Back in October of last year Fitbit announced the Fitbit Ultra, a discreet, clipable ‘activity tracker’ which received fairly positive reviews. This year they’re back with two upgrades to their lineup of modivational gadgets, the Fitbit One and the Fitbit Zip.
The Fitbit One, which looks like an upgrade to the Ultra rather than a entirely new product, sports the similar sleek look as that of the Ultra but now has support for wireless sync with iPhone and Android, as well as your computer (presumably Mac and PC support), via Bluetooth 4.0.
One of the major problems of the Ultra was that it required the user to be within 4.5 metres of a USB base-station connected to your computer. While this was fine, this improvement will surely make uploading your data to the Fitbit.com dashboard easier, especially since this is one of the key selling points of the lineup.
Just like the Ultra, One acts like a pedometre, tracking steps, staircase climbs (and they are climbs people!) and also sleep patterns. But unlike the Ultra, can now also wake you up, subtly, from sleep, with a silent alarm of vibration, which could be great for people who don’t want to wake up anyone near them, or almost have a heart attack, from an audible alarm. They’re simple additions, but both greatly improves the Ultra. It’s coming in October for $120 AUD.
The second device announced is the FitBit Zip, which is a cheaper, more stripped back version of the One. At a $40 discount from the One, the Zip tracks steps and distance but lacks the ability to see sleep patterns and wake you up. It can still wirelessly sync over Bluetooth 4.0, but you might want to use it sparingly as the Zip doesn’t have a replaceable battery, just like the Apple Nike+ connector, so it’ll only last for 4-6 months. Maybe this is a little like a paid-trial, but for $40 extra, it’s probably worth just getting the much prettier One. The Zip is on sale now for $70.
I’m going to try and get this for review, so stay tuned. It’s not a promise though!