![]() It’s wonderfully simple to use – you switch from tiles by swiping left and right, access the quick settings by swiping down from the top and view notifications by swiping up. As mentioned above, using it feels more like we’re using a Wear OS device than one running Fitbit OS. The user interface has also been given a makeover. It’s a little less convenient, and sometimes the screen is a tad slow to respond when you turn your wrist, but it preserves battery massively. Flipping your wrist towards you or pressing the button reveals the watch face. Like the original Fitbit Sense, the second-generation model features an always-on display, but it isn’t turned on by default – a good thing, because it basically halves the battery life of the smartwatch. It’s easy to click and hold, stretches almost the length of the watch, and doesn’t protrude too far. There’s no chance of either of those things happening now that Fitbit has implemented a physical button. Many complained it either didn’t work when it was pressed, or was being activated accidentally. The original Sense featured a haptic groove instead of a physical button, which frustrated users. We were able to adjust the straps to a tight enough level that the Fitbit was in constant contact with our skin – assuming a tighter fit meant a better continuous electrodermal activity (cEDA) reading (more on that in a bit).Įven though it’s largely the same in terms of its handsome design, what is different is the introduction of a physical button on the side. It still features the same compact 40mm rounded aluminium square case, the same 1.58in AMOLED display with a 336 x 336 resolution, and the same soft silicone straps in medium and large (both come in the box as standard). Design-wise, though, both devices are practically the same. That millimetre having been shaved off means it juts out less awkwardly on your wrist, sitting much more uniformly against your skin, and we barely remembered we were wearing it, because it’s so feather-light. The Sense 2 is lighter by a few grams and thinner by a millimetre or so. Put the Sense and the Sense 2 side by side and you’ll barely be able to tell them apart. And, blimey, we were stressed, and we were forced to be mindful about it. These are so class-leading, we knew exactly when our emotions were heightened throughout the day, because the Sense 2 kept telling us. However, it’s also £30 cheaper than the original model, and is flush with class-leading health, sleep and stress-tracking features. On top of that, third-party apps have been seemingly stripped from the watch altogether, you can’t control music playback, and wifi has been deactivated. ![]() The voice assistant is weirdly locked to Alexa, and there is no support for Google Assistant, despite both being available on the original Sense. There are things missing, however, and these omissions might put you off buying the device. Sure, the fitness tracker does feel more like a Wear OS product, following a redesign of the user interface, but the Fitbit Sense 2 still runs on Fitbit OS, and you can still use Fitbit Pay to make NFC payments, with Google Wallet said to be launching in a future update, as well as Google Maps. While the company has been busy weaving Fitbit into the fabric of its new Pixel Watch (poaching essential Fitbit sensors), on the Sense 2, you’re still getting a simple, non-intrusive Fitbit experience like no other. Fitbit still has a place in the increasingly crowded wearables market, even with Google on board.įrom what we can see, Google’s influence on the latest Sense has been kept to a minimum, if not dramatically reduced. But nearly two years on from the completion of the acquisition, and with the company’s new flagship Fitbit Sense 2 device on our wrist, it seems there wasn’t too much to worry about. Some feared Fitbit would lose its identity, as it was inevitably rolled into future Google wearables, while others worried Google’s influence on the device might be too severe. “Fitbit is doomed.” That’s what critics said when Google announced it was acquiring the fitness wearable company in 2019.
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