The Ionic can store music like the Apple Watch, Samsung Gear or Android Wear watches, but hold your excitement: Those tracks need to be sideloaded via a computer or synced via a slow and terrible process with premium Pandora. Wrist payments (if your bank supports them on Fitbit Pay, which mine doesn't). The Apple Watch doesn't do much better, and neither do most fitness bands and smartwatches. Fitbit's subscription coaching service could start delivering more on-wrist guidance, but I haven't seen a strong sense of it yet outside delivering workout routine suggestions.

But the exercise coaching and overall trend observations don't feel dynamic. I like the hourly push to walk at least 250 steps to 'win' the hour, which gets me into a walking mood. I still wish the Ionic was a better coach, though. The Apple Watch's social fitness functions are slowly growing, but nowhere near as vibrant. Its charts and goals are clearly presented, there are tons of tools and connected apps it works with, and Fitbit's social network is probably the best around: it taps into fitness challenges, groups interested in particular health goals, and odds are you have plenty of friends to connect with. Fitbit's app is still my current favorite for overall fitness logging. The Ionic's cross-platform support of bothĪlso allows it to be something I could wear and use with any friend or family member to compete in fitness challenges. Apple's Health app and some third party apps can do sleep tracking, but the Apple Watch battery life isn't good enough for nightly wearing without a morning recharge.įitbit's phone app is great. The Apple Watch lacks any baked-in support for this. Sleep tracking mostly amounts to sleep logging each night, and while I don't trust the Fitbit's measures of restlessness, deep sleep and 'REM sleep,' I do appreciate getting a clear sense of my sleep habits on a general scale. It means you can wear it for over half a week and never recharge, and that means it can be worn at night for sleep tracking. The Fitbit Ionic also has really good battery life (for a smartwatch): at least four days, in my anecdotal use. The Apple Watch's heart rate readings aren't always-on (it tends to ping every few minutes, unless an activity is started or the heart rate app is opened). Heart rate readings are fast and easy to access, and many watch faces allow instant heart rate readings on the main display. square: Fitbit Ionic (left), Apple Watch (right) Sarah Tew/CNET

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