As a longtime Fitbit user, the writing is on the wall. The Google buyout has been horrible, features disappearing, support sucking, no more web dashboard, payment issues, calorie goals no longer customizable, etc.
They bought the company for user data and patents. Merge what they want into their watches and discontinue the rest. Absolutely minimize maintenance costs by dropping features and firing employees. They’ll keep the Fitbit name, maybe roll that into a watch sub-series, but the buyout was definitely a gut-and-dump deal.
Too bad the antitrust suit won’t save what used to be a great product and company in time.
What are the good alternatives? Been a fitbit user for a few years now and not sure who to switch to next.
Garmin watches, IMHO more rugged and they do not put their software behind a paywall. You’ll pay for it in the cost of the watch.
I’ve been using Garmin for fitness since about 2013, I have use a Charge HR for steps/fitness alongside my Garmin watches when I used them only for activities.
Eventually I replaced that with a garmin Fenix 3HR that did steps, activities and looked good enough to wear all the time
I have a Fenix 6 now.
I feel like I was too hard on Garmin. Their GPS hardware in the late 2000s were outdated and so I rooted for Apple/Google to replace them with map software and phones.
And here I am watching Google destroy Fitbit and eyeing Garmin again.
I’ve read that Samsung and Apple smartwatches are better than Garmin at detecting cardiac issues tho.
Garmin if you want a watch that receives notifications and can do basic replies. Anything else if you want a mini phone.
Spoken from an ex Pebble user here that’s been rocking a Garmin 245 since 2020. Finally now starting to get a bit meh in the battery department and I will probably upgrade maybe next year to another Garmin?
Garmin. Vivoactive 3 purchased in 2017 is still working perfectly today. I’ve upgraded because I’m an unethical consumer but my mom now wears it. Other than less battery capacity, works perfect. Touchscreen, waterproof, and all.
Fitbit wristbands are faulty and keep detaching.
What kind of battery life does it get? One of the mains draws for sticking with Fitbit for me was only having to charge once a week or so.
Not a direct replacement by any stretch, but I’ve been looking at the PineTime. Not sure how accurate anything it has is, but it’s FOSS, so that’s nice.
Other than that, the last time I looked for watches, it was between FitBit and Garmin for me, so I’ll echo what others are saying.
I’ve been really interested in the PineTime, for the price point it seems like a neat little gadget. I’ve never had a smartwatch and I’d want something cheap to see if I like it, and with the PineTime I know it’s going to be less sketchy than anything else at that price point.
But everything I’ve read implies it’s not really a polished product yet. I’m really curious where it’s at and I’m perfectly fine with some garden variety FOSS jank but how much are we talking here?
Yeah, and Google Stadia had great new games coming and they were totally committed to it until woops, never mind, it’s dead.
Google has a hell of a credibility problem at this point.
Either Google continually buys companies for far more than they should or they really suck at buisness. How many times have they aquired healthy companies then absolutely destroyed them? It’s hard for me to believe they’re not actively trying to at this point.
The point is to exterminate them. To paraphrase another company, embrace, extend, extinguish.
I would assume some of that is acqui-hiring. Google acquires a company and looks at which employees are the outstanding talent. The best employees are poached for projects Google cares about while the rest are left to keep the product going without the thought leaders who built it.
It’s what Google does, launch products -> cancel them, buy products -> cancel them. I have been burned enough times by them that I don’t use anything they make anymore out of the certainty that it’ll get canceled just as soon as I’ve grown to depend on it.
what’s the word for a thing that worms its way into your life, makes you depend on it, then uses that to exploit and damage you?
there’s a word for that.
Same thing happened to Nest. The cameras and thermostats were great when they were a private company then sh*t the bed when Google took them over.
Google stopped support of their app almost immediately in support of ‘Google Home’ which was to control the thermostat and Camera - which is terrible and requires you to constantly log into it with your email and password if you want to access anything.
Google Home is the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever had the displeasure to use.
It used to work really well, and now it’s trash. I don’t know how they could fuck something up so badly.
Home Assistant works well on a cheap(-ish) Raspberry Pi. They’re even working to get voice fully capable.
It can be fully local and is FOSS, for those for whom that matters.
If you’re using HA then there is an open source alternative to Alexa! https://heywillow.io/components/willow-inference-server/
I don’t think I’ve ever had to log into the Google Home app, it just uses the accounts on my phone. Or is this some sort of situation where, “I’m too Android to understand this problem?”
Having your Google Accounts linked to your phone is the same as being logged into them at all times. I believe the person you’re replying to might not use Google Account integration.
