81–90 of 125 posts
So buying Pebble was nothing but their previous try at surviving in a challenging wearable market? It's really difficult to wrap my head around these two recent moves in a way that makes sense.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: A big part of Fitbit's problem is the poor hardware quality of their products, especially considering the high price. A lot of people, me included, will never buy another Fitbit after having been burned. Their warranty only lasts one year, yet I've had to replace both Fitbit devices I've had twice within that one year. I'm now Fitbit-less because the latest, a Charge HR, fai…
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My Fitbit won the prize for being the only hardware/software to blue screen my Windows computer in at least a decade. It actually took me a few hours to figure out what was happening because I never suspected simply plugging in that device could do it. Sure enough, after 5 minutes or less it would hard crash my computer. I promptly gave it away and will never buy another one. I read some Amazon reviews where people t…
That's really odd, I haven't seen a blue screen for ages and even then it was a hardware problem (faulty RAM).
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They don't WANT to provide people their own health data, I'm guessing. They demoed a full integration with HealthKit years ago but canned it, I'm guessing for the exact same reason. And honestly, I think this is exactly why Fitbit ended up failing. They tried to create a walled garden where you would collect all your data into their service, the hardware wasn't what they wanted to sell you, but their premium services…
I am a developer and I was a fitbit premium user for long time but I cancelled my subscription. I went over all their APIs but failed to get data where I can export my detailed workout and cardio stats. My main purpose was train myself for even more intense workout looking at the data. It was just a very disappointing experience.
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This is why I've been eyeing a Garmin Vivoactive HR. I know people slam Garmin because they feel behind but if there is one thing they know it's accuracy. There's a reason they're the goto brand for cyclists, runners and triathletes. It's because they work reliably.
Consider also the Fenix 3 - it was plagued with software bugs when launched but the firmware is now stable and delivers what it says on the tin. You get a nice smartwatch and fitness tracker with GPS/GLONASS and good integration to other sensors (Bluetooth and ANT). Plus, as the icing on the cake: you can easily get a week or more of use with a single charge, if you don't use the GPS.
Automatic sleep tracking is abysmal (regularly off by >4 hours, sometimes more). The wrist heart rate monitor tends to have inaccurate spikes at least once a day, and when the watch doesn't detect motion the wrist heart rate sensor is essentially turned off (sampling rate goes to greater than once every 30 minutes). Resting heart rate is calculated in at least 3 different ways in various parts of the UI (and none of them seem accurate). And then there's the tons and tons of bugs (and terrible iOS companion app).
Honestly the hardware is ok, but I get the impression that Garmin just hasn't invested in (or doesn't know how to do) software. It's not worth the (very high) asking price in my opinion.
I have bought my share of fitbit, Band etc. The only way to make wearables tolerable is making them less smart and more accurate. Accurately measure my heart rate and stop bugging me about a stupid text!
This is why I've been eyeing a Garmin Vivoactive HR. I know people slam Garmin because they feel behind but if there is one thing they know it's accuracy. There's a reason they're the goto brand for cyclists, runners and triathletes. It's because they work reliably.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: A big part of Fitbit's problem is the poor hardware quality of their products, especially considering the high price. A lot of people, me included, will never buy another Fitbit after having been burned. Their warranty only lasts one year, yet I've had to replace both Fitbit devices I've had twice within that one year. I'm now Fitbit-less because the latest, a Charge HR, fai…
This is an opportunity for Apple. They could come in with an "express sport" offering at under half the pricing of the current Apple Watch, optimized as a watch, fitness monitor, listening to media during your workout, and for only charging once a week. (I'm thinking around $120) The selling point would be that you'd pay more than a Fitbit, but you'd get better build quality, experience, and support.
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Yes, but it doesn't sync with HealthKit/Google Fit directly. You have to go through MyFitnessPal and login to your Fitbit account. You're two steps removed from direct integration and sharing with any other apps on your device.
I can see why there's no direct integration -- isn't it better for a company to ask permission for your data before using it? Like how if you want to sign up for a website through Facebook or Google, they ask first.
Wearables only have 2 "killer applications", so far: notifications and fitness. To broaden their appeal they need to find others. I don't think that will happen this year. The next likely killer application for wearables is probably automation, authentication and interaction with other devices. However the problem in this area is that the standards are too fragmented (AllJoyn, Homekit, Google's Brillo, etc) and the d…
The Apple Watch can do authentication to some extent: Authy has an Apple Watch app, and there's Apple Pay. This is the kind of stuff I don't think Fitbit can easily duplicate, which is why I think they're going to struggle in the future.
I'd love it if I could securely store all of my passwords on an Apple Watch, which would require my fingerprint to unlock. But only if there was Bluetooth integration for macOS and USB devices for integration with random computers.
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Isn't that more a Windows problem? An OS should never crash entirely because a device was plugged in. Fitbit probably should've caught that in testing though.
Device drivers run in kernel mode and can bugcheck the machine. Microsoft can certainly provide tooling and help device driver writers write reliable drivers, but the device is still responsible for it's driver.