Fitbit’s now selling their Apple Watch competitor in Malaysia

This is the culmination of Fitbit‘s efforts. They started out with fitness trackers, fitness bands then smart fitness trackers like the Fitbit Surge and Blaze but they never had a full-fledged smartwatch before. Then, they unveiled the Fitbit Ionic, the company’s first smartwatch.

Now, you can buy one right here in Malaysia but I’m not sure you really want to.

Fitbit had the Apple Watch right in its crosshairs when they launched their long-awaited smartwatch. It is built out of lightweight 6000-series aluminium, has built-in GPS, is water resistant up to 50m and comes running the company’s brand new Fitbit OS.

It, as you would expect, also comes with all of Fitbit’s excellent fitness tracking features plus the ability to track relative SpO2 (oxygen saturation) thanks to the smartwatch’s tri-wave sensor. The Ionic will also apparently support contactless payment called Fitbit Pay that’ll work over NFC.

On paper, the Fitbit Ionic has some pretty nice specs, my favourite of which is the 4-day battery life. However, if you’ve ever used a smartwatch you’ll know that a lot of what makes a great smartwatch doesn’t show up on paper.

And priced at RM1,399, the Fitbit Ionic is priced precariously high in the smartwatch market. It’s right up there with Samsung’s Gear S3 Frontier and RM100 less than the Gear Sport, both of which are excellent smartwatches with features like Samsung Pay and an arguably better aesthetic.

Then you’ve got the cream of the crop: The Apple Watch. Series 3, for example, can be yours for RM1,472 on Lazada while you can also pick up the Series 1 Apple Watch for just over RM1,000.

If you’re on an iPhone, I still think the Apple Watch is a no-brainer because of how well it works. It does notifications pretty well (for a smartwatch) and has one of the best vibration motors in any wearable.

Sure, it doesn’t look good, but neither does the Ionic. At least with the Apple Watch, you get the “status symbol” and “prestige” you get with an Apple device if you care about those things.

Fitbit’s Ionic is currently on sale in Malaysia at the All IT booth at the Malaysia IT Fair this weekend. Alternatively, you can pick one up from Harvey Norman too. Harvey Norman is also selling Fitbit’s first wireless fitness headphones, the Fitbit Flyer. The headphones retail for RM590.

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