Google makes the Fitbit Charge 5 official with ECG, EDA, and COLOR display
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Well, that didn't take long. It was only a couple of days back that we... basically told you everything you needed to know about the Fitbit Charge 5, and the company has already confirmed all the previously unofficial information on its latest wearable device.
Of course, the feature-packed fitness tracker has undoubtedly been in the works for a while now, leaking in all its glory a couple of times before and following in the footsteps of a well-received Fitbit Charge 4 released more than a year ago.
While the Charge 4 was sold by Google on the heels of the search giant's Fitbit acquisition, the Charge 5 is the brand's first product exclusively announced on Big G's "Keyword" blog, hinting at exciting things for the wearable industry as a whole that could well culminate with a long overdue Pixel Watch launch by the end of the year.
The most advanced activity tracker ever?
Until the Pixel Watch or any other high-end Apple Watch alternatives jointly developed by Google and Fitbit become a reality, health fanatics on a relatively tight budget should be delighted to hear the $179.95 Charge 5 comes with a far more extensive arsenal of sensors and fitness tracking tools than its already respectable predecessor.
Or rather will come at some point in the presumably near future given that the most important feature doesn't appear to be ready for primetime just yet. We're talking about the life-saving ECG monitoring technology made popular by Apple back in 2018 and incorporated by more and more smartwatches in recent years.
That includes 2020's Fitbit Sense, which is why it's certainly a little weird to hear that the ECG app will be available "soon" on the Charge 5 in "select countries" rather than right off the bat. Then again, we presume each individual product packing this functionality requires its own FDA clearance, which might explain the hold-up here.
After all, the Fitbit Charge 5 looks set to be the world's first affordable smart band with built-in ECG and EDA sensors, the latter of which is also borrowed from the much pricier Sense smartwatch to measure and try to reduce a wearer's stress levels.
Daily Readiness is another major health tool that the Charge 5 integrates while the Charge 4 did not because, well, it didn't exist until today. As the name suggests, the feature, which is exclusive to Fitbit Premium subscribers, aims to help you understand your body better, predicting when you might be "ready" for a tougher workout than usual and when it would be wise to take a break.
Together, these groundbreaking capabilities (alongside all the "classics", from 24/7 heart rate monitoring to sleep tracking, automatic exercise recognition, and a standalone GPS chip) clearly make the Charge 5 Fitbit's "most advanced health and fitness tracker" yet, as proclaimed by Google, while also arguably eclipsing everything Garmin has to offer below the $200 mark.
Fitbit Charge 5 display, design, and availability
As impressive as it is to see a $180 tracker promise to do things that were only possible at $400 and up just a couple of years ago, there's actually another important upgrade likely to be noticed even easier by long-time fans and owners of Charge-series devices.
That's because the display is probably the first thing most people look at (both literally and figuratively) when shopping for a new gadget, and for the first time in the history of the Fitbit Charge family, the display's got color going for it.
While Google and Fitbit are awfully quiet about the actual specs of this first-of-its-kind AMOLED touchscreen, the brightness improvement over the Charge 4's grayscale panel should be substantial, not to mention that there's finally an Always-On option... for folks unconcerned about power consumption.
Speaking of, the Fitbit Charge 5 is remarkably billed as capable of keeping the lights on for up to seven days between charges, although you may have to make a few more compromises than ever before to squeeze the same endurance times as from the Charge 4.
The last striking thing of the Charge 5 is, well, its general appearance, which includes smoother curves and a 10 percent thinner profile than its predecessor in addition to the aforementioned color display and a wide range of optional bands made from silicone, nylon, and leather complementing the graphite, soft gold, and platinum stainless steel cases available in combination with black, lunar white, and steel blue straps respectively as standard.
Up for pre-order today in all three of those flavors, the $179.95 Fitbit Charge 5 includes a six-month Premium membership, with "worldwide availability" vaguely slated for "this fall" although the brand's official US website does list "late September" as an ETA for early adopters.
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