Fitbit Force
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Government working with Fitbit to recall rash-inducing sportsbands
Fitbit quickly issued a voluntary recall for its Force sportsbands, even though it has yet to pinpoint the exact component that can trigger contact dermatitis. We may soon find out, though, since the firm is working with the Consumer Products Safety Commission to shed more light on the situation. To be fair, Fitbit's execs haven't been sitting on their hands -- they've been running tests and have results showing no problem with the device's battery or electrical system. As Consumerist notes, the government agency usually accompanies recalls with detailed reports, so this development could help us find out what actually went down. We might finally know not only what the rogue component(s) is -- if it's the nickel in the stainless steel, a material/adhesive used in the device's band or something else altogether -- but also how many users were affected. Fitbit hasn't notified all Force users of the issue yet, but promises to email everyone after finalizing its recall plan with the CPSC.
How the iPhone 5s measures up as a fitness tracker
For the past month, I've been conducting an experiment to see how the iPhone 5s with its M7 motion coprocessor functions as a fitness tracker. I've been in the enviable position of being able to compare the 5s to two of the latest-generation hardware fitness trackers -- a Jawbone Up24 and a Fitbit Force. For a month, I used the iPhone 5s along with these fitness trackers when I was exercising, going about my daily routine and sleeping. As a secondary test, I've also removed all the fitness trackers from my wrist to see how the iPhone would perform alone as my sole fitness tracker. Walking, Running and Other Exercises I have to admit that going into the experiment I expected the iPhone 5s to be sub-par when it came to motion tracking. How could this phone, which is designed to do so many things, be able to compete with a device dedicated to tracking your movement? I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised at how accurately the iPhone tracked my motion. Whether I was walking, running or hiking, the iPhone 5s in an arm band or in my pocket was on par with the Jawbone Up24 and the Fitbit Force. Step counts and calculated mileage on the iPhone 5s were surprisingly close to the fitness trackers. You can see how well the iPhone 5s performed in the tables below. These values are the averages taken from a month of logged exercise sessions. On average, I walk four to five days a week at a treadmill desk and run three to four days a week on a treadmill. When assessing these devices, I have to admit that I'm not a mileage junkie that needs my fitness tracker to be accurate down to a tenth of a mile. I was not upset if my trackers measured 2.8 miles when I actually ran 3.0 miles. I prefer ballpark figures so I can get a general overview of my activity level, I don't need my mileage to be exact. Across the board, all two trackers and the iPhone 5s were great for these ballpark figures, not so great it you wanted accurate measurements. If you want reliable and accurate measurements, especially when you are running outside, you should use a GPS solution like Runkeeper or manually enter in your activities into your fitness app of choice. Daily Routine Whether it's doing yard work, sweeping the floors or getting the laundry in the basement, you'd be surprised at how much activity you perform during your daily routine. Because the fitness trackers are always strapped to your wrist, they do an excellent job of capturing the motion that contributes to your activity level, but is not dedicated exercise. It's in this area that the iPhone 5s is lacking. Even though it will track this "around the house" motion, you have to remember to strap on your iPhone all the time. Though I remember to place my iPhone in an arm band when I run, I don't always remember to drop it in my pocket when I go downstairs to grab a load of laundry from the dryer. The same applies to housework or yard work -- when I am mopping the floors or raking the leaves, my iPhone is often at my desk sitting idly (and thinking that I am idle, too) while I work. Because I wasn't wearing my iPhone 24/7, my daily step counts on the 5s were significantly less than those recorded by the Jawbone or the Fitbit. These values are the average daily miles and step counts from a month of wearing a Fitbit Force and a Jawbone UP on my wrists 24/7 and using my iPhone 5s for exercise session and as usual when I was not running or walking. If you want to capture all the activity you do throughout the day, you either have to cough up the cash for a fitness tracker or find a way to attach your iPhone to your waist or your arm for most of your waking hours. Sleep Tracking One thing fitness trackers add to the mix is sleep monitoring. These little devices on your wrist track your movement while you sleep and give you an overview of the quality of your sleep. You can achieve the same level of tracking on the iPhone 5s using an app like MotionX 24/7. MotionX tracks your movement and records your snoring so you can listen to sleep sounds and possibly pick up on the signs of sleep apnea. Though the Jawbone and Fitbit data was easier to interpret, I preferred the MotionX for its recording feature and its sensitivity, which pick up the slightest disturbances to your sleep. I don't talk or snore in my sleep, but my two-year-old sneaks into our bed every night. MotionX picks up his arrival, allowing me some insight into his sleep patterns as well. The biggest drawback to using the iPhone 5s for sleep is that you have to use a separate app. MotionX does track your walking, but it's not nearly as polished as an app like Runkeeper. Unlike the Fitbit app or the Up app that serves as a repository for everything fitness-related, you may find yourself using multiple apps to accomplish the same thing on the iPhone 5s. [Many users swear by the $1.99 Sleep Cycle alarm clock app. –Ed.] Using the iPhone 5s alone Though the iPhone 5s holds its own as a fitness tracker from a step counting point of view, I find that it misses the mark in the motivation department. When you have a fitness tracker slapped on your wrist, you are constantly reminded of your need to move. Just a glance at the Fitbit Force, and I am tapping on the button to check my step count for the day. If I see that I am below my goal, then I will take the time to hop on the treadmill for a quick run. This experience does not carry over well to the iPhone 5s. When I look at my iPhone, I don't think "What's my step count?," I think "Gotta check my email." Even with excellent apps like Moves and Nike Move+, I still find that the fitness tracking gets lost among all the other things that I do on my phone. I respond to a few emails, check my calendar, send out a tweet, read a few posts on Facebook and then stick my phone back in my pocket. Step count, what's that? In the two weeks that I've used only my iPhone 5s as a tracker, I've noticed that my activity level has gone down and my overall interest in tracking my steps is waning. Though the iPhone can keep pace with the Up24 and Force, I'm going back to my Fitbit as I prefer the "no effort" tracking offered by a device that always stays on your wrist. I can't wait to put on the Fitbit Force and get back on the exercising bandwagon. Conclusion If you are like me and need some extra motivation or want to track all your activity, then grab a fitness tracker like the Fitbit Force (which we reviewed) or the UP24, or the many other entries in this up and coming category of wearable devices. You won't be disappointed by their all-in-one approach to tracking your activity, sleep and food. If you are disciplined enough to keep your iPhone with you or are already accustomed to tracking your exercise using your iPhone, then the iPhone 5s with its M7 motion coprocessor is a wonderful replacement for a fitness tracker. You stand to lose some of the non-exercise movement like housework, but when exercising, step counts and mileage are as accurate as a dedicated fitness tracker. Using the iPhone 5s is a no-brainer if you already use an app like Runkeeper. The latest version of Runkeeper allows you to track your activities via GPS and will pull in the M7 data when you are walking. Walk briskly enough while shopping in the mall and you will get some extra mileage in the app. The combination of GPS when you need it and the M7 when you don't is wonderful. It's also easy on the battery. Through all my testing of the M7, I never noticed any difference in battery consumption on the 5s.
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide 2013: For the Geek who has everything
Welcome to Engadget's holiday gift guide! Head back to our hub to see the rest of the product guides. We all know at least one of them: that borderline-annoying person who always seems to have the latest gadgets the moment they're announced. The Nexus 5 isn't going to cut it for such people; you'll need to think outside the box if you want to really impress them. Consider the ideas below -- from 3D-printing pens to a stunning e-motorcycle, these (probably) haven't found a place in your friends' lives just yet.
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
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.
