We wouldn’t have been totally surprised if Google axed Fitbit entirely after recent woes, but it sounds like the company might be listening instead! 9to5Google is reporting that a Fitbit Charge 6, coming this year, will bring back the physical button.
We panned the Fitbit Charge 5 because of its confusing touchscreen user interface, which was itself a replacement for the confusing capacitive button that haunted the Fitbit Charge 4 and 3. (Here’s an entire Button of the Month column about the lesson Fitbit might have learned from that capacitive key.)
9to5Google doesn’t have a lot of details about the new wearable, but “sources familiar with the matter” tell the publication that it “looks exactly like the Charge 5 except for the addition of a physical button on the left edge.”
And, they add, it will let you play YouTube Music or use Google Maps to navigate to a predefined address from your wrist. Fitbit recently announced a minimalist new app that it’ll likely pair with — sans challenges — and you may need a Google account to use it.
I guess we know what that FCC filing was all about!
Google is launching its Pixel 8 phones at an event on October 4th. While Fitbit wasn’t mentioned, I suspect we may see the new Fitbit Charge 6 at or around that event.
