The highly anticipated Fitbit Ionic smartwatch has arrived in Malaysia

It’s been ten years since Fitbit first arrived and with it, the first health and fitness tracker. Since then, the company has gone on to become one of the world’s leading global wearables brand, consistently improving and introducing new tech for the health conscious. One thing they had yet to add to its family was a full-fledged smartwatch, which finally launched in Malaysia today. The Ionic smartwatch is Fitbit’s first step into a category that already has pretty strong contenders but it’s not without its own set of competitive features.

“With Ionic, we are delivering what consumers have not yet seen in a smartwatch—a health and fitness first platform that combines the power of personalisation and deeper insights with our most advanced technology to date, unlocking opportunities for unprecedented health tracking capabilities in the future,” said James Park, co-founder and CEO of Fitbit.

Here are ten (among many) stand-out features of the Fitbit Ionic that have caught our attention:

1. To start off, know that the Ionic is Fitbit’s most advanced device to date. While the previous models such as the Alta HR had a great battery life, the Ionic is even better. It’s able to last up to five days on a single charge (two hours). 

2. It features a new relative Sp02 sensor for estimating blood oxygen levels, making tracking deeper health insights like sleep apnea possible.

3. The PurePulse heart rate tracking feature has been enhanced to deliver greater accuracy during exercises like cycling, intervals and running; leading to a better measure of calorie burn and a view of real-time heart rate zones. 

4. Industry-leading GPS tracking which records elevation as well. 

5. Runners would appreciate the new Run Detect feature which tracks runs, pauses at intervals and resumes after—all automatically and without the touch of any buttons. 

6. With a water resistance of up to 50 meters and industry-leading lap counting, swimmers too would enjoy its new swim exercise mode which tracks real-time laps, exercise duration and calories burned. 

7. Sleep tracking. 

8. Smart notifications (Facebook, Gmail, Instagram and more) as well as apps and clock faces which you can download off the new Fitbit App Gallery for better personalisation of the Ionic (which runs on Fitbit OS, the company’s own operating system for smartwatches). 

9. With 2.5GB of storage, it can store and play up more than 300 songs on the device. You just need to connect it to Bluetooth headphones. Incidentally, Fitbit has also launched its first wireless fitness headphones, Fitbit Flyer. 

10. Fitbit Pay for contactless payments so that you can go for a run without both your wallet and phone. The brand’s representatives revealed they are in talks with local banks to activate this feature in Malaysia. 

The Fitbit Ionic retails for RM1,399 and is available across major retail partners like Harvey Norman, All IT Hypermarket, and Best Denki. It works with iPhone, Android and Windows devices. 

For more info, visit the website.