The latest Fitbit makes perfect sense

The Sense is the latest Fitbit wearable device and it is also their flagship model. It was launched last month and is their latest device to go toe to toe with Apple. It certainly packs a punch as Fitbit move more and more into the health wearables area, and away from just being fitness trackers.

When I first took it out of the box it’s lightness and good looks greatly impressed me. Compared to previous Fitbit devices I have used this was a doddle to set up and did not take long. The setup ran smoothly and once it was fully charged, I was soon wearing it. So, what bang do you get for your buck? Well, rather a lot actually as you can see below.

What the Fitbit Sense has:

ECG Functionality?- The ECG app which launched in Ireland last Friday right, allows you to assess your heart for atrial fibrillation. Better known as a heart rhythm irregularity, the results can be easily shared with your doctor.

Skin Temperature Sensors – The Sense tracks your skin temperature each night to show how it varies from your personal baseline, so you can be aware of your trends over time. This is useful in the early detection of symptoms of infectious diseases including Covid-19.

High/Low Heart Rate Notifications – Hear rate is a key indicator of your health. When set up, the Sense detects if yours is above or below threshold figures that you can modify. This is very useful for people with pre-existing health conditions, as it can be personalised to the wearer of the Sense.

Fitbit Pay – With the current pandemic, the ability to pay for your shopping by contactless payment is becoming more popular. By doing this via the Sense you don’t have to carry around cards. To see if your bank supports Fitbit Pay please click here.

Breathing Rate (per minute) while you sleep – Each morning the data on your phone’s Fitbit app from your previous night’s sleep will be available. The ability to detect any abnormal breathing readings will alert you to possible health issues.

New Stress Management Tracking – Stress is something we should all be keeping an eye on. You can also check your stress score via The new Stress Management Score.

EDA Scan app for tracking electrodermal activity?-The on-wrist EDA Scan app is designed to detect electrodermal activity. This could indicate your body’s response to stress. It also reveals a graph in the Fitbit app on your smartphone to illuminate it.

24/7 Heart Rate Tracking with PurePulse 2.0 – Thanks to an all-new multipath sensor, Sense delivers PurePulse 2.0. This is Fitbit’s 24/7 continuous heart rate tracking for exercise, sleep tracking and everything in between.

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) Tracking – As well as having Heart Tracking, the ability to warn you if your heart rate goes above or below certain baselines which you pre-set. This is very important as it can warn you of things like fevers or chills, precursors to various health issues such as COVID-19.

Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant – The sense has a built-in microphone that allows you to ask Alexa questions. At the moment you can only responses on the screen but later this year Alexa will be able to talk back to you. The ability to sync up to any smart speakers with Alexa is handy. Google Assistant will also be available later this year and gives you another option if you don’t like using Alexa.

Take phone calls from your wrist – Later this year the Sense will give you the option to be like Dick Tracy and answer phone calls directly from it.

Receive and respond to texts from your phone – The sense allows text notifications from your phone to appear. If you have an Android phone you can either reply with a choice of pre-set messages or you can speak into the Sense and that will be transcribed and then sent.

AMOLED display with integrated ambient light sensor – The Sense has 1.58-inch AMOLED panel which gives you bright and vibrant colours and has great viewing angles.

Built-in GPS – This means you won’t have to rely on your phones GPS, allowing you to leave your phone at home when you go exercise. However, you will only get twelve hours of GPS before the Sense will have to be recharged.

Menstrual cycle tracking – This allows you to track your period cycle, symptoms, and more too. Very handy if you are planning to have a baby.

Six months free Fitbit Premium subscription – This gives you a more detailed analysis of the data the Sense is collecting. It also gives you access to some nice workout programmes that are designed to keep you fit.

Apps and Watch Faces

A smartwatch needs two important things and that is different watch faces and apps. The choice of apps compared to an Apple Watch isn’t great but some of the well-known apps that you can get include Deezer, Spotify.

The watch faces are also very important as each watch face does something different. Some of the watch faces are free and there are others that you have to pay for. To me, the most important watch face is the SpO2 watch face as without this watch face the Sense can’t track or display SpO2 data.

Battery Life

The most important part of a smartwatch is its battery. The main competitor to the Sense is the Apple Watch Series 6 which has a day and a half battery life. This means you will charging your watch every couple of days which can be an inconvenience.

The Sense has incredible battery life and will last 6 to 6 and a half days. The battery life will go down to three days if the Sense watch face is set to always on and not to only display when you look at. If the SpO2 watch face is the watch face always used the battery life will also decrease. So it can be used just when you are sleeping. This involves using the Fitbit app on your phone to do this and is not always as straight forward as it looks.

The Sense charger is now magnetic compared to the chargers in previous Fitbit devices and it also supports quacking charging. Twelve minutes charging will give you a days usage and forty minutes charging will charge up the battery from 10-80%.

The verdict

The Fitbit Sense is a great fitness tracker especially as it has GPS. The heart rate sensor and sleep tracking are incredible. But the Sense crams so much tech and at times it feels like it’s trying too hard as it can be slow at times. However, it will improve over time and right now is becoming a credible alternative to Apple. The flagship Apple watch model, Series 6 starts at €422 for the 40mm and goes up to €451.50 for the 44mm. The Sense costs €329 and is fantastic value for money. It will worry Apple but as I have already mentioned there are certain things that it can only do if you have an Android phone. All of the data that the Sense takes can be easily found on the Fitbit app on your phone

If you are looking for a smartphone that can keep an eye on your health and you don’t mind its limitations on iPhones, it’s a must buy. My normal everyday watch is an Apple Watch Series Three model and I haven’t really missed it. I don’t miss getting all the notifications from my phone. Mainly because I am cocooning thanks to the pandemic and my watch is always by my side providing quick and easy access to it.

The battery life is incredible and as I have already mentioned it can last up to 6 plus days depending on usage. In this COVID-19 world, anything that helps protect you and look after your health is worth having. If you feel you don’t need all the features that the Sense offers then the Fitbit Charge 4 or the Fitbit Versa 2 and Versa 3 will do the job just fine. The Sense can be bought directly from the Fitbit website and retailers such as Currys or Harveynorman.

More about Irish Tech News and Business Showcase here.

FYI the ROI for you is => Irish Tech News now gets over 1.5 million monthly views, and up to 900k monthly unique visitors, from over 160 countries. We have over 860,000 relevant followers on Twitter on our various accounts & were recently described as Ireland’s leading online tech news site and Ireland’s answer to TechCrunch, so we can offer you a good audience!

Since introducing desktop notifications a short time ago, which notify readers directly in their browser of new articles being published, over 50,000 people have now signed up to receive them ensuring they are instantly kept up to date on all our latest content. Desktop notifications offer a unique method of serving content directly to verified readers and bypass the issue of content getting lost in people’s crowded news feeds.

Drop us a line if you want to be featured, guest post, suggest a possible interview or just let us know what you would like to see more of in our future articles. We’re always open to new and interesting suggestions for informative and different articles.

If you would like to be featured in our podcast series drop us a line & don’t forget to sign up for notifications for our latest episodes and follow us on Twitter, Linkedin, SoundCloud, iTunes or your own favourite podcast platform.

Contact us, by email, twitter or whatever social media works for you and hopefully, we can share your story too and reach our global audience. We are agile, responsive, quick and talented, we look forward to working with you!

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie or on Twitter: @SimonCocking