I love the Fitbit Force.

I've been wanting to check out this Smartwatch trend that everyone (read: some tech bloggers, and Samsung... oh, and those tens of thousands of people on Kickstarter) has been talking about.  I was in Best Buy the other day and I picked up a Fitbit Force ($129.99) and a Pebble ($149.99) with the intent of keeping whichever one seemed to be more useful / practical.

Pebble Smartwatch

Fitbit Force

I decided to open and try the Force first.  Full disclosure: I've had a Fitbit Flex for a few months and I really love the Fitbit system.  They do a great job of tracking and visualizing data without going overboard or making the system too complicated.  Overall I think the Fitbit apps and devices are simple and easy to use - the Flex just sits in a wristband (or your pocket) and tracks your movement throughout the day, and tracks your sleep at night.  It's mostly passive.  I've found the information they provide is a great way to sense when I've been lazy (usually) or active (if I'm running from lions or something).  It's also good for letting me know when I've been sleeping badly and should try to get a bit more sleep (which is almost always).  I don't get into the calorie counting or water monitoring - but for tracking sleep and activity, I think it's really a great little device.  

The Force is pretty simple as well.  The Flex showed you your progress with a few taps on the wristband.  It was pretty simple, with just a 5 summary dots to show you 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% of your goal for the day.  The Force goes a little bit further and provides more detail.  It has a dedicated button that you can use to cycle through the different metrics (Fitbit calls them "stats"): Clock, Steps, Distance, Calories, Floors, and Very Active Minutes (one I really need to work on).  I concentrate on Clock, Steps, Floors, and Very Active Minutes so the display is pretty simple.

The silent alarm is also a really great feature; you can configure it for a regular Monday - Friday wake up and it will vibrate at a set time.  In my opinion it's a nicer way to wake up than a noisy alarm clock.

I don't know that the Force or the Flex are terribly accurate in the number of steps counted, but that's not the point - it's really better for showing you trends.  I.e., if they're not accurate, they're likely to be consistent in their inaccuracy, so a day with 6000 steps is going to be less productive than a day with 9000.

It's easy to put on and not obtrusive - it's small enough that I don't notice it under most shirts, though I do have comfort issues if my sleeves are tight.  One small complaint I have is that the clasp is metal so it rubs uncomfortably on my laptop when I'm using the computer.  I feel like a plastic clip would be better here, but probably also less durable.  It's not a big deal, just an annoyance when typing.  Lots of people seem to have issues with the clasp, but I think mechanically it's fine. 

I wasn't sure the device would be worth the $30 price difference from the Flex, but after using it for a few days, I think that it is.  The screen looks a lot better in person that it does on a screenshot on the Internet.  Sure, it's a simple dot matrix display, but it's well animated and easy to read. 

I like the Fitbit Force as a replacement for the Flex, but when comparing it to the Pebble, it needs a few things to be a great Smartwatch:

• I've read that they're working on call notifications on the Force (but only for the iPhone).  This makes sense and would be pretty useful - I can see if I want to pick up the call without pulling my phone out of my pocket.  It's a great feature to have.  Hopefully it comes to Android soon.
• As it stands, you can select which "stats" are included on the wristband in the iPhone / Android app.  If the wristband can do call notifications, I can't really see a reason it shouldn't be able to also include stats such as:
• Number of unread text messages
• Number of unread email messages / GMail messages
• Total number of unread email messages / GMail messages
• Number of unseen Facebook notifications
• Number of Twitter direct messages
• I'm not sure if it's possible or even sensible to do new email / text message notifications, but maybe the ability to set it up so that it only sent notifications based on a filter or preferred sender list would be practical.

I'm sure it doesn't do as much as the Galaxy Gear or even the Pebble... but honestly, it might be enough.  The screen is good, though it's not high-resolution.  I like the simplicity.  Using the button to cycle through the information I need is a simple, easy way to interact, and the number of "stats" wouldn't be too overwhelming, especially if you could pick them on the iPhone / Android app.  

Sure, you wouldn't be able to answer calls or view email detail, but is a wristwatch really the best way to do those things anyway?

Maybe.

I'm hoping to try out the Pebble over the next few days and report back.

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Update (2013-12-31): I've proposed some of this on the Fitbit "New Idea" forums: https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Product-Features/Fitbit-Force-Smartwatch-features/idi-p/37723 - vote for it, maybe they'll make it happen!