Fitbit's Alta HR packs a heart rate monitor in a slim package
If you're in the market for a fitness tracker right now, Fitbit's products seems like the most obvious choice, what with the company's near-monopoly on stylish yet useful consumer wearables. The newly-introduced Alta HR, which is the follow-up to last year's Alta, continues that trend by packing even more functionality, namely heart rate monitoring, into the same frame as its predecessor.
The original Alta featured an impressive array of features, including Fitbit's signature activity recognition and sleep tracking, a small LCD display, support for phone notifications, and a large battery lasting for up to 5 days. The HR includes all that, but with the added bonus of also having continuous heart-rate monitoring, which was the major feature missing from the original. Fitbit has kept the device's looks pretty much the same, meaning it's still just 0.6" wide. Also, all of the Alta's interchangeable bands are compatible with the Alta HR.
The added functionality, of course, comes with a slightly increased cost: the Alta HR is currently listed at $149 on Fitbit's website, which is a $20 premium over its predecessor. The device is currently up for pre-order and will get released in April. Along with it, a new version of the Fitbit app will be released with deeper support for sleep monitoring, differentiating between light, deep, and REM sleep.
source: Fitbit
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