Fitbit today introduced the Charge 3, its new fitness tracker that boasts several notable improvements over its predecessor.
The Fitbit Charge 3 is equipped with a touchscreen OLED screen that's nearly 40 percent larger and brighter than the screen on the Charge 2. That display is covered in Gorilla Glass 3 for added protection. And speaking of protection, the Fitbit Charge 3 is water resistant up to 50 meters and has an "inductive button" to add to the swimproof design.
When it comes to tracking features, the Fitbit Charge 3 comes with more than 15 exercise modes and 24/7 PurePulse heart rate tech for better accuracy compared to the Charge 2. There's sleep tracking in here, too, and a new Sleep Score beta that's coming later this year will use the Charge 3's 24/7 Pure Pulse heart rate tech to give your sleep a nightly score and help you better understand your overall sleep quality and what affects it.
Fitbit has included an Sp02 sensor with the Charge 3 which can be used to track breathing disruptions. These could help point to health issues like allergies, asthma, or sleep apnea.
Other notable health features of the Fitbit Charge 3 include personalized insights to help you better understand your activity, heart rate, and nutrition, a new personalized dashboard to help you quickly see daily activity stats and health metrics, and a Connected GPS feature to get real-time pace and distance from your phone. Coming soon, Fitbit is planning to add a Run Detect feature with auto start and stop and female health tracking, including support for logging your period and ovulation.
The Fitbit Charge 3 offers a selection of smartwatch features to help you stay connected without having to dig out your phone. These include call, calendar, text, and app notifications for Android and iOS, and soon, Android users will be able to use quick replies for incoming texts. Fitbit has several apps included with the Charge 3, like Alarms and Weather, and several brand apps will be added in the future.
Finally, there's the battery life. Fitbit says that the Charge 3 offers up to 7 days of battery life on a single charge, thanks in part to the inductive button that allowed Fitbit to cram a larger battery into the Charge 3.
The Fitbit Charge 3 will launch in the Americas and EMEA in October 2018, followed by a release in the Asia Pacific region in November 2018. The device is now available for pre-order, with pricing starting at $149.95 for the core model and going up to $169.95 for the Fitbit Charge 3 Special Edition, which adds NFC for mobile payments.
Fitbit will also sell extra bands for the Charge 3. These include Sport Bands for $29.95, Woven Bands for $34.95, and Horween Leather Bands for $49.95.
This new Fitbit Charge 3 looks like a solid upgrade to Fitbit's line of wearables. The device differs places a focus on fitness tracking and offers a simpler user experience that some folks may prefer to Wear OS and Apple Watch models.
What do you think of the Fitbit Charge 3?