Future TechnologyGoogle's Fitbit Air Is a Screenless, 12-Gram Band With a Week of Battery
Key takeaways
- The Fitbit Air is a screenless fitness band weighing about 12 grams, roughly the weight of a couple of coins
- Google claims about a week of battery life, a direct swipe at smartwatches you charge every night
- It tracks steps, heart rate, and sleep, and leans on your phone for anything that needs a display
- It is out now and aimed at people who want the data without another screen buzzing at them
Most fitness trackers have spent a decade trying to become tiny smartwatches. Google's Fitbit Air goes the other way and throws the screen out entirely. What is left is a 12-gram band, about the weight of two pound coins, that you strap on and mostly forget about.
The pitch is the battery
Here is the number that does the selling: about a week between charges. Anyone who has owned a full smartwatch knows the nightly charging ritual, and knows that a watch on the charger is a watch not tracking your sleep. Strip out the bright display and the power budget stops being a fight. The Air tracks the core stuff, steps, heart rate, and sleep, and hands anything that needs a screen back to your phone.
That is the honest trade. You are not getting notifications on your wrist, you are not getting a workout map mid-run, and you are not paying smartwatch money for the privilege. You are getting a sensor that stays out of your way and does not need babysitting.
Who it is actually for
This is a genuinely good pick if you want your sleep and activity data logged without one more glowing rectangle competing for your attention. It is a poor pick if you want contactless payments, a watch face, or on-wrist notifications, because it simply does not do those things. The Air is a deliberately narrow product, and that is the point.
If a lightweight, low-fuss band is what you are after, you can check current Fitbit Air pricing on Amazon to see where it lands against the older screened models.