Fitbit’s latest fitness tracker, the smartwatch-like Fitbit Blaze, is now available to buy.
The prominent fitness wearable company announced its unorthodox new device back at CES 2016 in early January, and received a somewhat negative reaction. In fact, the Blaze’s unveiling prompted Fitbit shares to take a dive.
Now the Fitbit Blaze is available to buy, and we’ll all be able to judge if that reaction was justified or not.
The £159.99 Fitbit Blaze is the company’s first watch, with a full-colour touchscreen LCD and a design that begs for it to be worn all day rather than simply for your workout routine.
It’s modular, so you can snap out the middle and attach it to a range of alternative bands. You can also receive call, text, and calendar notifications on it, as well as control your smartphone’s music playback.
This isn’t a smartwatch, though. Those notifications won’t be open to third party apps. The Blaze is still resolutely a fitness tracker, with and always-on PurePulse heart rate monitor, and the ability to track steps, calories, floors climbed and the like. It’ll also track your sleep.
All of this data syncs back to the ever-impressive Fitbit app for iOS or Android. You’ll also get a five-day battery life (another thing that tells you this watch isn’t particularly smart).
Related: Which Fitbit should you buy?
We had plenty of our own misgivings about the Fitbit Blaze following our hands-on with the device, but we’re looking forward to giving it a proper going over now that it’s available to buy.
At present the Fitbit website says that the Blaze is on back-order, with new orders expected to be delivered in two to three weeks.
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Are you thinking of buying the Fitbit Blaze? Let us know in the comments below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.