Can You Change The Color Of Your Fitbit Screen

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Post-obit a couple of big leaks, Fitbit is officially announcing the Charge 5, the company's latest fettle tracker, and it marks ane of the biggest design changes to the popular Charge family since the first Charge HR, which came out in 2015. The Charge 5 shaves down the difficult angles that have defined the Charge trackers for a more than rounded await, and more significantly, information technology's the first Charge with a color AMOLED brandish.

The Charge five'south screen is 10 pct larger than the Charge 4'southward, and can get upward to 450 nits vivid, upwardly from the Charge iv's 200 nits. That all means that the screen should be easier to see when you lot're outside. And yous can as well opt to have the display on at all times — which means you won't have to wait for the screen to calorie-free up simply to see the time.

Fans of the previous monochrome screen might cramp at the change. And I say that every bit someone who really likes the monochrome on the Accuse 4 — it'south dainty not having nevertheless another colorful screen to distract me. But I could see how a color screen could get in easier to differentiate between stats and information, which could brand the Charge 5 that much more glanceable.

And while the always-on display could besides be quite useful, information technology comes at a significant cost of battery. While Fitbit advertises up-to-seven-24-hour interval battery life with the Charge 5, that's with the always-on display turned off. Turning it on cuts that down to just two — much closer to what y'all might be used to with a more traditional smartwatch than the Accuse five resembles.

I'm a big fan of the Accuse v's more than rounded await. Gone are many of the hard angles, edges, and geometric shapes of the previous Charge trackers — everything on the Accuse 5 looks smoother than it did before. (Though I do wish the Accuse 5'south band kept the criss-crossed lines that stand out on the band for the Charge two, 3, and 4.) The Charge 5 is x percent thinner than the Charge iv, meaning it shouldn't jut out quite every bit much from your wrist, and I really like the style the sensors on the back of the Charge 5 look to blend in more seamlessly than they do on the Accuse 4.

*The Charge 4 (left) adjacent to the Accuse 5 (right).*

Like the recently-released Fitbit Luxe, the Charge five also has a buttonless design, meaning you'll collaborate with the device entirely from the touch screen. (Technically, the Charge three and Charge iv didn't have buttons either, merely at that place was a small indent on the side of those trackers with a capacitive ridge that you could push to wake up the device and feel a little haptic feedback.)

The silver rails on the side of the Charge 5 might wait similar buttons, only they're actually sensors that let you accept electrocardiogram (ECG) readings to check for signs of atrial fibrillation (which is only available in some countries) and electrodermal activity (EDA) readings to check your body'due south response to stress. Both features are as well found on the company's Sense smartwatch line.

*A deconstructed epitome of the Charge v.*

Like many other Fitbit devices, the Accuse 5 has a host of other health tracking features, like monitoring your heartbeat, your sleep, and your oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels. Fitbit is too announcing a new "Daily Readiness Score" alongside the Charge v, which seems similar to what's offered past the Whoop wristband. The Daily Readiness Score suggests different levels of exercise based on your recent activity, sleep, and heart rate variability to brand sure that yous're recovering effectively. If your score is higher, Fitbit will recommend more than intense activities, only if it's lower, Fitbit will recommend a lighter workout.

Only Fitbit Premium subscribers, who pay $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year, will be able to get a Daily Readiness Score, though the Charge 5 will come with a courtesy six-month subscription to the service if yous want to endeavour it out. And it's not a feature that's exclusive to the Charge 5; the Fitbit Sense, Versa 3, Versa 2, Luxe, and Inspire 2 volition also be able to requite you a Daily Readiness Score when the feature is available this autumn.

Like with the Charge 4, the Charge 5 lets you apply Fitbit Pay to pay for things with but your Accuse 5. You'll as well be able to meet notifications on your Accuse 5 and reply to notifications from certain apps with quick replies if your Fitbit is paired with an Android device. The Accuse 5 can take advantage of Google Fast Pair for speedier setup with an Android device, but the tracker volition still work with iOS, despite the fact that Google completed its conquering of Fitbit in Jan.

The Charge family has been very successful and so far — the company has sold more than 40 million Charges to appointment, and Fitbit claims one out of every three Fitbit users today vesture a Accuse fettle tracker. Over time, Fitbit has steadily added features to the Accuse line that make them more competitive with smartwatches, such as the much larger screen added to the Charge 2, a affect screen and water resistance in the Charge 3, and a built-in GPS with the Charge iv.

*A chart from Fitbit comparison unlike features across the Accuse line.*

Merely the new features and design on the Charge 5 come at an increased price. The Accuse five, which comes in black, silverish, and gold color variants, costs $179.95, a $xxx leap from the Charge iv. And if you bought bands for the Charge 3 or 4, those won't be uniform with the v, which means you lot'll have to spend even more than to outfit the device with your preferred band.

The new features and college cost might likewise make it harder to pick between a fitness tracker or a smartwatch. For $100 more than, it could be worth picking upward an Apple Picket SE, which offers many of the aforementioned health tracking features every bit a Charge v (though no SpO2 tracking), a bigger screen, and much better integration for iPhone users.

If y'all've got a Samsung phone, the new 40mm Milky way Watch 4 is a compelling option, and at $250, it's even cheaper than the Apple Spotter SE. If you want to stay in the Fitbit world, there's the $230 Versa 3 or the Fitbit Sense, which is available for $250 on Fitbit'due south website and Amazon as I write this.

The Charge 5 seems like it could exist a good upgrade to the Charge line, with its color screen, the option of an always-on display, and new rounded design. Just one of the benefits of focused fitness trackers versus smartwatches has been that they're oftentimes the cheaper device. And while the Charge 5 is still more than affordable than well-nigh smartwatches, the cost difference isn't as big as it has been before. Before picking upwardly the Accuse 5, you might want to consider whether the actress features in a smartwatch are worth the extra cash.

Preorders for the Accuse v begin Wednesday ahead of availability this fall.