1 hour ago
5
pros and cons
Pros
- Affordable
- Comprehensive wellness tracking
- Google's AI Health Coach improves the experience
Cons
- The AI isn't perfect, and tin hallucinate
Is 2026 the twelvemonth we spell screenless? It's looking to beryllium that mode with Google's merchandise of the Fitbit Air, its Whoop competitor, disposable now. Whoop whitethorn person kick-started the screenless wristband craze, but Google is proving that an affordably priced wellness tracker tin beryllium conscionable arsenic commercially successful, particularly if it's comfortable, useful, and long-lasting -- with its $100 terms tag.
Also: Fitbit Air vs. Whoop: I compared Google's screenless fittingness tracker to the manufacture best
The Fitbit Air's announcement came with a fewer bundle updates, including an app sanction alteration from Fitbit to Google Health and the planetary motorboat of Google's Health Coach, the AI companion that powers the premium app experience.
I've been investigating the instrumentality implicit the past week arsenic I've gone running, lifted weights, done yoga, and logged hours connected the elliptical. I've asked the AI manager for assistance successful readying my workout routine, knowing my recovery, and nutrition advice. After stress-testing the Fitbit Air, I'm well-positioned to archer you whether it's a worthy buy. Spoiler alert: it perfectly is.
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Your acquisition with the Fitbit Air volition disagree depending connected whether you're subscribed to Google Health Premium. The bulk of the Fitbit Air's functions are the aforesaid crossed tiers, but immoderate in-app features, similar logging a repast by messaging the AI coach, are somewhat much seamless successful the rank tier.
Out of the box, the $100 Fitbit Air comes successful 4 colorways: lavender, berry, obsidian, and fog (a blue-gray). It's a bladed set that takes up little abstraction astir my wrist than my Whoop oregon Apple Watch. It's besides lighter.
Also: I compared the champion smartwatches by Google and Samsung - here's however Pixel wins out
It has an optical bosom complaint monitor, three-axis accelerometer and gyroscope, SpO2 monitoring sensors, a somesthesia sensor, and a vibration centrifugal (used for Fitbit Air's wake-up alarm). It doesn't person a GPS for determination tracking, but since it's a screenless device, the Fitbit Air uses your phone's determination monitoring instead. If you privation to log a phone-free tally astir the block, you'll person to usage 1 of Google's different devices (like its Pixel Watch).
Fitbit Air's screenless plan allows it to foster a healthier narration with enactment tracking. I emotion my Apple Watch, but it's made maine a small obsessed with getting my steps in, acknowledgment to the changeless reminders of my enactment goals connected the screen. A screenless tracker, connected the different hand, is acold little invasive; with each the information housed successful the app, I tin cheque erstwhile I privation to.
Out of each the wearables I've tested, this 1 blended into bully outfits the best. On the flip side, erstwhile I was moving out, I would find myself glancing astatine the set retired of habit, checking my bosom complaint zones oregon calories burned, lone to recognize I'd person to excavation into my app to find them.
The artillery lasts astir a week. I began wearing the instrumentality connected a Saturday morning, and by the pursuing Saturday morning, its artillery was astir 20%. Not excessively bad, right?
Also: This minimalist fittingness tracker is simply a refreshing alternate (with nary subscription)
You tin log a assortment of activities done the Google Health app, whether you're way running, practicing Bikram yoga, oregon doing ballet. It displays your wide cardio load, calories burned, and bosom complaint arsenic you log an exercise. On the Google Health location screen, you'll spot a play cardio load (adjusted each week based connected your enactment goals and habits), sleep, steps, and a betterment score.
I similar having the play people beforehand and halfway -- it serves arsenic a bully workout pacer. I cognize erstwhile to ramp up my cardio during a slower week, oregon remainder connected the weekends if I've already jam-packed the beforehand of my week with runs and high-intensity workouts.
Because you can't presumption immoderate workout information connected the device, it would beryllium bully to person definite metrics, similar calories burned, steps, oregon bosom complaint zones, disposable connected show connected your phone's location screen. This is presently missing from Google Health, but I'd emotion to spot it successful a aboriginal update for easier viewing.
I'd besides similar to usage the Google Health Coach portion logging a workout, say, to inquire it to person 16kg to pounds oregon to swap 1 limb workout for different during my precocious assemblage spot training.
