Google just stripped the fitness tracker down to its bare essentials. And those essentials don't include a screen.
While many manufacturers pride themselves on cloning the information from your smartphone screen to your smart watch or fitness tracker display, the new Fitbit Air goes the other way.
This is a screenless, buttonless pebble, tucked inside of a stylish band, and designed to disappear into your daily life.
How does the Fitbit Air work without a screen?
Using the Fitbit Air means you won't get bombarded with notifications on your wrist every time something comes to your smartphone. But it also means you can't see your step count or heart rate at a glance.
Instead, all of your health metrics (historic and those that are available in real-time) will be accessible through your smartphone.
It's an approach that will be a deal-breaker for some, but a deal-maker to others. Especially those who want a less obtrusive way to monitor their on-going fitness and health metrics.
A 5.2-Gram Powerhouse
The Fitbit Air is tiny. Weighing in at 5.2 grams and with a screen-less design this wearable is 25% smaller than the Fitbit Luxe. Will this suit your needs?
- Weight and Size: The tracker weighs a mere 5.2 grams without the band—roughly the weight of a Canadian nickel—and stands only 8.3 mm tall.
- Zero Interface: There is no screen and no physical button.
- Tactile Feedback: You interact with it through a single status LED for battery alerts and a vibration motor for haptics and silent alarms.
- Fast Charging: A quick 5-minute charge provides a full day of battery, while a 90-minute charge gets you through an entire week.
Google didn't sacrifice data for the sake of size. The Air houses a professional-grade sensor array that rivals much larger smartwatches.
- Heart Monitoring: It features 24/7 optical heart rate tracking, irregular heart rhythm notifications for AFib, and heart rate variability (HRV) alerts.
- Blood Oxygen: Red and infrared sensors provide SpO2 monitoring to track oxygen saturation during sleep.
- Skin Temperature: A dedicated device temperature sensor monitors skin temperature variation, providing a deeper look at recovery and potential illness.
- Durability: The device is water-resistant up to 50 meters, making it safe for the pool or shower.
The Transition to Google Health
The hardware is only part of the story. On May 19, the Fitbit app as we know it will officially be rebranded as the Google Health app. This will also usher in a change to the way Google displays your health data to help you make sense of all of those metrics you're feeding it each day.
Gemini Becomes Your Coach
The flagship feature of the new app is the Google Health Coach, powered by Gemini.
- Multimodal Input: You can log a meal by snapping a photo or record a workout by simply telling the coach, "I just did 45 minutes of heavy lifting".
- Complex Recognition: The AI can reportedly interpret photos of hand-written gym whiteboards to log specific reps and sets for you.
- Adaptive Science: The coach uses a new machine learning model that is 15% more accurate at tracking sleep stages than previous Fitbit versions.
- Contextual Awareness: Your daily suggestions aren't static. The coach adjusts your goals based on your medical records, current weather, and how well you slept the night before.
Pixel Watch vs Fitbit Air: Why not Both?
And one last interesting development out of the Google news today. The new app will allow you to use two trackers simultaneously…as long as one of those trackers is a Pixel Watch.
The app intelligently merges the data from both sources into a single, unified timeline.
The Pixel Watch is a very capable wearable which continues to improve with each iteration. Pixel Watch 4 has such a great sensor array, including ones for Sleep, but for some people wearing a watch to bed is just a non-starter.
With FitBit Air, you could still have your Pixel Watch as your daily driver, but for scenarios like sleep, or going out to an event where you want to dress down your tech, you'll have a great solution without that gap in metrics.
Canadian Pricing and Availability
The Fitbit Air is priced at $129 CAD.
- Pre-orders: Start in Canada, May 7 (order yours here).
- App Update: The Google Health app update rolls out to existing Fitbit users on May 19.
- Retail Launch: The Fitbit Air hits Canadian shelves on May 26.
If you buy Fitbit Air, you'll get three months of Google Health Premium. If you're already a Google One Pro or Ultra subscriber, Health Premium is now bundled into Google One Pro and Ultra tiers at no additional cost.
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