From The Verge: It may feel like all the attention is on full-fledged smartwatches these days — devices like the Apple Watch, Galaxy Watch, and Fitbit’s own Ionic and Versa watches — but the popular fitness company hasn’t forgotten about its fitness trackers yet. Today, Fitbit is announcing (as the leaks predicted) the Fitbit Charge 3, the latest update to the company’s Charge line of trackers.
At first glance, the Charge 3 looks pretty similar to the Charge 2: there’s a vertical black-and-white screen, and the overall shape and size are pretty much the same. But a closer look shows that Fitbit has completely overhauled the Charge 3 with a new aluminum body and Gorilla Glass 3 screen borrowed from the Versa line. The display is now a touchscreen with support for grayscale colors (in addition to just plain black and white) along with 40 percent more active screen area than the Charge 2.
The Charge 3 is water resistant (up to 50 meters) and now offers swim tracking in addition to the other forms of exercise that Fitbit has offered in the past. Fitbit has also upgraded the heart rate sensor for better accuracy and added the same SpO2 (or oxygen saturation) sensor found on its smartwatches. Crucially, the Charge 3 now offers up to seven days of battery life on a single charge (up from five days on the Charge 2).
The physical button on the Charge 2 has also been replaced with a new “inductive button” that’s similar to the fake home button on Apple’s more recent iPhones. There are no moving parts, and the tactile “press” has been replaced by haptic feedback. Fitbit says that the change to the inductive button helped save room on the inside of the device for more battery and sensors while also making it easier to waterproof the device.
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