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Tag: sense

  • Fitbit drops support for two music streaming services on Sense and Versa smartwatches

    Fitbit drops support for two music streaming services on Sense and Versa smartwatches

    Google-owned Fitbit is informing many of its customers that it will soon stop supporting two music streaming services quite popular in the United States: Deezer and Pandora. In an email sent to many Fitbit smartwatch users, the company states that it will ax support for the two apps, which will no longer be available for download.

    The email confirms that come March 31, these two music streaming services will no longer function on specific smartwatches like Fitbit Sense, Fitbit Versa 2 and Fitbit Versa 3. According to the email, customers “will no longer be able to download Pandora stations or add Deezer playlists to your device, nor will you be able to play anything that you have previously downloaded.”

    This is the second time Fitbit has taken away an important functionality from its customers in less than a year. Last year, Fitbit removed the ability to sync and transfer music via PC and Mac. The company removed the option to transfer playlists to Fitbit watches through a computer back in October but allowed users to continue to play personal music stored on the watch and transfer music to it with the Deezer and Pandora apps.

    Well, Fitbit took away that option as well, or at least is about to since the deadline is March 31, 2023. It’s surprising that the company is removing important features that will most likely lead to fewer sales, without adding new ones to replace them. It’s like Fitbit wants to make its smartwatches completely unappealing to those who love using this type of products.

    It remains to be seen how Fitbit’s actions will impact the sale of its smartwatches, but there’s bound to be some retribution from customers, especially from those who remained loyal even after Google bought the company Google.

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  • The Fitbit Sense will match the Apple Watch’s ECG capabilities next month

    The Fitbit Sense will match the Apple Watch’s ECG capabilities next month

    While its name might be synonymous with low-cost fitness trackers for many consumers around the world, Fitbit has faced quite the uphill battle trying to gain a foothold in the fast-growing smartwatch market over the last few years.

    Although the company’s rookie Apple Watch-rivaling effort was released all the way back in 2017 (to tepid reviews and overall indifference even from its core fanbase), followed by the slightly better-received Versa the next year, Fitbit still failed to make the industry’s top five in terms of revenue for H1 2020, ranking behind everyone from Apple to Garmin, Huawei, Samsung, and even Imoo and Amazfit.

    As you can imagine, that’s a very poor result for a 2007-founded outfit with Fitbit’s brand recognition, but instead of waiting for Google to arrive on a white horse and miraculously right the ship, the US-based company stepped things up to unveil its “most advanced health smartwatch” last month.

    Much like 2019’s Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, the Fitbit Sense went official with a dormant ECG monitor. This is the same exact feature that made its debut on the Apple Watch Series 4 two years ago, saving countless lives between then and now in conjunction with fall detection capabilities and Cupertino’s all-around impressive heart rate sensor.

    While Fitbit needed a lot of time to catch up to the heavyweight champion of the wearable device world, it looks like the company will be able to miraculously beat Samsung to the commercial ECG punch. That’s because the potentially life-saving technology has already received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ahead of public October 2020 availability on the recently announced Sense.

    The aptly named Fitbit ECG App will be enabled stateside sometime next month, as well as in a host of European countries including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. That’s right, Fitbit pulled a double, obtaining both FDA approval and Conformité Européenne (CE) marking in the European Union.

    Last but certainly not least, early Fitbit Sense adopters in Hong Kong and India are also slated to get access to the Apple-matching ECG app in October. That makes for a pretty remarkable list of supported countries straight off the bat, mind you, but in case you’re wondering, Apple’s list is unsurprisingly even longer.

    Meanwhile, Galaxy Watch Active 2 and Galaxy Watch 3 owners can still measure their ECG exclusively in South Korea, although for what it’s worth, Samsung has at least made a big step recently towards finally spreading the love to the US at some point by the end of the year. This time for real.

    In a nutshell, this is what separates the serious health-tracking smartwatches from the casual fashion-centric wearable devices. As explained by Fitbit, the main purpose is to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib), a condition that affects more than 33.5 million people (!!!) globally, increasing the risk of complications like stroke.

    A large chunk of those suffering from AFib is unlikely to become aware of their problem until it’s too late to keep it in check, which is where the Apple Watch lineup and now the Fitbit Sense comes in, assessing a user’s heart rhythm for early signs of atrial fibrillation so you can receive the necessary medical attention to live a long and normal life.

    Obviously, the ECG monitor built into a $330 commercial device also featuring a bunch of other sensors may not prove as reliable as a medical-grade system typically found in a hospital, but Fitbit claims the multi-site clinical trial is conducted as part of the submission process to regulatory agencies yielded a stellar 98.7 percent sensitivity score and a perfect 100 percent specificity rating.

    In other words, you should absolutely consider the Fitbit Sense as an alternative to the Apple Watch Series 5 or the soon-to-be-released Series 6 if you have heart problems, trouble sleeping, or even if you need help managing day-to-day stress. Keep in mind that the Android and iOS-compatible smartwatch is still up for pre-order ahead of an actual September 25 release. And no, we’re afraid Amazon’s early discount is no longer available.

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  • HTC is doing something with its Play Store apps

    HTC is doing something with its Play Store apps

    While we have yet to see HTC release a new smartphone for 2019, data from AppBrain reveals that 14 apps from the manufacturer have been unpublished from the Google Play Store. This month alone, HTC has removed the Sense Home Launcher and HTC People. The former was a launcher that showed apps that users might want to open depending on their current location. There were three different options available: home, work, or out. The latter was an app that helped users manage their contacts, dialer and call logs.

    In February, apps like HTC Calendar, HTC Mail and HTC Dot View were unpublished. Calendar and Mail are pretty self-explanatory, and the Dot View app worked with the case of the same name. Tap on the front of the case, and a pixelated view (or a dot view) of the time and temperature would appear as well as information about incoming calls.

    Some of the unpublished apps had gone a long time without being updated and probably were no longer supported by HTC. But others, like HTC Calendar, HTC People and HTC Mail were pre-installed on HTC handsets. This doesn’t necessarily mean that HTC has given up on the smartphone industry. In fact, that is a rumor that the company denied late last year. HTC is expected to deliver its first 5G phone in the second half of this year.

    HTC’s decision to unpublish some of its apps would make sense if it decided to make its upcoming handsets run Android One. This is a near stock version of Android that keeps out bloatware from manufacturers.

    The last phone HTC released was its Exodus 1 Blockchain phone designed for cryptocurrency investors. Launched in December, the device comes with a secure wallet and a 6-inch QHD+ display. Powered by the Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform, the Exodus 1 features 6GB of memory and 128GB of storage. There is a dual-camera setup on back (12MP + 16MP), dual 8MP selfie snappers, and a 3500mAh battery. The price of the Exodus 1 is $699.