Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit • Hacker News Board

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#201

Post by aerique » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:07 PM UTC

wlesieutre wrote: post #195

zeta0134 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not own a Fitbit, but on my older Pebble, the music integration feature allows me to play/pause the music, switch tracks (to skip that one song in the playlist I should really remember to remove), and adjust the volume. When I'm working out or doing yardwork, it's handy to have access to these things on my wristwatch rather than trying to fiddle with the phone in my pocket. It's sounds like the most minor conven…

I used to have a Pebble and being able to do music control with hardware buttons was great. I could push those buttons through my coat sleeve while wearing gloves.

Such a loss.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#202

Post by gnicholas » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:09 PM UTC

jammygit wrote: post #183

Fitbit has a privacy policy that says they won't sell or transfer your data IIRC, but that does not prevent them from doing so in the case of a sale or merger. I hate those clauses: the hypothetical argument is always 'what if some data miner buys them' ? This is health data we're talking about

> If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, we will continue to take measures to protect the confidentiality of personal information and give affected users notice before transferring any personal information to a new entity.

from https://www.fitbit.com/legal/privacy-policy

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#203

Post by Yeroc » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:09 PM UTC

TooCleverByHalf wrote: post #179

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.

[Whoop]( https://www.whoop.com/ ) has a lot of buzz right now and offers some interesting looking sleep insight. I haven't used one myself yet so I can't speak from personal experience.

Sleep tracking at $30/month? Are you joking? I don't think anyone moving from a Fitbit is going to be willing for that kind of $$$ commitment to track sleep!

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#204

Post by ebog » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:15 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.

If you just want a sleep tracker I would recommend looking at Oura ring

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#205

Post by TeMPOraL » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:17 PM UTC

ryanmercer wrote: post #96

TeMPOraL wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't wait for my already EOL'd Pebble that was acquired by FitBit to be resurrected as a surveillance/adtech nightmare by Google.

I can't wait for my Pebble 2 I paid for via crowdfunding (shhh I know I got refunded) to get manufactured and shipped before the company decided to go out of business, not delivering the product they hyped, and sell themselves to FitBit.

Me too. I was all hyped up for my new Pebble 2 up until the money came back :/. I guess, at least they did refund us.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#206

Post by sumoboy » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:18 PM UTC

whydoyoucare wrote: post #31

spidermango wrote: post #11

Great now google can track my biometrics

That's the whole point, isn't it? And then sell it to healthcare providers, so you can receive timely advice! :-D

I don't know about selling it healthcare providers but integrating it as an audience with Google Ad's seems like the likely path. They know your location, now it's knowing your body data to target an audience segment.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#207

Post by TheCapn » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:21 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.

I've been generally happy with Xiaomi Mi Band. I used a Mi Band 2 for a couple years until it died and am using a Mi Band 3 now.

My biggest need was for a "silent" wakeup alarm since I get up so much earlier than my fiance. It does sleep tracking and a lot of phone features that I don't use.

The two biggest wins are (1) the price, and (2) the battery life. I paid like $40 for the watch, and $20 for a better band on Amazon. The battery on my MiBand2 lasted ~month and a half. The MiBand 3 is shaping up to be much less, but still 3-4 weeks between charges.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#208

Post by hanniabu » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:23 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

> I've owned 3 Fitbit devices

There's your answer right there. If people keep buying then why would they charge less?

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#209

Post by loons2 » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:24 PM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #173

loons2 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I frankly wouldn't trust the numbers of any device that can't keep the time. Have you tried to verify them somehow?

Step counts as well as the fitbit. Heart rate is simple. How can it mess that up? Blood pressure is relative. You don't expect it to be accurate without a cuff. Same with O2. Those can show whether you're higher or lower "now" than you were an hour ago, a day ago, but they're not intended to be accurate on an absolute scale. Sleep seems to match up pretty well with snorelabs.

Now that I think about it, I wonder how well any of them keep time without syncing to their app.

Re: Alphabet in bid to buy Fitbit

#210

Post by wlesieutre » Mon, Oct 28, 2019, 7:24 PM UTC

aerique wrote: post #201

wlesieutre wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to have a Pebble and being able to do music control with hardware buttons was great. I could push those buttons through my coat sleeve while wearing gloves.

Such a loss.

I wonder how technology development would be different if the people designing it lived somewhere with weather