Fitbit Unveils its First Fitness Smartwatch Named Ionic with Fitbit Pay

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Recently, Xiaomi has topped the wearable market share with its affordable Mi Band fitness trackers. However, Fitbit with its premium offerings still remains as the go to brand in the high-end segment. Today, the company has diversified its offering by launching its first ever smartwatch and wireless headphone. The Fitbit Ionic smartwatch comes with advanced health and fitness features and offers personal training. Fitbit also partnered with Adidas to bring the Fitbit Ionic special edition smartwatch and training programs in 2018.

The Ionic is said to be the first Fitbit device to be designed fully in-house. It runs on the all-new Fitbit OS and includes the app store called Fitbit App Gallery where the users can find all the available apps and clock faces. The unibody watchcase manufactured using the nano-molding technology also acts as the Bluetooth and GPS antenna. It sports a spherical glass touchscreen that offers the brightness of up to 1,000 nits. On the software front, the Fitbit Ionic comes with Fitbit Coach that will be a virtual alternative to the personal trainer.

Fitbit also confirmed to offer Audio Coaching sessions from early 2018. The smartwatch can automatically track the run with the Running companion app. With the water resistance up to 50 meters, the Fitbit Ionic can be used in the pool. The heart rate technology on Ionic uses PurePulse heart rate tracking to offer better accuracy during exercises like cycling and running. There is also a new SpO2 sensor that should provide much fitness and health analytics by estimating the blood oxygen levels. With 4GB of internal storage (2.5GB available storage), the users can directly store the music files on the smartwatch itself.

Fitbit also tapped the mobile payments sector by introducing the Fitbit Pay. It can be used at the contactless payment terminals. The smartwatch will also show the notifications from the connected smartphone. With all these features, Fitbit claims the Ionic to give more than four days of battery life a single charge, but the last only up to 10 hours while using GPS or playing music. Apart from the smart new features, the Ionic will be able to do all the tasks that can be done with the Fitbit Blaze. Coming to the pricing, the Fitbit Ionic costs $300 and is now available for presale on Fitbit.com.

From tomorrow, it will also be available through other selected online retailers in the U.S. However, the sales of the Fitbit Ionic will begin worldwide in October. It will be available in three different color options – silver gray tracker and clasp with blue gray band, smoke gray tracker and clasp with charcoal band, and burnt orange tracker and clasp with slate blue band. The Classic accessories priced at $29.95 will be available in blue gray with silver gray buckle, charcoal with smoke gray buckle, and slate blue with burnt orange buckle.

There is also a two-toned breathable sport band that comes with a priced of  tag $29.95. The premium looking Horween leather accessories in cognac and midnight blue color will cost $59.95.

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