Fitbit Sense 2 — making sense without Google?
Fitbit Sense 2. Picture: Fitbit.
Fitbit is synonymous with fitness and well-being and I've been testing their new Sense 2 smartwatch for the last few weeks to see if it makes sense for you.
The Sense 2 has a stylish square-shaped case with curved edges and it feels incredibly comfortable on the wrist. It looks premium and there’s a range of watch bands to choose from active to more stylish designs. The bands click into place and are easily removed with a small button on either side of the rear of the case.
The stunning AMOLED display has large bezels although you won't notice since most of the screen is black. It looks very similar to the original Sense, but now features a physical button instead of a capacity one and is 6g lighter (40g) and a little over a millimetre thinner (11.2mm).
There’s only one size and the colour choices are Shadow Grey/Graphite, Lunar White/Platinum and Blue Mist/Soft Gold.
The new physical button will be a welcome upgrade for those who didn’t enjoy the capacitive one found on the original Sense. However, while I can appreciate the placement of this button on the left side of the case for those who find a button on the hand side can cause accidental inputs during workouts, I don’t understand why you can’t change this in the settings. There is an option to tell Fitbit which wrist the watch is on based on your dominant or non-dominant side but this is to adjust sensitivity based on how you wear the watch. If you wear the Sense 2 on your right hand the button will face out.
The Sense 2 is a smartwatch that primarily focuses on tracking sleep, stress management, physical activities and well-being. However, an €8.99 monthly premium subscription is required if you wish to utilise all the services. These include daily readiness scores (based on how your body responds to exercise and recovery, which Fitbit learns over a period of time), Sleep profiles, Snore and noise detection, Advanced sleep analytics, Wellness report, Mindfulness sessions, Video workouts, Fun games, New challenges and Recipe inspiration.
The Sense 2 supports the hardware to perform an ECG like many other smartwatches these days. Unfortunately, this feature hasn’t been enabled in Ireland yet but will be in a future update.
The sleep tracking is comprehensive as long as you’re a premium user but many other smartwatches offer similar sleep analysis without a subscription. Based on a month of use and tracking my sleep in tandem with the Whoop 4.0, the Sense 2 seems to be relatively accurate in terms of awake times and when I fall asleep and wake up. The other metrics including light sleep, REM and deep sleep are excellent indicators of how restorative your sleep has been. I found it motivates me to try harder to achieve better sleep scores too.
I’m not a scientist and have no equipment to conclude whether the Sense 2 is more accurate than any other smartwatch but it does help to educate you on the need for sleep and even provides some helpful tips along the way.
The only exercises I’ve tried with the Sense 2 are walking and cycling. These worked well in counting my steps, heart rate, GPS data and other metrics.
The Fitbit app is packed with features and options. However, it can be daunting at first and it takes time to become familiar with a lot of what it has to offer. It’s good that you get the first six months of the Premium subscription free because it may take you that long to figure out whether you need it or not.
You have to use the app to do most things including installing apps and watch faces — there are lots of the latter to download for free. I did find it strange that there was no way to use Sense 2 to find my phone until eventually, I discovered you have to download the app first — perhaps I uninstalled it by mistake. I counted 11 apps, including the ECG app, which isn’t available to download here yet and there’s no third-party app support either.
Fitbit Pay is excellent for making contactless payments with the watch. Unfortunately, there's no Google Maps, which is a little strange considering Fitbit is owned by Google but you do get support for Amazon’s Alexa.
While testing the Sense 2 on an iPhone I noticed I wasn’t able to reply to messages, only read them. When connected to an Android phone I was able to use quick replies, speech-to-text and emojis.
The Sense 2 features an on-demand electrodermal (EDA) reading via the EDA app on the watch. This works by covering the watch with your hand and staying still for two minutes. It will ask you to pick what mood you're in from a list — it's a pity you can’t customise this. However, you can enable continuous EDA which is off by default. The Fitbit algorithm can detect physical responses to both good and bad stress.
After using the Sense 2 for more than 30 days, you can obtain a wellness report, which will generate an easy-to-read summary of your health data, including statistics and graphics on your weight, activity level, sleep quality, and heart health. To assist you in understanding your health data, the report also offers expert advice.
The Sense 2 comes with a proprietary magnetic charger that can fully charge it in over an hour. Fitbit claims you should be able to get up to six days of use, but a more realistic expectation is anywhere from three to five days.
The Fitbit Sense 2 is a stylish smartwatch with a good battery life that will last a long weekend without the need to bring a charger. There are lots to like including contactless payments with Fitbit Pay as well as the constant heart rate, SpO2 and temperature tracking. I’m not a fan of subscription services but I appreciate the six months Premium trial to see if it’s worth paying for beyond the free period. The Premium service is packed with lots of features but whether it’s good value to you will depend on your personal lifestyle and health status.
Fitbit Sense 2 €299.95 Fitbit
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