Fitbit can now automatically recognize when you’re exercising. This is possible thanks to the SmartTrack feature, which automatically detects whether you’re just out walking or running, cycling, playing basketball, tennis, soccer, kickboxing, or dancing.
Fitbit: automatic measuring sports
You do thus not press a button to start the measurement, but you must have the correct Fitbit device, because it only works on relatively new models: the Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge, two fitness trackers that you wear on your wrist. A software update adds the new functionality. Both Fitbits can measure your heart rate but have a very different approach. The Fitbit Charge HR is intended more as fitness bracelet to wear all day while the Fitbit Surge is more focused on sporty types who are moving all day. The Surge is also quite a bit more expensive.
Automatic measurement with Fitbit (and Jawbone)
As soon as you move the Fitbit, it recognizes what you are doing and start the stopwatch. Something similar was already in the Jawbone Up, where they compare measurements of ‘millions’ other workouts to guess what you’re doing. But despite the fact that Jawbone was first, Fitbit is still leading. Jawbone had last week even lay off employees. Both companies have indeed revealed no new fitness trackers for the holidays; at Jawbone we understand that well because of layoffs, at Fitbit we had hoped for something new again. The Surge and Charge are indeed already one-year-old. Instead, they always bring software updates, with which, for example, the battery life is extended.
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