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Razer delays Nabu wearable launch to avoid Fitbit-like skin complaints
Razer's Nabu wearable won't launch until late May or early June, according to various developers who've received an email regarding the delay. The "smart band," which took home our People's Choice Award at CES this year, was originally supposed to be available by the end of March. According to said email, Razer's in council with "medical professionals" and running "stringent tests to ensure Nabu is fully certified hypoallergenic" before it reaches consumers. This is obviously a reaction to Fitbit's recent problems with its Force fitness tracker, which had to be recalled after thousands of reports of rashes and other skin troubles by its users. Whether Razer's just trying to make the best product possible or simply wants to avoid a PR disaster is irrelevant, we guess, as long as wrists are safe. It begs the question, though: shouldn't such tests have been factored into wearable development as part of reasonable due diligence, rather than just an afterthought? [Thanks, irawrr!]
Fitbit sees the future of wearables in advanced sensors, is still investigating skin irritation complaints
"We want to get to the point where we're trying to launch all our products globally," explains Fitbit founder and CEO James Park, when quizzed on why the company was in Japan, expanding the availability of the Fitbit Flex -- a year-old device that possibly should have been surpassed by the recently withdrawn Force. In the increasingly lucrative field of fitness wearables, Fitbit wants expand its presence in Asia, and this time that includes a new calorie-counting food database dedicated to what's found in a typical Japanese diet, alongside an expanded color range that will total eight different options. Problem-solving aside, the CEO also mentioned the company is already at work on what's next -- and it's unlikely to be a mere lifelogging app or a camera on the strap.
Fitbit has received nearly 10,000 reports of skin irritation from Force owners
Fitbit kicked off a refund program last month after learning its Force activity tracker caused skin irritation in a "small percentage" of users, and now we're finally getting a better sense of the situation. According to the official recall notice from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the company received around 9,900 reports of skin irritation and around 250 reports of blistering. The notice also points out that the recall affects about 1 million of the wearables in the United States and about 28,000 more in Canada. So what happens next? Well, the CPSC's stance is clear: contact the company and take the money.
Fitbit halts sales of the Force fitness tracker due to skin-irritation issues, recalls existing units
Get a rash from the Fitbit Force? You're not alone. Turns out, the fitness band has been causing lots of people skin irritation. So many, in fact, that the company is halting sales of the product, and has issued a voluntary recall for units already sold. In a statement (embedded after the break), the company said that a small number of users have been affected, and that it decided to stop sales after consulting with "independent labs and medical experts." All told, Fitbit will refund users the full retail value if they decide to turn their band in -- just like Jawbone did when it turned out the original Up band was defective. For now, if you're in the market for a fitness tracker, we suggest you instead look into the Jawbone Up24 or the Nike+ FuelBand SE. As for Fitbit, you can still buy the Flex, which has a similar wristband form factor. In addition, a company rep said Fitbit is already working on a next-gen device, but we've no word on when that will come out -- or if it will fix the skin-irritation problem.
Fitbit Force review: a wrist-worn pedometer with smartwatch aspirations
When you're Fitbit, a fitness gadget maker at the top of its game, there's always the difficult question of what comes next. The answer, at least for this company, was to take its successful Flex band, and push it into smartwatch territory (if only barely). The Force keeps the same basic design and feature set, but adds a few new flourishes, like a proper screen and an altimeter. In doing so, it also nudged the price up to $130. On paper, it sounds like a recipe for success. But if you've ever bought a high-end gadget, only to have the experience ruined by a single shortcoming (say a tiny, non-removable battery), you know that what works on paper doesn't necessarily work in real life. So, the question isn't whether Fitbit can succeed (we know it can); it's whether it inadvertently screwed up its new fitness tracker. The answer is a bit complicated.
