Back in October 2014 Fitbit unveiled a new lineup of products that will take it forward in 2015. It announced the Charge, Charge HR and the Surge. Out of these three products only the $130 Charge was released over the holiday season last year. Customers have had to wait for the other two products, and today that wait ends. Fitbit has finally started shipping the Charge HR and Surge.
What better place is there to make this announcement than the Consumer Electronics Show 2015 where already wearable devices are a major attraction. This way Fitbit gets to carve a niche itself in the press cycle at one of the biggest industry events of the new year.
Fitbit Charge picks up where the Fitbit Force left off, the Force had to be recalled, but Charge comes with improvements to ensure that the company doesn’t have to go through that again. It is also capable of displaying caller ID information from a connected smartphone. The Charge HR has all of these features as well as a heart-rate monitor.
Fitbit Surge is more of a smartwatch than an activity tracker, which is a departure from tradition for this company. It has a customizable LCD display that can display caller ID, text alerts and information about media playback. It also has a heart-rate monitor and GPS capabilities built-in for tracking elevation, pace and distance.
The Charge HR costs $150 and the Surge has a $250 price tag. Both products are now available for purchase from Fitbit’s website. Retailers will start selling them in the coming weeks and international availability is destined for early next month.
Filed in . Read more about CES, CES 2015, Fitbit and Wearable Tech.