The Charge 6: Six Years since the Return of the Side Button and the Power of the Fitbit Heart Rate Tracker, aka Google’s Wear OS
The Charge 6 looks similar to the Charge 5, with the most notable difference being the return of the side button. But that’s huge. The reliability of the new Charge 3 has been a point of contention for users since it replaced the physical button. While Fitbit also brought buttons back on the Versa 4 and Sense 2 last year, the Charge has been one of its longest-lasting and most beloved product lineups. Six years is a long time to wait for this button’s glorious return, but better late than never.
Otherwise, the sensors remain unchanged from its predecessor and include an optical heart rate monitor, accelerometer, built-in GPS and GLONASS, SpO2, temperature sensor, and “multipurpose electrical sensors” for electrodermal activity (EDA) and EKG readings for stress tracking and advanced heart health alerts.
The Charge 6 gets two apps: Maps and Wallet. The Charge 6 now lets you look at turn-by-turn directions from the wrist. The tracker will also allow you to control YouTube Music from the wrist. That said, this functions more like a remote control than onboard music because it doesn’t support offline playlists. You need a subscription forYouTube Music Premium. It doesn’t make up for the fact that there were multiple music options and now they are gone, but it fills in part of the gap left by Fitbit’s decision to remove access to a number of music streaming services.
If you were expecting a new Fitbit fitness tracker with some form of Google’s Wear OS, it looks more and more like Google will confine the wearable operating system to fully featured smartwatches like the Pixel Watch, and we’re expecting a new Pixel Watch 2 on October 4.
The company believes the heart rate tracker is the most accurate yet. In order to give precise heart rate results, it uses many of the on-device learning models that are in the original iteration of the Pixel watch. Despite the higher processing power, the algorithms have been adjusted to maintain a seven-day battery life.
The Charge 6 has the ability to connect the tracker to certain exercise machines that are compatible with the new app on the tracker. There are also new workout activities like surfing in addition to the over 40 different exercise modes.
