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Very bad news for anyone who has a Fitbit device. Google tends to destroy any "smart" devices they acquire; first they tie it more closely to their ecosystem,
by not2b 7y ago
Very bad news for anyone who has a Fitbit device. Google tends to destroy any "smart" devices they acquire; first they tie it more closely to their ecosystem, too much for comfort, then they remove features, then they get bored and neglect it, then you have a brick.
- aries1980 7y agoThere is not much "feature" in a Fitbit. You can't even correct simple numeric values of an exercise, such as the ran distance or the bodyfat percentage of the scale reading.
- cannonedhamster 7y agoYou're both right. Unfortunately.
- CydeWeys 7y agoI have a Garmin fitness watch, and I mainly use it to tell the time, daily step count, and the distance/pace/heart rate/duration during runs and bike rides. I do sync the resultant recorded activities to Strava but frankly that's not very important to me. And this is enough to justify the device for me. It only cost $150 or so, lasts much longer than a year, and earns its keep in useful functionality.
- jschwartzi 7y agoAlso the battery lasts for almost an entire week between charges, which is an awesome feature. My fiancee has to recharge her Samsung watch almost every day. This is one of those things where limiting the functionality of the device enhances the usability of it. I can easily do the 3 or 4 things I actually want a watch to do on my fitbit(stopwatch, heartrate, pedometer, see who's calling) and don't have to worry about dumb stuff like receiving phone calls or watching video on a tiny screen.
- CydeWeys 7y agoYes, that too. It's a huge plus to me that the battery in this Garmin watch lasts for a week, even with light GPS usage. I wouldn't put up with a smart watch that required charging every night; it's too much extra hassle for little additional benefit.
- derjames 7y agoI am doing something similar with a Timex IQ+. I use it for telling the time and to tell me roughly my activity level. I don't even bother to sync it. I recently changed the battery for the first time after using it for 8 months. I bought it because just looks like a conventional watch and because I found the design to be attractive (my taste)
- muststopmyths 7y agoI loved my Garmin for the 2-3 months I had it. Great battery life and the minimal functionality I needed in a fitness watch (GPS, heartrate, steps etc.) It eventually irritated my skin (I had burn marks right under the light) so I had to give it up. Even with regular cleaning, I could not stop the strap itching. The nice thing about Garmin (the company) is that they gave me a full refund even though it was well past the 30-day return. I haven't gone back to do the research on avoiding the skin issues, but I hope some day I'll be able to buy a Garmin again.
- thevagrant 7y agoIn case this helps: The higher end Garmin watches have many strap options, you can try take the supplied strap off and buy a strap made with a different material from Garmin or a third party. Also, best to take the watch off when showering, dry it completely / wipe down. Put the watch back on once you've dried off also. If your skin is super sensitive, consider taking it off sometimes at night etc.
- CydeWeys 7y agoThe rubber band is the one thing that failed on my Garmin watch (and of course it did, it's rubber). I replaced it with a third-party NATO canvas strap and haven't had any further issues. This one has the benefit of more comfort in addition to more durability.
- puranjay 7y agoI can't even understand how they're able to charge as much as they do. I've owned 3 Fitbit devices and they perform uniformly worse than a cheap as dirt Xiaomi Mi Band I received as a free prize. Their battery life tops out at 2 days max and the sync feature is broken. Heck, they don't even look good
- loons2 7y agoBought my chinese no-name (it probably does have a name if I saved the box, but there's no brand on the device itself) for $10. Time, stepcount, calories, distance, heart rate, BP, O2 sat, sports functions, sleep, etc. The watch does lose about 45 seconds a day, so I have to sync it once a week or so to keep the time display in an acceptable range. The app is otherwise irrelevant to me. Charge lasts about 6 days.
- icebraining 7y agoI frankly wouldn't trust the numbers of any device that can't keep the time. Have you tried to verify them somehow?
- loons2 7y agoStep counts as well as the fitbit. Heart rate is simple. How can it mess that up? Blood pressure is relative. You don't expect it to be accurate without a cuff. Same with O2. Those can show whether you're higher or lower "now" than you were an hour ago, a day ago, but they're not intended to be accurate on an absolute scale. Sleep seems to match up pretty well with snorelabs. Now that I think about it, I wonder how well any of them keep time without syncing to their app.
- jolux 7y ago>Heart rate is simple. How can it mess that up? You might be surprised: https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/23/study-shows-fitbit-trackers-highly-inaccurate.html https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/23/study-shows-fitbit-trackers-...
- mc32 7y agoYeah. I agree. Normally I’d think they’d improve things but after dropcam, I’m less enthusiastic. The consolation is that they’re not going after Garmin, so there is that.
- jschwartzi 7y agoI guess I'm going to have to stop using Fitbit after this. Google is really creepy.
- scottlegrand2 7y agoI bought a Fitbit ionic two years ago. It was great for the first year. Then it started behaving oddly and now it doesn't work at all with Huawei phones (which I rely on now because they seem to be the first brand that doesn't effectively brick itself after 6 months from metastasizing updates and enhancements). My solution for the past year has been to leave the device unsynced. Strangely, it still somehow manages to upload data occasionally and I have no idea how it's doing it. about once a month it just gets stuck and I need to restart the thing. I'm going to guess those two things are somehow related but I don't know quite how. I was planning on switching to a cheap Chinese device anyway. This is the kick in my keister that will get me to do it.
