Fitbit has decided there will be no Fitbit Charge 7. Instead the device will now be known as the Fitbit Edge, and with that it follows more closely inline with the user interface of the Google Pixel Watch 5, alongside technology stashed inside the recent screenless Fitbit Air. If there was any questions as to whether or not Google remains committed to the Fitbit branding (in name), this would certainly answer that. Fitbit as a brand is clearly here to stay, even if they renamed the app to Google Health earlier this year.
The Fitbit Edge is a small screen activity tracker, just like the Fitbit Charge series before it. With it Google has made some big changes, mostly good, but not all good. On the ‘good’ side, they’re claiming the GPS is now actually functional. Previously in the Fitbit Charge 5 & Charge 6, the GPS only worked if you loosed the band substantially, but when you did that, heart rate stopped working. For real. They even admitted it was a design choice at the time. Now, Fitbit is saying GPS should be “40% better” than the Charge 6. Plus, they added an altimeter, for both stair tracking and elevation tracking.
Beyond that, the Fitbit Edge gets all too the automatic workout recognition pieces of the Fitbit Air, except as of today, that sport list goes from like 10 sports to roughly 100 sports. Meaning even if you don’t press any buttons, it’ll still figure out that you’re pole dancing. Or…maybe that icon is a stand-up paddle boarder. It’s fuzzy. Atop that, the user interface now matches the Pixel Watch 5, which is cleaned up. Oh, and it’s got a ‘real’ button now, versus a touchable pseudo-button. But, there are some downsides too – like no more Google Pay (contactless payments). And the price has significantly increased up to $179USD from the usual $99-$129 the Charge 6 floats at these days.
In any case, I’ve got a unit that I can start sharing hands-on details on tomorrow, but for now, here’s everything you need to know.
What’s New vs Charge 6:
The Fitbit Edge is the next version of the Fitbit Charge 6, which came out in 2023. Here’s how it’s different:
– Increased screen/display by 46% (has 1.34” display)
– Case thickness is 11.5mm
– Added physical side button that actually clicks (previous was just a touch area)
– Added altimeter (for stair tracking, as well as elevation tracking)
– Added automatic workout detection (now supports 100 sports)
– Increased supported manual workout profiles to 50 workout profiles
– Made user-replaceable/serviceable battery (the first Fitbit-branded product to do so)
– GPS accuracy improvement claimed at 40% more accurate (via new GPS chipset, and new aluminum case design)
– Switched to a more modern user interface, matching the Pixel Watch 5 series
– Added structured workout support
– Added support for dual usage with Pixel Watch and Fitbit Air (e.g., switching back and forth seamlessly)
– Added fast charging (5 minutes gets you 1 day of usage)
– Removed Google Pay (NFC Contactless payments)
– Removed EDA Scan feature (but does have continuous stress monitoring in the background)
– Changed the band attachment mechanism (old Fitbit habits die hard)
– Switched the charger to the same charger as the Fitbit Air (hey, at least they picked something else they already had this time)
– Added a bunch of band accessory types
– Price increased to $179 (officially the Charge 6 was $159 previously, but realistically it sat between $99 and $129 virtually all the time)
– Also a Stephen Curry model at $219 (US, Canada, EMEA)
– Pre-orders start today; availability October 27th.
In terms of some other general specs, just for recap purposes:
– Same claimed 7-day battery life
– Still has heart rate broadcasting feature via Bluetooth (though it can be a bit funky in terms of compatibility)
– Still has music control of your phone’s music (no onboard music storage)
– Still has Google Maps turn-by-turn directions (with phone)
– Still has smartphone notifications (more integration on Android than iOS)
– Still has full sleep tracking
– Still has continuous heart rate monitoring (background and workout)
– Still supports high & low heart rate alerts
– Supports the Google Health Guardian features announced a few months ago
– You can do quick replies on Android, though not on iOS devices
– Has FDA/EU approved medical ECG functionality, including background Afib detection
– Includes skin temperature sensor
– Supports Steps, Distance, Active Zone Minutes, VO2Max, Floor/elevation, Cardio Load, and many more metrics
– Two sizes of bands (see specs below)
– Water resistance level is 5ATM, and IP68 for dust protection
Finally, for lack of anywhere else to stick it, Google also announced a multi-year partnership with Flo Health (which has 80 million users), which will allow bidirectional syncing of data between the two platforms starting early next year. From Flo Health to Google Health, you’ll be able to pull your cycle data in. And then from Google Health to Flo Health, you’ll be able to send resting heart rate, skin temperature, heart rate variability, and sleep metrics. Further, on the Google Health side, it’ll leverage your cycle tracking information for both general suggestions as well as workout suggestions. Finally, Google also noted:
“We will partner to build new products that are specifically designed for women, with a deep integration of Flo’s women’s health insights and algorithms with our expertise in wearable hardware and advanced sensors.”
It’ll be interesting to see if that’s hardware products or software “products”. Further, they noted there’s upcoming plans around dedicated women’s health research initiatives (I assume that means large-scale studies you could opt-in to). Note that in the case of the Flo Health integration, Google says this is all optional of course, and you can enable and then subsequently turn off/off things as you see fit.
