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Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

reuters.com

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Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#131

Post by dyingkneepad »

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…

The value of my Fitbit is not on counting steps, I don't really care about it. I just wanted the smallest device that would be able to wake me up without also waking up my wife and son :).

But I figured it also tracks how many hours I sleep, and I've been using it to try to improve those values. Seeing bad (or good) numbers does affect your motivation to reach the goal.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#132

Post by bradhoffman »

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.

I’m in the same boat. Supposedly Apple is working on native sleep tracking. Once that is the case, then I’ll switch over from Fitbit.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#133

Post by whitebread »

dblock wrote: post #97

Fitbit is damaged goods. Just read https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Ionic/Would-you-buy-Fitbit-I... - I own one of these along with many unsatisfied customers. Google is buying technical debt.

The Ionic was a misstep, but damning the entire brand because of one bad product feels like painting with too broad a brush. Like another user said, I love my Versa. Liked but didn't love the Blaze when I had that. I'll be searching for a wearable from a different company that is comparable to the Versa if this deal goes through.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#134

Post by cdiddy2 »

toasterlovin wrote: post #102
ignoramous wrote: post #16

> Fitbits’ stock shot up almost 30 percent after the first rumors surfaced. In recent months, the company’s stock often traded below $3, down from close to $48 shortly after its IPO in 2015. Today, after the announcement, it went up to around $5.20. Good lord, must the acquisition offer feel like a relief? Surely, Fitbit wouldn't do a Groupon now. The article fails to mention Fossil, but Google recently did acquire t…

> Xiaomi, Huawei, and Huami have really taken the wearables market by storm You link to a press release. Are there actual sales numbers to back that claim up? Because all I see out in the real world are Apple watches and Fit Bits. > I hope the rumoured Pixel Wearable isn't comically expensive like its Phone counterparts. The Apple Watch Series 3 is available on apple.com for $199.

Garmin has surprisingly good offerings in the smartwatch space too

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#135

Post by jschwartzi »

CydeWeys wrote: post #113
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 have a Garmin fitness watch, and I mainly use it to tell the time, daily step count, and the distance/pace/heart rate/duration during runs and bike rides. I do sync the resultant recorded activities to Strava but frankly that's not very important to me. And this is enough to justify the device for me. It only cost $150 or so, lasts much longer than a year, and earns its keep in useful functionality.

Also the battery lasts for almost an entire week between charges, which is an awesome feature. My fiancee has to recharge her Samsung watch almost every day.

This is one of those things where limiting the functionality of the device enhances the usability of it. I can easily do the 3 or 4 things I actually want a watch to do on my fitbit(stopwatch, heartrate, pedometer, see who's calling) and don't have to worry about dumb stuff like receiving phone calls or watching video on a tiny screen.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#136

Post by ip26 »

not2b wrote: post #91

Very bad news for anyone who has a Fitbit device. Google tends to destroy any "smart" devices they acquire; first they tie it more closely to their ecosystem, too much for comfort, then they remove features, then they get bored and neglect it, then you have a brick.

Hoping this doesn't happen with the Nest Thermostat. The good news is the install base is huge, so it's not like they can just quietly brick them and have no one notice.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#137

Post by jschwartzi »

mc32 wrote: post #109
not2b wrote: post #91

Very bad news for anyone who has a Fitbit device. Google tends to destroy any "smart" devices they acquire; first they tie it more closely to their ecosystem, too much for comfort, then they remove features, then they get bored and neglect it, then you have a brick.

Yeah. I agree. Normally I’d think they’d improve things but after dropcam, I’m less enthusiastic. The consolation is that they’re not going after Garmin, so there is that.

I guess I'm going to have to stop using Fitbit after this. Google is really creepy.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#138

Post by setr »

diggan wrote: post #104
beckingz wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can download it from fitbit, though the daily activity is structured in a hostile json format.

> hostile json format This is new. Is "hostile" referring to a data format that has been created to be as un-portable as possible? Feels like a more accurate description would be to just saw "poorly designed format" as you cannot know their intent (unless they published their intent of course)

You can derive/assume intent; it'd be pointless to only claim intent when specifically stated (you can't always assume stated intent isn't actual intent either...).

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#139

Post by darkwater »

toasterlovin wrote: post #102
ignoramous wrote: post #16

> Fitbits’ stock shot up almost 30 percent after the first rumors surfaced. In recent months, the company’s stock often traded below $3, down from close to $48 shortly after its IPO in 2015. Today, after the announcement, it went up to around $5.20. Good lord, must the acquisition offer feel like a relief? Surely, Fitbit wouldn't do a Groupon now. The article fails to mention Fossil, but Google recently did acquire t…

> Xiaomi, Huawei, and Huami have really taken the wearables market by storm You link to a press release. Are there actual sales numbers to back that claim up? Because all I see out in the real world are Apple watches and Fit Bits. > I hope the rumoured Pixel Wearable isn't comically expensive like its Phone counterparts. The Apple Watch Series 3 is available on apple.com for $199.

> Because all I see out in the real world are Apple watches and Fit Bits.

Which world? USA? Apple Watch doesn't work outside the Apple ecosystem, and Apple doesn't own the majority of the smartphone market.

Stats for Europe, 2019 https://www.gizmochina.com/2019/10/21/smart-wearables-market...

Apple was pretty stable, Fitbit lost half its market share (to Garmin, looks like), the rest was more or less stable.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#140

Post by loons2 »

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

Bought my chinese no-name (it probably does have a name if I saved the box, but there's no brand on the device itself) for $10. Time, stepcount, calories, distance, heart rate, BP, O2 sat, sports functions, sleep, etc. The watch does lose about 45 seconds a day, so I have to sync it once a week or so to keep the time display in an acceptable range. The app is otherwise irrelevant to me. Charge lasts about 6 days.
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