Also: I wore the Whoop 5.0 for a period - it combines the champion of the Oura Ring and Apple Watch
The instrumentality is inactive designed for a mainstream fittingness assemblage -- not truthful overmuch a premium, longevity- and biohacking-obsessed assemblage to which Whoop caters. It's besides priced accordingly. Without the $100 yearly Google Health subscription, the Fitbit Air costs $100. In contrast, yearly Whoop subscriptions commencement astatine $200, with the highest "medical grade" tier astatine $360.
Google's AI astatine the core
The Google Health app (formerly known arsenic Fitbit) delivers the bulk of the basal health-tracking mechanisms, and if you privation to freestyle by exporting your value grooming information from different app, that's disposable to you successful the Google Health Coach chat done the further Google Health subscription.
The rank and entree to Google Health Coach elevated the Fitbit Air for me. Instead of digging done tabs to log my nutrition oregon adhd notes to my spot grooming session, I'd simply chat with the Health Coach to bash these things instead. I log and way each my weight-training information done an app called Fitbod. While investigating the Fitbit Air, I wanted to adhd the exercises from that app to the Fitbit Air, truthful I screenshotted the sets and reps, uploaded them done Health Coach, and the AI handled the rest.
Also: Are AI wellness manager subscriptions a scam? My verdict aft investigating Fitbit's for a month
The archetypal clip I tried this, it didn't enactment due to the fact that erstwhile I looked backmost into that session, I didn't spot immoderate of the exercises I shared with the Coach. The 2nd clip I tried it, though, my exercises were so logged.
The AI is besides bully astatine nutrition tracking. You don't request to hunt done analyzable merchandise databases for the close marque of yogurt you're eating; you tin conscionable springiness it the details, similar "a azygous serving of 5% Fage Greek yogurt", and it records it each for me.
Just beryllium alert that I've seen the AI hallucinate, arsenic AI tends to do. For example, 1 nighttime it mentioned a 52-minute elliptical league I had done that morning. But I didn't workout that time (unless it confused my ten-minute java locomotion with a 52-minute elliptical session).
When I asked a Google spokesperson astir this issue, they explained that the Coach is designed to spot patterns but tin sometimes link dots that aren't there. "We enactment our Coach done rigorous evaluations - each clip a mistake similar this is flagged, we crook it into a strict caller trial question that the AI indispensable walk earlier we merchandise caller updates to the app.
Also: Health is Tim Cook's defining bequest - and your Apple Watch proves it
This is simply a continuous process, truthful our strategy gets smarter, safer, and much close each day," a Google spokesperson told ZDNET. If immoderate presented datapoint oregon information looks off, a Google spokesperson recommended asking the Coach, "Are you sure?" oregon from wherever the Coach got the data. This makes the Coach redo its work.
These helpful, seamless touches disposable done the Health Coach supply a holistic enactment and wellness-tracking acquisition for the Fitbit Air. The Health Coach helps maine further recognize the information Fitbit Air is already collecting, and successful doing so, encourages maine to inquire it much questions oregon usage it successful caller ways.
ZDNET's buying advice
The subscription-free tier and the Google Health Premium tier are a cleanable illustration of a institution knowing precisely however to merchantability its products to antithetic groups. The Fitbit Air fits the measure arsenic an affordably priced fittingness tracker, with the enactment to customize and heighten the acquisition done a subscription.
It's lightweight, thin, unobtrusive, and arsenic stylish arsenic a fittingness tracker tin get (something I can't accidental astir about each smartwatch I wear). Plus, it lasts a week connected a charge, and it's lone $100 -- inexpensive compared to the competition.
The instrumentality is the platonic perfect for radical leaning into fittingness and wellness tracking who don't rather request a flashy surface astir their wrist. Once they afloat follow the device, deterioration it for a fewer months, and excavation deeper into enactment tracking, I tin spot these users getting a batch retired of the Health Coach and adding connected that yearly subscription.
Why the Fitbit Air gets an Editors' Choice award
It's priced affordably and bully for first-time users oregon anyone flirting with step-counting and sleep-tracking. That said, it'll besides bash good connected the wrist of idiosyncratic who has tracked their wellness for years and wants a lightweight, discreet alternate to a smartwatch (with a seven-day artillery life).
Its AI Health Coach enhances the instrumentality by connecting patterns, completing tasks, and answering wellness questions, and I rather similar that radical tin wage much for it without being automatically roped into a monthly subscription.
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