Again, I’ll have much more hands-on details coming from tomorrow, but for now, let’s get to all the model options.
Detailed Tech & Model Specs:
The Fitbit Air case comes in 5 different colorways, and then with that there are approximately 2,328 band options. Starting off with the core options you can buy, they are as follows:
– Matte Black Aluminum case / Obsidian Active Band
– Polished Silver Aluminum case / Fog Active Band
– Satin Pyrite Aluminum case / Olive Active Band
– Champagne Gold case / Canyon Active Band
– Satin Pyrite Aluminum case / Stephen Curry Special Edition
And here’s a look at each of these. First, the Matte Black model with black band:
Then the Polished silver model with fog band:
Then the Satin Pyrite Aluminum case model with olive band:
Next, the Champagne Gold case with canyon band:
Oh, and there are the metal link bands too:
Finally, looking at the tech specs, here’s a whole slate of things that may or may not be interesting to you:
– Display is 1.34”/34mm AMOLED display, supporting an always-on configuration
– Display supports adjustable brightness
– Bluetooth 5.4
– Processor: Ambiq AP5 MCU
– GPS chipset supports GPS+Galileo in US, and GPS+Galileo+GLONASS+BeiDou+QZSS outside of US
– Onboard memory: 64MB NOR flash memory, 7 days of detailed motion data (minute intervals), 30 days of daily totals, heart rate at 2-second intervals
– Internal sensors: Altimeter, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Red and infrared sensors for oxygen saturation (SpO2), Multipurpose electrical sensors compatible with ECG app, Photoplethysmography (PPG) optical heart rate sensor, Ambient light sensor, Far-field skin temperature sensor
– Battery is 65mAh
– Fully end-user replaceable battery
– Charging speed: 5 minutes of fast charging for 1 day of battery life, or 100% in 90 minutes
– Requires iOS 16.4 or newer, and Android 11 or newer
– Fitbit Edge Weight: 17.7g without band
– Fitbit Edge Dimensions: 39.22 x 25.56 mm
– Fitbit Edge Height/Thickness: 11.58mm
– Case is made from 100% recycled aluminum
– Active band: Silicone with “soft-touch coating”
– Active Band Sizing: Small fits wrists 130-170mm around, Large fits 170-210mm around
– Stephen Curry band: “Recycled polyester yarns with water-repellent coating and stainless steel lugs, as well as a raised interior print for increased airflow.”
– Stephen Curry band sizing (US): Small fits wrists 135-170mm around, Large fits 170-210mm around
– Stephen Curry band sizing (EU/Canada): Single-size fits wrists 150-195mm around
– Water resistance: 5ATM/50 meters
– Dust immersion resistance: IP68
On the manual workout profile side, here’s the workout profiles that are supported on the Fitbit Edge. Note these are a subset of the automatic detection list, which is around 100 activities.
Aerobics
Badminton
Baseball
Basketball
Bike
Bootcamp
Boxing
Canoeing
Circuit training
Core training
Cricket
Cross-country ski
CrossFit
Dancing
Elliptical
Field hockey
Football
Golf
HIIT
Hike
Indoor climbing
Kayaking
Kickboxing
Martial arts
Mountain bike
Open swim
Outdoor workout
Paddleboarding
Padel
Pickleball
Pilates
Pool swim
Powerlifting
Rollerblading
Rowing machine
Rugby
Run
Skating
Skiing
Snowboarding
Soccer
Spinning
Sport
Stair climber
Strength training
Surfing
Swim
Tennis
Treadmill run
Walk
Weightlifting
Weights
Workout
Yoga
I definitely appreciate having all of these profiles available on-device, rather than just a very basic set. Which I suppose is the general trend in watches/wearables the last year or two: More workout profile options is better.
Next, when it comes to automatic workout types, here’s how those are broken out:
Core sports without any context:
Outdoor Walk
Outdoor Run
Outdoor Bike
Stationary Bike
Elliptical
Rowing Machine
Swim
Racket Sports
Rowing
Golf
Basketball
Soccer
Strength Training
Sports (generic – team sports)
‘Activity’ (generic – periods of sustained elevated HR)
Then this next set requires some sort of historical context, as well as previous confirmations of the activity in the app.
