Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit • Hacker News Board

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#21

Post by ocdtrekkie » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:00 PM UTC

MaximumMadness wrote: post #3

Every person I've talked to over at Fitbit (pre-this news) has been down on the company. Sounds like they've had trouble effectively scaling software/new hardware to the level of success that the initial device had. While this could easily be another money sink for Google as they attempt to figure out some sort of Android wearable, it also has the potential to be an Instagram level-acquisition. Non-Apple wearables se…

My understanding was that the Versa Lite was a big misstep. The first Versa was super solid though (I have an Ionic, it's precursor), and the Versa 2 looks to be a solid true successor.

Google has murdered every hardware company they've bought, whether it was smarthome products, watches, smartphones, robots, etc.

I specifically bought a Fitbit because it didn't capture my location history (unless using a specific app for tracking running I don't use), and obviously I will have to leave (and stop buying them for friends as well) if Google acquires them.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#22

Post by catalogia » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:00 PM UTC

drcode wrote: post #15

I'd still love to hear a convincing argument from someone as to the benefits of counting steps and measuring heart rate with a wrist band- Are people feeling like they are more fit because they walked to lunch "the long way" so they can reach the 10000 step goal that Fred from accounting has set for them? Do they feel healthier because they were regularly watching their heart rate reading during their hour in the gym…

It's gamification of activity, to combat sloth. Users either feel better or hope to feel better. I couldn't say whether it's effective though.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#23

Post by unlinked_dll » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:00 PM UTC

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #6

MaximumMadness wrote: post #3

Every person I've talked to over at Fitbit (pre-this news) has been down on the company. Sounds like they've had trouble effectively scaling software/new hardware to the level of success that the initial device had. While this could easily be another money sink for Google as they attempt to figure out some sort of Android wearable, it also has the potential to be an Instagram level-acquisition. Non-Apple wearables se…

Something definitely has been off at Fitbit - I had their first device and then after swearing off smartwatches got a new Fitbit for Christmas. 10 months later I'm on my 3rd watch from them - the first one stopped taking a charge after a few months, the second one the screen went out in a week or two. I'm hoping the third time is the charm

> I'm hoping the third time is the charm

"fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice, shame on me"

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#24

Post by amwelles » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:01 PM UTC

drcode wrote: post #15

I'd still love to hear a convincing argument from someone as to the benefits of counting steps and measuring heart rate with a wrist band- Are people feeling like they are more fit because they walked to lunch "the long way" so they can reach the 10000 step goal that Fred from accounting has set for them? Do they feel healthier because they were regularly watching their heart rate reading during their hour in the gym…

For me, at least, getting a smart watch with fitness capabilities made me realize how non-active I was before. I wasn't remotely interested in fitness pre-watch, and now I make sure to hit 30 minutes of exercise per day, even if that's just walking around the neighborhood or doing some gentle yoga.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#25

Post by downrightmike » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:01 PM UTC

drcode wrote: post #15

I'd still love to hear a convincing argument from someone as to the benefits of counting steps and measuring heart rate with a wrist band- Are people feeling like they are more fit because they walked to lunch "the long way" so they can reach the 10000 step goal that Fred from accounting has set for them? Do they feel healthier because they were regularly watching their heart rate reading during their hour in the gym…

I was surprised how often stress kicks my heart rate to near max for my age. That and seeing how much sleep I get. I don't really care about steps, but 10k isn't that hard.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#26

Post by henryfjordan » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:01 PM UTC

yalogin wrote: post #10

I somehow don't see the fit. Pardon the pun. Their watches though popular are completely self sustained, as in not connected devices. No link to the phone, cannot install Android on them most likely. So they are buying it purely for their experience making watches and not for their products. Also, I wonder how much Google will want to invest in devices that are not connected to their ecosystem and might neglect exist…

The Versa 2 has bluetooth and talks to a phone. You can see texts and even send them back (though typing is a pain). There's also Alexa in the watch if you care to enable it.

That said Google has Android Wear and a whole line of watches already so I also don't see the benefit except to squash some competition.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#27

Post by modeless » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:01 PM UTC

automathematics wrote: post #13

My Fitbit Versa is my favorite smartwatch (and I have two Android Wear watches in a drawer that couldn't get one full WORK day of battery) I'd love to see the Pebble hardware running Android Wear (maybe fixed by Fitbit to last longer) with Pixel branding. I'm hopeful.

Pebble hardware could never run Android Wear. It has 256 kilobytes of RAM! Android Wear requires two thousand times more RAM than that.

That's the really impressive achievement of Pebble. They built a smartwatch software platform that was orders of magnitude more efficient than Apple or Google, but still a joy to use. That efficiency gave them the flexibility to make hardware design choices (e.g. 7 day battery or 7.5mm thickness or $99 price) that Google or Apple could never make.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#28

Post by TeMPOraL » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:02 PM UTC

spidermango wrote: post #11

Great now google can track my biometrics

Google's corporate mission is "to organize the world's information" - that includes your biometrics - "and make it universally accessible and useful" (for adtech industry).

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#29

Post by shreyansj » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:02 PM UTC

drcode wrote: post #15

I'd still love to hear a convincing argument from someone as to the benefits of counting steps and measuring heart rate with a wrist band- Are people feeling like they are more fit because they walked to lunch "the long way" so they can reach the 10000 step goal that Fred from accounting has set for them? Do they feel healthier because they were regularly watching their heart rate reading during their hour in the gym…

It's probably easier to improve upon a metric if you can measure it. You don't have to suddenly feel healthier, but if you know that your usual daily step count is 7-8k, you know now that walking 10k steps is a slightly more physical activity than usual and that's a good thing.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#30

Post by zwieback » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 5:02 PM UTC

drcode wrote: post #15

I'd still love to hear a convincing argument from someone as to the benefits of counting steps and measuring heart rate with a wrist band- Are people feeling like they are more fit because they walked to lunch "the long way" so they can reach the 10000 step goal that Fred from accounting has set for them? Do they feel healthier because they were regularly watching their heart rate reading during their hour in the gym…

It works for some people, my wife and daughters like their fitbits, just the encouragement to do something helps. I gradually got rid of all tracking and enjoy my bike rides more.