Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit • Hacker News Board

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#151

Post by ChuckMcM » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

This wouldn't surprise me, Fitbit has been getting more and more "Googlish" in its slurping of data. My current irritation is that it refuses to 'sync' your device unless you have location services enabled for the app.

I get that some folks like a "track" they can refer to, for others it puts their life at risk[1], and for me its not something I care about. Steps and heart rate are enough for it to compute calories (when you've added in lean body mass and sex). There are no features "missing" when I only sync it to an old Motorola X phone (no sim) which is sitting at my desk. I noticed that Apple and Fitbit have also fought over this, where on iDevices enabling location was optional (it would still sync), then an update and the location was no longer optional (unhelpful "no device found" message, but turn on location and amazingly there is your device right there, turn it off and poof your device is no where to be seen), then with the iOS 13 update it was optional again. But on Android it has never been optional.

I interpreted that behavior as "profitability through data sales" strategy and they needed more data cows to get more money.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#152

Post by ericlathrop » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:06 PM UTC

Pxtl wrote: post #114

fyfy18 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And this is exactly why any consumer device that relies on the cloud is a bad idea. I would never buy a Ring doorbell or Nest camera for the same reason - I'd always look for a version that can be used locally so I can host the software myself and don't need to depend on a third party that may go bust, or get aquihired and shutdown.

Especially one that I'd have to install into a wall. I mean, I was always thinking that the whole "IOT lightbulbs" were at the wrong spot - that an IOT lightswitch would make more sense - you get all the lights on that circuit in one go, and you don't have the "is the light off because it's set off or is the switch off" thing. But IOT device lifespan is way too short to be installed into a wall, even something as eas…

GE makes in-wall Z-wave light switches that work wonderfully. No cloud dependency, and you can control them with open source software like HomeAssistant.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#153

Post by jimmydddd » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

jdalgetty wrote: post #127

I wear a fitbit primarily for the sleep tracker. Is there a comparable non-google device that does sleep tracking? My garmin watch is not a great replacement in that regard.

My Garmin Forerunner 35 does a good job of sleep tracking. And it lasts around 10 days on a charge. (without using the GPS.) What model do you have?

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#154

Post by lostgame » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

I keep seeing new Apple Watches being released, and I keep seeing them add new features I haven’t seen people asking for instead of focusing on the obvious issue - the atrocious battery life.

Putting a 3G modem in my watch is the antithesis to what I see most people asking for - a watch that can actually last more than 24 hours without having to charge it.

When my phone lasts longer than my watch, there is something fundamentally wrong.

Hopefully this purchase will result in some half-decent Android smart watches - that I’ll never purchase anyways because Google - but for those willing to sell their data out at least they will have the option to do so on decent hardware and hopefully software.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#155

Post by lkbm » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #66

thrower123 wrote: post #57

Damn. I like my Fitbit. I wouldn't be looking forward to having it stop working with no notice because Google decided to just shut down the servers on a random Tuesday and shutter the product line...

Does it really require access to a server, if you're just synching it to one phone?

Yes, as it works right now. You can't sync it to your phone. (through your phone). You sync it to their server and your phone also connects to the server.

There's presumably some caching on your phone, but the server is the source of truth, and I don't think you can get updated info on your phone without it round-tripping to their server first.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#156

Post by andrewblossom » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

akhilcacharya wrote: post #77

modeless wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 7.5…

The Pebble ran on a Cortex M3. These days the new Mi Bands offer somewhat equivalent specs for $40 with 15 day battery life on color displays with heart rate monitors. I'd be really excited to see something similar in a more traditional watch form factor.

There is some talk of the recently announced PineTime (https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/PineTime) running RebbleOS. Should be cheaper than the Mi Bands with a more traditional watch form factor and decent battery life!

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#157

Post by kylemuir » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

sakopov wrote: post #149

zamalek wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you own a Fitbit (I do), it's great news. Fitbit have done an unmatched job of destroying the device already. I was honestly considering buying a different device already. They don't support Spotify, or really any music app except the one (which I don't remember). Their subscription service provides no real value at all. Their devices track heart rate and nothing else. They simply don't innovate at all.

I haven't used Fitbit since the first iteration of the product, but why would you want Spotify on a device that tracks your fitness level?

When I was big into running I wanted a smart watch that could play my music and connect to my headphones without needing to take my bulky phone with me

Other reasons for wanting spotify is a remote control. When I had my pebble and my phone was in my pocket I'd often use it to skip songs, drop the volume a bit, etc without having to pull out my phone each time

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#158

Post by seansmccullough » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

sakopov wrote: post #149

zamalek wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you own a Fitbit (I do), it's great news. Fitbit have done an unmatched job of destroying the device already. I was honestly considering buying a different device already. They don't support Spotify, or really any music app except the one (which I don't remember). Their subscription service provides no real value at all. Their devices track heart rate and nothing else. They simply don't innovate at all.

I haven't used Fitbit since the first iteration of the product, but why would you want Spotify on a device that tracks your fitness level?

It's really nice to listen to music while running without your phone with an Apple Watch, it would be a really compelling feature for Fitbit to also support this functionality.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#159

Post by aries1980 » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:09 PM UTC

puranjay wrote: post #125

aries1980 wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is not much "feature" in a Fitbit. You can't even correct simple numeric values of an exercise, such as the ran distance or the bodyfat percentage of the scale reading.

I can't even understand how they're able to charge as much as they do. I've owned 3 Fitbit devices and they perform uniformly worse than a cheap as dirt Xiaomi Mi Band I received as a free prize. Their battery life tops out at 2 days max and the sync feature is broken. Heck, they don't even look good

My wife's and my Fitbit Charge 2 can still get a good going of 5 days with a 3-4x hour-long exercise recording. My main issue with Fitbit is it treats us like someone who bought it for fashion. Also I prefer strength training, and to measure effort of anything but jogging and steps is out of scope for Fitbit. When I bought our Fitbit, I hoped the insights I can get out from the devices would improve over the years, because their slogan that time was about to revolutionise fitness with data. Unfortunately the usefulness of their products remain very basic.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#160

Post by verst » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 6:10 PM UTC

sakopov wrote: post #149

zamalek wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you own a Fitbit (I do), it's great news. Fitbit have done an unmatched job of destroying the device already. I was honestly considering buying a different device already. They don't support Spotify, or really any music app except the one (which I don't remember). Their subscription service provides no real value at all. Their devices track heart rate and nothing else. They simply don't innovate at all.

I haven't used Fitbit since the first iteration of the product, but why would you want Spotify on a device that tracks your fitness level?

I'm a marathoner and need to go on long training runs. My Garmin running Watch has music (Spotify) which I can play via Bluetooth.

I don't want to carry around a phone during prolonged vigorous exercise.

Spotify integration makes a lot of sense for fitness watches.