The Fitbit leak, codenamed “Higgs”, is no longer an internal secret. First reported on Yahoo Finance, the fitness tracker company is looking to release not only a smartwatch but also a pair of Bluetooth headphones. Originally planned to be launched this spring, the intimate information was given by an anonymous source who revealed that Fitbit wanted to get ahead of whatever Apple has planned for their autumn announcement. The source added that, “Fitbit always likes to try and get in front of it.”
The San Francisco-based company’s new watch resembles the Blaze and has been described as “very retro-looking” and “definitely not sexy.” Yahoo Finance’s source also shared that “Several employees who saw the design complained about it.” Housed in an aluminum unibody, the watch sports a colour display with 1,000 nits of brightness which is similar to the Apple Watch Series 2. Key features have been reported to include a built-in GPS chip, heart-rate monitor, contactless payment abilities, enough storage to play music from Pandora, and four days of battery life between charges.
With a price tag of $300, the watch will be accompanied by a pair of Bluetooth earbuds that are to be priced around $150. Codenamed “Parkside”, the Fitbit earbuds are similar to Beats and Apple’s Beats X earbuds. They have been designed to be hung around the neck, and will be available in two colors- “Nightfall Blue” and “Lunar Gray.”
Project Higgs has run into problems on the software side. Yahoo Finance has learned that Pandora was not the first partner of choice when Fitbit envisioned music playing functionality for its smartwatch. A potential partnership with the popular Swedish streaming company Spotify was ruled out earlier on in development.
With many design mishaps reported by various media outlets long before the leak, it is no secret that the Fitbit team has had to return to the drawing board numerous times due to many problems with their product. If the whispers are to be believed, Fitbit is trying hard to avoid releasing an inferior product to their competition.
Source and Image Courtesy: Yahoo Finance
