Fitbit's intuitive smartwatch 'Fitbit Versa' unveiled in India

New Delhi : Global wearables brand Fitbit unveiled Fitbit Versa">Fitbit Versa, a modern, intuitive, light-weighted smartwatch for users to easily access health and fitness data through advanced features like 24/7 heart rate tracking, onscreen workouts, and automatic sleep stages tracking.

Fitbit also announced a new female health tracking function to help women track their menstrual cycle, view holistic health data in one place, and better understand connections to their overall health.

Female health tracking will be available on-device for Fitbit Versa">Fitbit Versa and Fitbit Ionic users, and to all Fitbit app users starting May 2018.

"Versa brings consumers the advanced health and fitness features Fitbit is known for, along with broad compatibility across mobile platforms and over four days battery life to provide users with a better picture of their overall health, making it stand out from any smartwatch available today," said Fitbit co-founder and CEO, James Park.

Versa comes with Fitbit OS 2.0 for the company's smartwatches, including a new personalised dashboard that provides a more simplified, intuitive and holistic view of your health and fitness data, bringing the best of the mobile app to the wrist.

Through this, users can monitor their daily and weekly health and fitness stats, historical activity, heart rate, and exercise summaries, action-oriented motivational messages, tips and tricks, and daily guidance.

According to a recent Fitbit survey, 80 percent of women did not know how many phases are in a menstrual cycle and more than 70 percent were unable to correctly identify the average length of a cycle, demonstrating a lack of awareness about women's health.

Created for all Fitbit app users who identify themselves as female ages 13 and over, the health tracking feature lets women log their menstrual cycle data, and record symptoms like headaches, acne and cramps; helps them be more informed about their health and life planning, and, indicates doctor-specific details for more personalised care.

The feature also hosts dynamic cycle predictions for where a woman is in her cycle and when to expect her period using Fitbit's new proprietary cycle algorithm, along with holistic data such as activity, sleep and weight trends to better manage activity and sleep needs during certain times of the month. It also provides clarity on menstrual cycle, ovulation, fertility and common misconceptions.

In the future, as the database of female health metrics grows this data may help enable Fitbit to deliver even more insights, such as how one's cycle impacts her activity, sleep, weight and nutrition.

"Female health tracking will empower women with a greater understanding of their menstrual cycles in conjunction with their physical and mental health, as they start to recognise what are normal trends over time versus what could be an issue to share with their doctor. The nuances of the menstrual cycle have not been as widely studied across populations as have other areas in healthcare.

This development by Fitbit could help potentially create one of the largest databases of menstrual health metrics in the world, providing healthcare and research professionals with an unprecedented ability to study menstrual cycles and women's health with real world data," said Dr. Katharine White, MD MPH, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston University School of Medicine and Fitbit Advisor.

Meanwhile, Fitbit Versa">Fitbit Versa offers a range of smart features, including notifications and quick replies such as call log, calendar, and text notifications from the smartphone. Android phone users can send quick pre-populated or customisable replies to text messages and messenger apps.

Users can also listen to phone-free music anywhere using Bluetooth headphones like Fitbit Flyer, including over 300 songs from your personal music collection.

They can also use it for paying bills in places where contactless payments are accepted with Fitbit Pay, supported by nearly 40 banks in 14 countries including Australia and Singapore, through American Express, Mastercard and Visa networks, with more countries and banks rolling out in 2018.

Versa's new software features are part of the latest Fitbit OS update, the operating system for Fitbit smartwatches. This software update will also be available for Ionic users.

Fitbit Versa">Fitbit Versa will be available in black with a black aluminum case, gray with a silver aluminum case, or peach with a rose gold aluminum case, in Q2 of 2018 across Reliance Digital, Croma, Helios and other major retailers including e-commerce partners like Amazon India and Flipkart in India for Rs. 19,999.

Meanwhile, Fitbit Versa">Fitbit Versa Special Edition will retail for Rs. 21,999 with accessories ranging from Rs. 2,499 to Rs. 8,999.