With the Fitbit Ionic and Fitbit Versa, Fitbit has moved beyond mere activity trackers and into the realm of smartwatches – albeit ones that still put exercise and health front and center – but while those first models were more than competent, there’s lots of room for improvement with the next generation.
With that in mind we’ve created a list of the main things we want to see from the Fitbit Versa 2 if and when it launches.
And ‘if’ is the key word, since we haven’t heard anything about it yet, but if rumors do start emerging we’ll be sure to add them to this article as well.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The successor to the Versa smartwatch
- When is it out? Not before 2019
- What will it cost? Probably at least £199.99 / $199.95 / AU$299.95
Fitbit Versa 2 release date and price
The Fitbit Versa was announced in March 2018 and went on sale in April, so we’d be surprised if the Fitbit Versa 2 is announced before March 2019, assuming it’s ever made.
However, Fitbit doesn’t always stick to yearly release cycles, so it’s very likely that the wait will be longer than that and right now there are no rumors as to when we might see the Fitbit Versa 2.
There aren’t any price rumors either, but it will probably cost at least as much as the £199.99 / $199.95 / AU$299.95 Fitbit Versa. We’d be surprised if it costs much more than that though, since one of the main selling points of the Versa is that it’s a more affordable alternative to the Fitbit Ionic.
Fitbit Versa 2 news and rumors
Hopefully the Versa 2 won’t cost any more than the Versa
There aren’t any Fitbit Versa 2 rumors yet and there’s no guarantee that there will even be a Versa 2, but if there is we can take a guess at some things it’s likely to feature.
For a start, it will probably have all the same features as the original Versa, including a heart rate monitor, a water-resistant build and a color touchscreen.
Of course, it will also presumably have new features and improvements, perhaps including some of the ones in our wish list below.
What we want to see
If Fitbit does make a Versa 2 there are a number of key things that we want from it. They are as follows:
1. Give it GPS
GPS is the main missing feature from the original Fitbit Versa. As it’s largely a health and fitness device, GPS would be hugely beneficial to it, so we’d really like to see it on the Fitbit Versa 2.
There’s no guarantee we’ll get GPS, especially as Fitbit will presumably want to differentiate it from the Ionic range, but equally some major improvements will be needed to justify a new model, so GPS is an obvious upgrade.
2. A more grown-up design
The Fitbit Versa looks alright but there’s room for improvement
The Fitbit Versa is lightweight and comfortable, but it also has a slightly cheap, childish design, which we’d like to see rethought for the Versa 2. A more premium finish and a slightly less chunky build with smaller bezels would be ideal.
But we don’t want any of the comfort to be lost in the process, since that’s one of the most important design aspects if you’re going to be wearing this in the gym.
3. A week of life
The Fitbit Versa has reasonable battery life by smartwatch standards, coming in at around 3-4 days in our tests, but that’s a step down from the Fitbit Ionic.
For the Fitbit Versa 2 we’d love to see major strides made in this area, so that we only have to charge the battery roughly once every week.
4. Less fiddly contactless payments
You can make contactless payments on the Versa but not as easily as we’d like
You can make contactless payments on the Versa using Fitbit Pay, but if you’re outside the US you might find the list of supported banks quite limited, and wherever you are the process can be fiddly.
That’s because you have to input a PIN on the Versa’s tiny screen, which can often lead to you pressing the wrong buttons. So we’d like to see this step either removed or tweaked so that contactless payments can be as speedy and slick as they really should be.
5. A similar price
One of the main selling points of the Fitbit Versa is its low price – at least compared to the Fitbit Ionic, and while we’re hoping for lots of upgrades we don’t want to see the price to go up too much in the process.
Keeping the Versa 2 at around £199.99 / $199.95 / AU$299.95 while adding GPS or other features could make it the activity-tracking smartwatch to beat.
http://www.techradar.com/news/fitbit-versa-2