Hands-on with the Fitbit Force activity tracker
When it comes to the "connected self" activity tracker market, Fitbit has been around for what seems to be an eternity -- two years. In 2011, the company unveiled its first tracker, the Fitbit Ultra, and they've been innovating with new and more sophisticated activity trackers ever since. The latest design evolution is the Fitbit Force (US$129.95), a sleek wristband that captures activity and sleep information. The Device While the original Ultra was a tiny clip-on monitor with an OLED display, the Force is a wristband model. That wristband is made of a durable silicone material, and it is so light that the Force is really unobtrusive. Unlike a wristwatch, you can't really feel the Force on your wrist so you'll want to wear it all the time. While it's water-resistant, Fitbit recommends taking it off when you take a shower or go swimming. Like the original Ultra, there's just one button on the Force. With a push it displays the current time in your choice of formats, the number of steps you've taken so far today (along with a thermometer-like line showing your progress to your daily goal), the distance you've walked, how many calories have been burned, how many flights of stairs you've climbed, and the active time you've spent during the day. There's also an indicator for alarms, which I'll talk about later. Back in the old days with the Fitbit Ultra, I was constantly frustrated with the syncing method to move data from the device to the cloud. That old model had a tiny dock that you had to clip the Ultra onto for charging; that dock connected to your computer via USB, and any time you were near the dock the Ultra and dock synced. In reality, it didn't work that well a lot of the time. What's great is that the Fitbit Force really doesn't need that computer connection anymore, as it's perfectly happy connecting directly to your iPhone or iPad over Bluetooth LE. You can set up the device through your computer; all of the setup instructions are found on the Fitbit website and you download software that's appropriate to your device. The Mac app for the Force is also used for the Fitbit Flex, One and Zip devices. So you do need to plug in a small, easily lost USB dongle during setup, but it can be removed from your computer or hub as soon as you're done. Before doing anything, you'll need to charge up the Force. I was unhappy to find that Fitbit chose to use a proprietary charging cable, although I'm sure that there were some design constraints that led to this. Use of a standard -- like the ubiquitous micro-USB cable -- would have been nice. It also turns out that this proprietary plug can be plugged in upside-down, which I found out after unsuccessfully trying to charge the Force for four hours before turning the plug over... On the plus side, battery life seems to be stellar with the Fitbit Force. After wearing the device for eight days, it still has more than half a charge so it appears that one might be able to go for two weeks without charging. Design-wise, I like the understated look of the Force. It's a slender black (or slate) strap, not emblazoned with bright LEDs, and all in all quite futuristic-looking. The band straps onto your wrist securely with two small studs that go into holes on the strap, and it's easy to put on and take off. One feature of the Force that I love is the built-in vibration alert. With other activity trackers it's quite common to have to actually look at the screen to indicate that you're starting an activity or going to sleep. Not so with the Force -- you just push and hold the button until you feel the device vibrate, and you know it's ready to go. The same vibration feature works when stopping the timer as well. As if that's not cool enough, the Force vibrates when you reach your step goal for the day, and you can also use it with the app as a silent alarm. Fitbit notes that with an upcoming firmware update, you'll also be able to get call notifications from an iOS 7 iPhone 4S and higher smartphone. That should be very useful, providing a physical alert if your phone is nearby and you have the ringer shut off. The App The Fitbit team has obviously been quite busy behind the scenes, as the app has been updated to not only provide an iOS 7 flat design, but provide control and monitoring of the features of the Force and other monitors. The app is quite colorful, starting the day with all indicators in a teal color, but then changing the colors to yellow, red or green depending on how close you are to reaching a specific goal. Steps are tracked and converted into miles or kilometers walked. There's an indicator for how many flights of stairs you've clmbed, and a calculation of how many calories you've burned based on your base metabolism and activity. If you're tracking your weight either manually or automatically, your current weight, percent body fat, and pounds to go to reach your weight goal are displayed in the app. Sleep is tracked, and an indication of how many times you