According to sales numbers, Fitbit bested Apple last year to remain the top fitness wearable in聽the market: through the third quarter of 2015, Fitbit delivered 4.7 million devices compared to Apple鈥檚 3.9 million, .听
Now the company wants to step up its style game.听, which debuted Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, looks less like a sportsband and more like a timepiece, an obvious move to attract buyers who want to wear their devices beyond聽the gym.听Apple鈥檚 beautiful聽Watch shook up the wearable world when it went on sale last spring, competing head-to-head with models from companies like Garmin, Sunnto, Polar, LG, and Fitbit. Garmin鈥檚 wearable sales alone sunk from about seven percent of the market last year at this time to about four percent. Whatever might be said about the Watch (short battery life and limited fitness functions) it鈥檚 supremely wearable.听
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So it's not surprising that聽Fitbit聽hit back. What is surprising is investors' response: Fitbit聽shares after the announcement of the new wearable, suggesting doubts that the company can move into the new, more upscale聽space.听听听
The thing is, our聽early look at the Blaze, which goes on sale this spring, is promising.听The device聽gets a color touchscreen,聽with three side buttons to control it,聽mounted on a slim chassis. That touchscreen鈥檚 usability is key, as tabbing through menus via buttons is onerous. It keeps the continuous heart-rate monitoring of Fitbit鈥檚 other top-end models.听As with the Apple Watch, users can swap the Blaze鈥檚 band, with options including聽a silicon rubber sport strap ($30), a leather strap ($100), and a metal bracelet ($130).听It's water resistant, which basically means it's splash-proof. Fitbit is offering the Blaze in three sizes: small, large, and extra-large.听
A few other cool tech upgrades include: the Blaze鈥檚 ability to automatically track exercise (with the Apple Watch, users must start a workout); sleep tracking (although there鈥檚 debate over how useful this is); and GPS聽when paired with a smartphone. There鈥檚 also text-message forwarding (but no capability to聽reply to messages) and music control.听
Our big gripe: Lack of memory space. Unlike the Watch, the Blaze doesn鈥檛 have enough memory for onboard music storage or third-party apps (think Strava). It can guide you through Fitbit鈥檚 own , but if you want something more specialized, look elsewhere.听Finally,聽the price is right: $200.听As comparison, the Watch starts at聽$349.
Investor concerns aside, this is a damn good watch. Whether it can compete in Apple's territory聽remains to be seen.听