Fitbit's New Wristband Wants To Help You Sleep Better At Night
Aside from a detailed heart-rate monitor, the Fitbit's Alta HR is also offering more detailed sleep tracking data.
By John Lim — 08 Mar 2017, 12:27 PM
It's been almost a year since Fitbit announced the Alta, the company's first stab at a wearable that's attractive and funtional at the same time
The Alta is one of the best-looking trackers Fitbit has made. Its most notable feature of the Alta is the design - it is slim and narrow. As for tracking abilities, the band can monitor steps, distance, calories burned, and active minutes.
The fitness tracker juggernaut has unveiled its successor to Alta - the Alta HR
The Alta HR is the same size as the original Alta that we reviewed last year. It has swappable bands and can track steps, distance, calories burned and sleep. It will also display notifications for incoming calls, text messages and calendar alerts.
However, the difference lies on the underside of the Alta HR, as you now have access to a heart-rate monitor
Fitbit was able to bring PurePulse, the feature requested most by Fitbit Alta users, to Alta HR by developing a one-of-a-kind chip that reduced the size and number of components needed, which resulted in a more streamline design.
The feature can measure calories even during non-step exercises like yoga and spinning. As always, you can also keep track of your heart rate with Fitbit's app.
Fitbit is also introducing two dynamic sleep tools - Sleep Stages and Sleep Insights - that provide deeper insight into your sleep quality and guidance on how to improve it
Sleep Insights takes everything into consideration that is tracked by your Fitbit. From there, you will be able to learn more about different methods on how to improve your sleep on a night-to-night basis.
On the other hand, Sleep Stages uses accelerometer data and heart rate variability (the changes in time between beats), plus Fitbit’s proven algorithms to more accurately estimate how long you spend in light, deep and REM sleep stages.
The new Alta HR will be available from early April 2017 at a number of retailers like Lazada, Harvey Norman, and Courts
Price at RM730.00, the Alta HR will be available in six different colour combinations to choose from, along with four different accessory bands which can be used. There are also two special edition variants available: Black/Gunmetal Stainless Steel and Soft Pink/22k Rose Gold Plated, at RM820.00.