Context-required Automatic Detection Types:
Treadmill Run
Treadmill Walk
Core Workout
Yoga
Stretching
Dancing
Baseball
Football
Pickleball
Hockey
Water Aerobics
Fishing
Shooting
Cleaning
Meditating
Mowing Lawn
Gardening
Carpentry
Archery
Martial Arts
Rock Climbing
Kayaking
Skating
Snowshoeing
Skiing
Surfing
Snowboarding
Paddleboarding
Fencing
Ultimate Frisbee
Gymnastics
Horseback Riding
Orienteering
Polo
Skateboarding
Trampoline
Wrestling
Diving
Sailing
Water Skiing
Trail Run
Incline Run
Power Walking
Hiking
Rucking
Stroller Walking
Nordic Walking
Incline Walk
Walk With Weights
Mountain Biking
Spinning
Snorkeling
Hiit
Crossfit
Jump Rope
Boxing
Kickboxing
Stairclimbing
Zumba
Soccer
Basketball
Tennis
Volleyball
Badminton
Free Weights
Body Weight
Weight Machines
Power Lifting
Calisthenics
Resistance Bands
Trx
Cardio Sculpt
Circuit Training
Pilates
Barre
Tai Chi
Ballet
Softball
Cricket
Rugby
Squash
Table Tennis
Racquetball
Field Hockey
Handball
Lacrosse
Curling
Water Polo
Water Volleyball
Water Jogging
Hunting
Indoor Climbing
Canoeing
Roller Blading
Ice Skating
Roller Skating
Cross Country Skiing
Aerobic Workout
Modern Dance
Jazz Dance
Tango
Ballroom Dance
Breakdancing
Hip Hop
Karate
Jiu Jitsu
Taekwondo
Muay Thai
Musical Performance
Assault Bike
Cheerleading
Parkour
Scootering
Electric Scooter
Electric Bike
Motorcycle
Tabata Workout
Beach Volleyball
Bikram Yoga
Hatha Yoga
Power Yoga
Vinyasa Yoga
Weeding
Hoeing
Household Chores
Shoveling
Painting
Frisbee Playing
Unicycling
Croquet
Motocross
I do want to point out that I’d love to have been a fly on the wall in conference rooms at Google when they debated putting the ‘Hoeing’ activity type in there. I just can’t wait for the Instagram meme jokes that come from that.
(As a geeky aside, it’s astonishing how detailed/comprehensive Google/Fitbit has become with their technical information, imagery, videos, and detailed documents explaining things. While I get full briefings, devices sent on time, and seemingly 24×7 responses within minutes, even on holiday weekends, it’s just such a difference to what some companies do, where every question is almost begging for answers. When companies make it easy to cover your products, you’ll find media tend to cover it with more details.)
Some Fitbit Air Updates:
As part of all of this, the Fitbit Air gets a few quite notable updates. First and the biggest is a massive expansion of the automatic workout detection profiles, from roughly 10 (though realistically it was less than that), to 100 sport profiles. I don’t yet have an official text listing of those profiles, though here is a nifty screenshot of all the icons that are included in this listing:
At present, I can only assume that the one with the person holding onto the pole is pole dancing. Sure, some might argue SUP. But what’s the fun in that? I’ll update this once I have a full listing. [Update: Just added in full list above. No pole dancing…but hey, there’s ‘Hoeing’.]
Do note that Fitbit says some of this is coming from understanding your patterns, rather than straight sport recognition. When it comes to automatic workout detection, there’s sorta two levels. The first is the device/platform (most processing is done in the cloud) actually being able to figure out that you were running, or cycling, or mountain biking. That’s the most ideal scenario. The second level is when a platform knows that you did something, but is a bit fuzzy on what exactly. In those cases, they can look at your history and context and say “Oh, every Saturday morning she goes mountain biking and she updated past activities to specify that, so this must be mountain biking because it’s Saturday morning”. That’s so-so in my opinion, because it’s better than nothing, but still not really nailing the movement recognition as good as Whoop does.
Nonetheless, Fitbit says that with this new algorithm they are “2x more accurate” in detections, and reduced “missed workouts by more than half”. Workouts must still meet the minimum 15-minute threshold in the past.
Next, there are some new Metal Mesh bands coming out for the Fitbit Air. This includes a Champagne Gold or Polished Silver band for $69, or you can buy the Champagne Gold band with a Fitbit Air for $149 (so basically a $20 savings). Here’s what that looks like:
And here’s the polished silver one:
And finally, as previously announced, the Health Guardian feature will start unlocking reports later this month for existing Fitbit Air users, as well as other Fitbit users.
Once the firmware rolls out for the Fitbit Air and the new sport profiles, I’ll start digging into it and report back.
Going Forward:
Now, starting tomorrow, I can start sharing details from the device itself. Of course, having such lineage to both the Fitbit Charge 6 and their more recent products like the Fitbit Air & Pixel Watch 5, I don’t really expect any sort of crazy surprise here. However, the sport mode expansions are real and quite legit. Up to 100 sports now in auto-detect mode for both Fitbit Air & Fitbit Edge is a huge shift, and now much more competitive with Whoop (at least in theory; we’ll have to see in reality).
While the unit is priced higher, I think some of the added features may make it worthwhile. Notably, the structured workouts support, added altimeter for stairs/elevation, the theoretical improvements in GPS accuracy, plus the bigger display. Of course, the removal of Google Wallet/Pay seems like an odd choice to me. In this scenario, especially for iPhone users, it’s not really pushing those users up to the Google Pixel Watch, because that doesn’t work for iOS (just Android). Perhaps eventually Google will unlock the Pixel Watch for iOS users too.
In any case, plenty more to come shortly on the Fitbit Edge as I dive into testing.
With that, thanks for reading!
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Here's a few other variants or sibling products that are worth considering:
Fitbit Edge (Steph Curry Special Edition)
Fitbit Edge (Black/Obsidian)
Fitbit Edge (Silver/Fog)
Fitbit Edge (Champagne Gold/Canyon)
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