awoke or were restless is visible. Should you want to use the Fitbit app to track the number of calories you consume, you can enter each item you eat or drink into the app and get a calculation of just how many calories are still available to you. There's even a way to track the amount of water you drink each day. Fitbit is quite into the social sharing of your goals and steps, so there's a tab in the app that shows you how many steps your friends have taken during the past seven days and just where you stand in the ranking. I'm still trying to figure out how Scott McNulty manages to rack up about three times the number of steps that I do... The account screen in the app allows you to set up a new Fitbit device, set fitness goals, find out when the device last synced (it usually syncs every time you open the app), set those silent alarms I love so much, and set up social network sharing. One other thing: if you happen to be sitting at a computer, you can log into the Fitbit website and get the same information or change settings. As with the app, the website uses the teal color scheme and levels change color as you near or surpass a goal. Conclusion In the increasingly crowded activity tracker market, Fitbit has not only created a range of devices of various prices (US$60 to $130) and capabilities, but has kept pace with the competition by developing the Force. Through its sleek design, Bluetooth LE integration with iOS devices, and well-established ecosystem of data-sharing partners, this is a Force to be reckoned with. Pros Setup is straightforward and fast Firmware update will soon allow incoming call notifications from an iPhone on the device Nice design, very comfortable to wear all the time Water resistant App is iOS 7-friendly and very usable, as well as providing detailed statistics on every aspect of your fitness Built-in vibration alert enables eyes-free setting of sleep or activity modes, provides notification of goal achievement Long battery life Cons Proprietary charger cable Who is it for? Anyone who is interested in keeping track of achieving fitness goals but is tired of clip-on monitors
Daily Roundup: Fitbit Force fitness watch, Twitter's Event Parrot, Pantech Vega Secret Note and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Fitbit Force fitness and sleep tracking watch officially announced, launching soon for $130
Well, Fitbit had a little trouble keeping the wraps on its Force activity tracking watch. But the company is ready to officially unveil its latest wearable and plans to launch it in the coming weeks for $129.95. The Force borrows heavily from the aesthetic successes of the Flex, with its clean rubberized design and small dark display. That display, though, is where it sets itself apart from its more affordable predecessor. The Force is able to deliver detailed tracking information -- not just represent your steps as dots -- like the time and even (pending a firmware update) caller ID information when paired with an iPhone 4s or newer running iOS 7. Despite including an OLED screen and adding an altimeter to the mix to track how many steps you've climbed, like the One, Fitbit still claims the Force can last up to ten days on a single charge. Of course, we'll put that claim to the test when we get our hands on a review unit. Otherwise, you're looking at all the same features you've come to know and possibly love from Fitbit products: it counts steps, tracks the quality of your sleep, has a silent alarm and syncs wirelessly via Bluetooth 4.0. The only question that remains is when exactly you'll be able to buy your own. The press release (embedded after the break) simply says you'll be able to buy it through Fitbit's online shop in "two-three weeks."
Fitbit to launch new 'Force' fitness and sleep-tracking watch
Not content with its current range of fitness wearables, Fitbit is set to unveil an updated version of its Flex tracking device called the Fitbit Force. As spotted by The Verge, the Force will introduce a number of features that were omitted from the Flex but are present in its popular One tracker clip. One such feature is an altimeter that calculates your current altitude and the number of steps you have climbed over a 24-hour period. The second is that the Force will offer a digital watch face, effectively turning it into a fitness-focused smartwatch. This feature will give it an edge over some of its wearable rivals -- most notably the Jawbone Up. Although Fitbit has yet to announce its new product, the company has been taking steps to update its website, uploading a sizing guide for black and slate models of the wristband, as well as early listings for replacement clasps (which have since been removed). We were able to access some of Fitbit's promotional material, which highlights the Force's different measurements metrics, and have included some of them in the gallery below. Apparently the Force will be priced at $129.95, $30 more than the Flex, when it goes on sale -- but when that is, only time will tell.
