which primarily means customers of the streaming service will be capable to “play, skip and rewind your music, choose your favorite playlists, like songs, and seamlessly change throughout Spotify suitable units.”
Let’s be clear, that is NOT offline storage or syncing of music on the Charge 4. But it looks like an enhanced controller, which might require a paired smartphone to work. This is restricted to Spotify, so it doesn’t appear there are on-wrist controls for customers of Apple Music or Amazon Music.
The remainder of the on-device function set is just about the identical, however Fitbit did announce that the sensible wake function from the Fitbit Versa – which wakes you on the optimum a part of your sleep cycle – would arrive on Charge 4. However, that’s not current at launch.
NFC funds through Fitbit Pay are actually customary on Fitbit Charge 4 units, and you don’t want to purchase a particular version.
Fitbit Premium, which is now free for 90 days for these lockdown days, has additionally had a bunch of new exercises added – and there’s 40 free exercises as properly.
Fitbit Charge 4 – release date and worth
The Fitbit Charge 4 appears like a actually sensible replace, and lastly that is the highly effective health band that the Charge collection all the time promised to be.
The Fitbit Charge 4 will probably be priced at $149.99/£129.99 and will go on sale 15 April 2020. There will probably be a Special Edition ($179.99/£149.99) that features an unique granite reflective/black woven band and a further black sport band.
Leave a Reply