Hi.
This is Brian Bennett for CNET and right now we're taking a First Look at the new Fitbit Force fitness tracker.
With the price of $129.95, the Force stands at the top of Fitbit's current line of high-tech health and wellness products.
And as you might expect this gadget goes well beyond your average pedometer.
Looking at the Force you might assume it's FitBit's previous fitness tracker, the Fitbit Flex.
That's because it could be a splitting image of the earlier
product.
Both use an angular wrist strap design and have a dark glossy strip bisecting its front face.
The big difference here though is the Force's larger size.
Part of the reason for its more sizable footprint is that the Force boasts a real alphanumeric OLED screen.
With this display the Force can show detailed activity data such as steps, distance traveled, calories burned, and stairs climbed.
The Force can also highlight how many active minutes you have currently under your belt.
I think the
nicest feature of the Force's screen other than it's bright and easy to read, is it displays the time.
It's a huge development in a small wrist-style fitness device and helps both the Force and Fitbit branch out into smartwatch territory.
Another smartwatch-like ability the Force brings to the table and uncharted country for Fitbit is phone notifications.
The company promises that the Force will soon be able to receive alerts for incoming calls.
The catch though is this ability is only planned for
iPhones running iOS 7 or higher.
Similarly if you own an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy SIII, Galaxy S4, or Note 2 handset, you'll be able to use the iOS and Android Fitbit apps to sync the Force over a wireless Bluetooth connection.
Additionally the app lets you log meals to count calories, compare food intake against energy burned through exercise and even sync with Fitbit's Aria Wi-Fi Scale to see if your weight has gone up or down.
Add to this the Fitbit Force's sleep tracking
and silent alarm clock abilities and you have one powerful fitness product on your hands.
I'm Brian Bennett and this has been a First Look at the Fitbit Force.
