Latest Fitbit smartwatch news great for Windows and Windows Phone users

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by Surur Davids 

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Fitbit has been fighting back against rumours that both say their smartwatch is delayed, and that it will launch without support for 3rd party apps.

Speaking to the Verge Fitbit CEO James Park confirmed their smartwatch will launch with 3rd party apps, and will have an SDK available for 3rd party developers.

The SDK would be based on a Javascript-based platform created by Pebble before their acquisition by Fitbit, and Park said Fitbit would be relatively open with the platform, allowing developers to create apps for use only friends and family for example.

Crucially for Windows and Windows Phone users, the “app gallery” would be built into the Fitbit app, which is well supported on Windows and Windows Phone, so should mean the feature would be easily accessible to Windows users.

Park confirmed the device would be waterproof, and would support some music-related features, but did not confirm support for Spotify.

“All we can say at this point is that music is a really important part of the fitness experience, and you’ll see functionality related to that,” Park said. “When it comes to the music industry, it’s not just technical. There are business issues as well when it comes to offline playback.”

According to earlier leaks the smartwatch, codenamed Project Higgs, features:

  • A refined version of the Blaze aluminium unibody design with accents with swappable bands.
  • 1000 nits of brightness colour screen for easy outdoor visibility.
  • GPS
  • Heart rate monitoring
  • Wireless payments
  • Offline Music from Pandora
  • 4-day battery life between charges
  • $300 price point

Park also earlier teased an array of new unnamed biometric sensors and noted that the GPS will be “precise”, which is of course ideal for runners.

Fitbit is also expected to deliver a set of wireless headphones code-named “Parkside” presumably compatible with Project Higgs and designed to hang around your neck.   Available in “Nightfall Blue” and “Lunar Gray,” they are said to cost around $150.

Surur Davids

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Surur Davids is the founder of WMPoweruser which later became MSPoweruser.com. He's a smartphone expert with over a decade of experience.

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