Be introduced in March 2016, Fitbit Alta is the symbol of the new Fitbit generation that brings to its targeted user the fashion style with all the necessary features remained. The Alta is suitable for the daily activities so there’s no surprise if it comes with an elegant and sporty look. Hence, what are the points that we should think about when looking at this new device of Fitbit fitness tracker?
The Alta at a glance.
Fitbit has been successful, at least in giving Alta an elegant design. The slim band, come along with the black rectangle screen can make your wearable device more fit on your wrist. This also makes you feel more comfortable since you should wear it all day and night. Some different size such as small, large, X-large, are provided for choosing as the previous Fitbit versions. And, I’d love to see several options available to the band, like colors (black, blue, plum, and teal), or materials (classic, leather, and metal). The rectangle tap screen enables the device to display long text messages, means be more interactive with the user only via tapping action.
I’ve got one with small size and plum, classic band, and feel really satisfied with my daily activities. And I am going to get one more replaceable band with either leather or metal, maybe the white metal one will be chosen, since it helps me to gain the style in some official events or when I go to my office. There are holes on the band to make it’s easy to wear, all the thing you have to do only is selecting the fittest, then press the lock until it sounds a soft click. I met a problem since it’s hard for me to press the lock to the holes for the very first time, but after someday using, it becomes easier and not being the matter.
What is displaying on the Alta tap screen?
By default, the Alta displays date and time, steps count, distance, calories burned and active minutes. Each of that information will be shown individually and sequentially each time you tab on the screen. Fitbit supports you to change the order of displaying or determine which information of the above will be shown or hidden, by the settings inside the Fitbit app installed on your smartphone.
What does the Alta track?
Like the other fitness trackers, the Alta tracks steps, distance (of moving steps by steps), calories burned, active minutes, hourly activity (hours with 250+ steps), and sleep. In addition, the exercise can be auto-detected and logged by some default types such as walking, bike, bicycle… with time spent and calories burned during exercise.
I appreciate the exact of steps count feature since the device itself can realize what are the exact steps taken by the owner, not being depended on the distance made while the owner using other vehicles, like moving by car as an example. But if I try moving by bicycle, it’s detected exactly as an exercise, time and calories are encountered. So you can count on the tracking result which is bringing by the Alta.
If you expected a wearable device, that can help tracking and monitoring your heart rate, Alta should NOT be a choice. That means the heart rate monitor feature is not included in this brand-new version. It is recommended to choose the Charge HR version instead if you really need the heart rate tracking feature.
How about the extra feature?
Besides the main features of activities tracking, Alta also is equipped with some other extra features that can help and support you more in your real life.
First of all, you can set the alarm. Just open the Fitbit app on your smartphone and add an alarm, sync the alarm to your Alta (via Bluetooth), then go to bed. Your Alta will wake you up on time with the silent, vibrating alarm right on your wrist without waking up your partner.
Secondary, the feature of mobile notification is another plus. As long as your Alta and smartphone are connected using Bluetooth, it can notify you about the new call with caller’s ID, or new text message, with the right way of silent alarm. How private and convenient!
The reminders to move may be another effectively extra feature, it keeps you active and burning calories. Just activate this feature on your app, with some settings about start & end time, and performed day, then once you are not active for a period of time, you will get the vibrating and friendly message like: “Let’s roll”, or “Wanna stroll?”, “Take me for a walk?”, etc…
Alta also is known as waterproof. I tried to wear it under the light rain, or while washing my hands… and it still works well. You can wear it while using the shower, just rinsing and drying afterward. It should be taken off while swimming, but someone has told that he forgot and swimming while wearing it, fortunately, it still works well after (I think it’s not recommended)
The battery life of Alta
The battery life is depended on the way you set your Alta, or how you make it connects with the other device like smartphone or computer… Fitbit announces that Alta’s battery life can span up to 5 days. And in reality, I have to recharge the device after 4-5 days, with about 1 – 2 hours of charging. This is an acceptable battery life, it will NOT bother you by being out of energy frequently.
App, sync, and others
Not very different to the other versions of Fitbit fitness trackers, the Alta comes with a Fitbit app that can run well on a variety of environment such as IOS, Android, Windows, etc…
On the smartphone, Alta connected with the device using Bluetooth and sync to the user’s account on Fitbit.com via the Internet. But if you want to sync using your computer, there is a Bluetooth device comes along with your Alta kit, that can be plugged into the USB port.
There are known issues of syncing on some specific Samsung and Sony Xperia devices, which are listed in the Alta guide by the Fitbit. But no worry, they are NOT serious and unsolvable and only happen on some specified devices.
General conclusion
In general, I highly appreciate this quite new-brand Fitbit Alta. It has an effective design with fashion look. The Alta is suitable for many people, including both man and woman, either being young or old, in elegant or sporty styles… Its features work exactly and provide user most of the necessary information, accept not having the heart rate monitor. But for those who does not need to track his heart rate, Alta maybe the very good choice for the daily activity tracker.
