Fitbit Surge firmware update offers new features and better battery life

Fitbit SurgeThe next firmware update for the Fitbit Surge will deliver both new features and significantly better battery life to the company’s “Fitness Super Watch.” Among these will be timer and stopwatch features but two other additions are likely to be more useful.

The next update will add “Run Cues” which will offer automatic notifications for predetermined milestones such as time elapsed or distance traveled. For example, when you reach the one mile mark during a run, the Fitbit Surge could provide you with information such as lap pace, distance traveled, number of laps and average heart rate.

Battery life is also set for some dramatic improvements. The update will double the Surge’s battery life with an active GPS signal and enabled heart-rate sensor from 5 hours to 10 hours.

With eight sensors, the Fitbit Surge can already track everything from steps taken, steps traveled, calories burned and floors climbed to exercise tracking for ar range of activities, continuous heart rate monitoring and sleep monitoring.  A firmware update back in March added outdoor bike tracking and Multi-Tracker Support allowing you to interchangeably use multiple Fitbit devices.

The Fitbit Surge firmware update is expected to begin rolling out later this week.

Fitbit sold 4.5 million connected health and fitness devices in Q2 2015. It was enough for the company to be the top wearables company, a position it may soon lose to fast-surging Apple and its Apple Watch.



Source : CNET