Fitbit has launched its latest offering, the Fitbit Sense. Packed with a vast of features aiming to offer users everything from ECG sensors to the EDA scan to help you manage stress with sessions of guided mindfulness.
Do take note that in order to access these sessions, you would have to download the Fitbit app. This allows you to truly access every service there is on the watch and to store data as you progress through your workout. If you already have an account, you would now only have to choose the Fitbit Sense option
The watch does not come with any buttons but instead comes with a pressure sensor at the side of the watch which register the same way a button presses. Being a smart watch, speakers and microphones are necessary to register calls and alert you on any incoming notifications.
The universal watch
With the Fitbit sense, Fitbit is proving that it’s taking health matters more seriously. The watch comes with a lot of sensors and while accuracy may vary from one function to the other, it does seem to work well enough for me.
One of the main features that really piqued my interest is the stress management sensors. You will have cover the watch with your palm for around 30 seconds and does an EDA scan and sends the registered data to your Fitbit app. The watch offers you a take on how your body is responding to the stress you are facing currently.
After accessing the app, it offers a series of mindfulness sessions to help you manage your stress better. These sessions comes in the form of meditation options that are available exclusively for the Fitbit Sense.
While we have not tried the over 90 sessions sessions that is available, this new feature by Fitbit was definitely made to help you deal with your stress levels be while you are at work or at home, stressing out from the series of lockdowns being implemented, just be sure to turn to the watch to guide your through them.
Your stress levels will be registered through a series of scores, the higher the score is, the fewer signs of stress it is.
In times like this, where stress is more of a common occurrence due to the ongoing crisis, the watch seems to be a perfect fit. And for a quick scan, just double press the side of the watch and it give you a quicker access.
However in order to really explore all the guided mindfulness sessions, you will have to get the Fitbit Premium. And even if you are not keen on spending extra bucks on it, not to worry, the app has free and available sessions.
Furthermore, the watch also reacts accordingly without having to get into it step by step. What I mean by this is if you decide to start a workout immediately, the Fitbit Sense is adept enough to track your movement and gets into the right workout mode immediately.
The watch is definitely quite capable on tracking your health with close to accurate GPS tracking sensors and convincing heart rate tracking sensors. The watch will also be to track your breathing through its guided breathing sessions.
Users will be able to fix the period starting at one minute to a maximum of 10 minutes.
As for exercise junkies, the watch definitely covers quite a range of activities including bootcamp, circuit training, elliptical, golf, interval workouts, kickboxing among others offering users a wide range of choices.
As a fan of running, I definitely enjoyed the watch being able to connect to Spotify so it definitely makes it easy for me to manage my playlist while running without having to take out my phone mid run as well.
Navigation
Navigating through the smart watch is fairly easy and while I think it was close to being seamless, I did experience a few lags while swiping left and right. Nevertheless, it does not influence the whole experience entirely.
To access the clock face to see notifications, you can swipe down and by swiping up, you will have access to new widgets as well as your activity stats and health metrics.
Swipe right to see the remaining battery life and access the control center. After charging it for a couple of hours, I still managed to go on a couple days without having to recharge it again.
However, that might also depend on your activities. For me, toying around with the feature definitely took up some battery life. The watch also offers you the Do Not Disturb Mode, Sleep mode and the Always-on Display, screen wake, brightness and to control the music volume on your phone.
What’s new with the Fitbit Premium
For those of you who are keen to spend a little more, you will be able to get a free trial for 6 months at first and then followed by a RM44.90 fee per month.
The premium membership offers users new features which includes the Health Metrics dashboard which helps you to keep a closer eye on your health and wellbeing.
As mentioned before, you will also get to track your breathing rate to better understand if they are signs of significant changes.
The skin temperature variation will let you see how your skin temperature varies to help you notice potential signs of fever, illness or a start of a new menstrual phase. All the data can be seen on your Health Metrics dashboard. And another interesting offering is to be able to pay through the wallet feature on the watch.
However, the feature is not available here just yet, as Malaysia is not the list of the countries that you will be available to use the feature.
Overall, even without the Premium offering, you will be able to enjoy the experience offered by the watch particularly in the matters of health.
