00:00Can the Fitbit finally make a comeback and take over the smartwatch market?
00:11You remember the Fitbit, don't you?
00:13In 2013, Fitbit became one of the pioneers for fitness trackers, which were just starting
00:18to hit the market.
00:19But the arrival of smartwatches like the Apple Watch and the Samsung Gear took a significant
00:23amount of wind out of their sails.
00:25But Fitbit hasn't gone away, thanks mainly to loyal users and to the relatively simple
00:30and focused approach to their devices, which is primarily just for fitness.
00:34But in September of last year, Fitbit finally decided to make the jump into the smartwatch
00:38area.
00:39The Versa, which launched just last week, is Fitbit's second attempt at taking on the
00:44other smartwatches.
00:46When we unboxed the Versa, we found everything you'd expect in a smartwatch.
00:50There are two bands, one which is large enough to fit even the largest wrist, including mine.
00:54Good luck actually getting the bands on the watch.
00:56We struggled with this for almost 15 minutes.
00:59Fitbit might make some good trackers, but they have a lot to learn about watch bands.
01:03The charger, well, it's another ugly cord and awkward adapter for your nightside table.
01:08Good luck with that.
01:09As for the tracker itself, it's lighter and a little bit smaller than an Apple Watch Series
01:143, and operates much in the same way with swiping left and swiping right for you to
01:18access all the other features on the watch.
01:21It's got a nice big screen, so you'll be able to easily track what you're doing and
01:25when you're working out.
01:26The Versa is also water-resistant, so you can use it to go swimming.
01:30We haven't tried it out in the pool yet, but we assume it's going to have a lot of the
01:34same features that you'll see on Apple and Garmin, like number of links in the pool and
01:38what stroke you were using.
01:39The one huge thing we've noticed so far is the battery life.
01:43The Apple Watch won't make it through two days without a recharge.
01:46The Versa can go four, which means anyone who just wants to track their fitness can
01:50just put the watch on and forget about it for the next couple of days.
01:54That also means you can track your sleep schedule, which you couldn't do with the Apple Watch
01:59because you had to plug it in overnight.
02:01Next came the setup, which can be done either with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
02:05We suggest sticking with the Wi-Fi.
02:07We did it with the Bluetooth and the connection, and the update took over an hour.
02:11By the way, we haven't had any problems with updating the software or synchronization,
02:16but quite a few other people have complained about this, and there's a long list of people
02:21with problems.
02:22You're not going to find all the app integration you would with Apple and Samsung, who have
02:26hundreds if not thousands of apps available for their various watches.
02:30Right now, Fitbit has about 50, but to a certain extent, you get what you pay for, and keep
02:34in mind Fitbit wants this to be a fitness tracker.
02:37The Fitbit starts out at about 899 dirhams, although you can get a special version, which
02:43costs a little bit more.
02:44That's still about 500 dirhams cheaper than the Apple Watch 3.
02:48The Fitbit may not have all the specs you'd want from a device like the Apple, but Fitbit
02:53is definitely offering a lot of watch for a lot less price.
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