Google’s screen-free wearable will be called Fitbit Air – report
Google has teased a screen-free Whoop-like wearable. And it seems the Fitbit brand will live on.
The forthcoming screen-free wearable from Google will be called the Google Fitbit Air, according to reports over the weekend.
The Whoop-style wristband that was teased by Google in a promo spot with NBA star Steph Curry earlier this month will still carry the Fitbit brand name, 9to5Google‘s sources say. However, on the software side, Google is about to take centre stage. Once the device launches, the current Fitbit Premium health tracking service will be known as Google Health.
Furthermore, the AI-driven personal health coach, which is currently in public beta, will be called the Google Health Coach. Indeed, it appears that Fitbit is only staying around for the longtime brand recognition of its wearable devices, which Google is naturally keen to capitalise on. The report today says Google is planning on revealing the device in the coming weeks, which suggests an announcement at Google I/O in a month’s time.
We’re still not sure what Google will be bringing to the table with this device, but it looks just like sleeker version of the Whoop strap, which has been around for around a decade and helps athletes measure the relationship between strain and recovery, priming them for top performance.
Recently the Polar Loop launched as a rival device. Now it seems the Google/Fitbit alliance is next. The text “a new relationship with your health coming soon” appears on screen as Curry dribbles a basketball.
If Google attempts to mirror Whoop’s functionality we can expect deep data points on things like stressors, heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels and a whole lot more. Whoop moved to a subscription model a couple of years back and has branded out into blood testing for biomarkers, so it’s not a cheap date anymore. So it’d be nice to see something a little more accessible with a pay up front model similar to Polar’s Loop, which underwhelmed in our review.
Chris Smith