- tschellenbach 7y agoyup, can't use my nest anymore on my ipad since their latest "round of improvements"
- olliej 7y agoI just returned my nest thermostat the day after google acquired them. I already have to work hard to protect myself from google (and other privacy abusers), why would I want to give them a physical presence in my home?
- ip26 7y agoHoping this doesn't happen with the Nest Thermostat. The good news is the install base is huge, so it's not like they can just quietly brick them and have no one notice.
- dangrossman 7y agoThey already killed all their integrations, and since I exclusively set my multiple zone temperatures by voice with Alexa, when they killed the partner ecosystem I sold my Nests on eBay and bought some Ecobees that still connect with everything.
- IshKebab 7y agoThey've recently adopted the Nest branding for Google Home Mini (now Google Nest Mini) so I doubt it.
- olliej 7y agoThey already have started removing features and functionality, which is similar to bricking
- dwoozle 7y agoThey have already taken out API support which for some smart home users was equivalent to bricking. I wonder if there will be a class action lawsuit.
- zamalek 7y agoIf you own a Fitbit (I do), it's great news. Fitbit have done an unmatched job of destroying the device already. I was honestly considering buying a different device already. They don't support Spotify, or really any music app except the one (which I don't remember). Their subscription service provides no real value at all. Their devices track heart rate and nothing else. They simply don't innovate at all.
- sakopov 7y agoI haven't used Fitbit since the first iteration of the product, but why would you want Spotify on a device that tracks your fitness level?
- kylemuir 7y agoWhen I was big into running I wanted a smart watch that could play my music and connect to my headphones without needing to take my bulky phone with me Other reasons for wanting spotify is a remote control. When I had my pebble and my phone was in my pocket I'd often use it to skip songs, drop the volume a bit, etc without having to pull out my phone each time
- seansmccullough 7y agoIt's really nice to listen to music while running without your phone with an Apple Watch, it would be a really compelling feature for Fitbit to also support this functionality.
- verst 7y agoI'm a marathoner and need to go on long training runs. My Garmin running Watch has music (Spotify) which I can play via Bluetooth. I don't want to carry around a phone during prolonged vigorous exercise. Spotify integration makes a lot of sense for fitness watches.
- megaremote 7y ago> I'm a marathoner Ok, but listening to music is cheating.
- bagacrap 7y agoSad if that happens, but I doubt that's Google's intent/strategy. Presumably to spend money on an acquisition, Google must think the user base that goes along with the acquisition is valuable.
- gdilla 7y agoIt is. They see Apple and their watch amassing lots of data and they don't want to yield all that to them (like Apple's rationale to get into maps).
- VectorLock 7y agoFitbit has done a pretty good job of that already. See the spO2 sensor on the Charge 3 that has been inaccessible since the device launched.
- bonestamp2 7y agoApple has allegedly had spO2 monitoring capability on Apple Watch for years too without making that function available in production. I wonder if there's a similar reason for this. I mean, I can buy a $12 spO2 monitor on Amazon, and most clinics seem to use that exact model... why not let my fitness device do it too?
- ofcrpls 7y agoIt is due to the regulatory purview on the difference of calling something a "vitals display device" vs a "vitals monitor" Source: Spouse, who worked on a field spO2 monitor at her first job and has since spent the next decade in the medical device regulatory industry.
- jschwartzi 7y agoYeah, they would at least have to do a 510k submittal provided they could show a predicate device existed, and that there were existing standards that they could follow. If they're making an SpO2 monitor that doesn't work like any other SpO2 monitor on the market then the FDA would probably put them in De Novo hell for a very long time.
- 72deluxe 7y agoSame for the Honor Band 5 in the UK until recently, when it has been enabled. Very cheap device, I see many of them and the Mi Band 4 around here (and Apple watches). Seems to be a saturated market.
- drinchev 7y agoMy 5 cents. Fitbit discontinued one of their best products Fitbit Flex 2, which I'm still using. It's a 50 bucks rubber band with 1 week battery life that tracks sleep & steps. I don't really know why they cancelled it but I'm wearing Fitbit flex and later flex 2 since they entered the market and it's a divice that I'm used to wear and forget even when I'm asleep ( compared to the Apple Watch, which nevertheless needs daily charge and is simply too bulky to wear in bed ). I haven't found any decent competitors on that part and I'm honestly afraid of the wasted hours when I have to decide what to use as a replacement.
- emddudley 7y agoThe Fitbit Inspire HR sounds like the successor... waterproof sleep and step tracker. Lasts a week on a charge, slim design. Costs twice as much though. https://www.fitbit.com/inspire https://www.fitbit.com/inspire
- opencl 7y agoThe Mi Band 4 seems to tick those boxes. Small, $40,~3 week battery life.
- SeaSeaRider 7y agoNo way I’m putting a Chinese product on my wrist. Especially one that tracks. It’s 2019, those days are over.
- SeaSeaRider 7y ago100% with you, and you can see that second hand prices for it are rising. The only modern fitness tracker with beautiful style and no watchface. There are chinese copies if you are willing to put toxic tracking devices next to your body.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]