14 DAY TRIAL // Fitbit has officially launched its latest smartwatch, Ionic, and it looks like it’s not the great watch people were expecting if we take a gander at what users are saying on the official forums.
It’s been a long time since Fitbit brought to the market a proper smartwatch, and we’re not counting bands. Blaze was released in 2016, and not a single peep was ushered since then. It was a really good device, but two years has done wonders for the competition.
Fitbit was on a big wave back in 2016, and its Blaze fitness tracker/watch was pretty much the best there was. But when you stay on the sidelines, other companies are going to catch up, and that exactly what happened.
Now, the latest Fitbit Ionic is pretty and somewhat interesting but feels like an upgrade to Blaze, and nothing more.
The lukewarm reception is going to hurt the company
The best way to determine if a device is any good is to check the official forums. A lot of people have received their preorders, long before the official October 1st release date, and the forums are already filling up with problems.
To be fair, all new devices have various problems. It doesn’t matter if you’re Samsung, Apple, or Amazon. The simple fact that a highly complex device gets into the hands of many people ensures that at least some of them will have issues.
For the most part, Fitbit Ionic seems to show the same kind of problems that plagued Blaze. Number one of the list is the ability to automatically sync with the phone. This should be the cornerstone of the fitness tracker, but a lot of people are having problems with it.
Also, users are encountering problems with the music sync, which is a new feature. Suffice to say that it’s more difficult than it should be. Apparently, users just have to try until it works.
Furthermore, it looks like Ionic also has a problem with the latest iOS 11, and it's possible that a large number of Android devices that can't be considered old are not supported. A good idea would be to consult the official website and check if your phone is supported. Unfortunately, Ionic is not available on the list.
The Fitbit support is probably overwhelmed with requests, and they provide the same answer pretty much all the time. Upgrade the firmware, remove and add the tracker again, and so on. It’s even ironic given that some people can’t link it with the phone, let alone make it upgrade.
To top it all off, the launch date was on a Sunday. Even if you get the watch a couple of days early, you’re not going to get much out of the support during the weekend.