This article is written by TechRadar UK team for a global audience. It has been edited to match the information related to the UAE variant of the smartwatch.
When Fitbit announced its Ionic smartwatch at the tail end of 2017, the company said it planned to make more watches in the near future and the first is already here under the name Fitbit Versa.
The Versa shares a lot with the Fitbit Ionic from last year and while the design is a touch smaller, there are a few less features and the price is slightly lower, it looks to be a solid addition to the Fitbit family.
Below we’ve broken down everything you need to know about the Fitbit Versa. You can watch our video hands on review or read our full hands on Fitbit Versa review now.
Fitbit Versa price and release date in the UAE
Fitbit Versa is available for preorder on Fitbit.com as well some other online retailer for AED 899. That price will get you the watch in black with a black aluminum case, gray with a silver aluminum case, or peach with a rose gold aluminum case.
The Fitbit Versa Special Edition will retail for AED 999. General availability is expected to be towards the end of April for all models
Fitbit Versa design and display
Unlike some previous Fitbit products, the Versa comes with a full metal unibody design that feels premium but is much smaller on the wrist than the Ionic. We’ve yet to learn of the exact dimensions, but it’s slimmer and lighter than the Ionic or the Blaze so looks to be the perfect option if you have smaller wrists.
You’ve got the color options of grey or pink for the body of the actual watch.
As for straps, you’ve got a huge selection of options. There’s a wide variety of colors for each with materials of silicone, metal chain link, metal bands, Horween leather and more all up for grabs.
On the front there's a touchscreen display for navigating the Fitbit OS, with some thick bezels around the side. According to Fitbit the screen technology and resolution is the same as Ionic with 1000 nits brightness levels.
The Versa is waterproof up to 50 meters, so you’ll be able to wear this in the shower or swimming without worrying about flooding the internals.
On the left hand edge there's a power button, and there are two other hardware buttons on the right hand side of the watch for navigating through menus if you don't want to use the screen.
The normal version comes with a silicone band in the box, so if you want a more premium band you’ll need to buy one separately to switch out.
Fitbit Versa fitness features
As this is a new smartwatch from Fitbit - a brand known for health and fitness wearables - you should probably only consider buying this if you’re interested in fitness features.
There’s your normal step tracking here, but now you’ll be able to see your last seven days of activity directly on the watch itself, so you can make sure you’re keeping up with your target.
On the rear there's a PurePulse heart rate scanner that works 24/7, even when you’re sleeping. Plus there’s sleep tracking tech here that uses the company's recent Sleep Stages tracking service.
That will tell you how much time you spend in REM and other stats about your sleep as well as providing feedback to help you improve upon your night's sleep.
Fitbit Coach is also here to give you workouts you can perform at home, plus there’s a feature that allows you to monitor your cardio fitness level.
If you want to take this in the pool, you’ll be able to as it’s waterproof and comes with tracking for swimming.
Runners may be disappointed to learn there’s no GPS built into the Fitbit Versa. Instead it features Connected GPS, so you’ll need to take your phone out on your run with you to be able to track your location.
Fitbit is also bringing female health tracking features to its app and the Versa watch. Specifically you'll be able to enter details about your menstrual cycle so you can keep an eye on how it impacts your health and wellness directly in the Fitbit app.
It’s not a groundbreaking innovation, but giving you dynamic cycle predictions allows you to log your symptoms easily and mark when you’re likely to be less active.
Fitbit Versa other features
It’s not all about fitness on the Fitbit Versa. This is a smartwatch too, so it comes with a variety of other smartwatch features including notifications from a variety of apps.
Fitbit also plans to allow you to use quick replies to apps including Messenger and WhatsApp. Right now we don't know exactly when this feature will arrive, but it’ll be debuting on Android in the coming months, and is likely to come to iOS sometime after that.
Much like the Ionic, the Versa is running Fitbit OS, which gives you access to the App Gallery created by the company. That means there’s a variety of Fitbit-made apps to download for your watch and there are even some third-party options such as Strava and Starbucks.
More are set to debut on the Fitbit App Gallery in the coming months too, plus it gives you access to a huge variety of clock faces, so you can further personalize your watch with relatively little effort.
If you want to listen to music when you’re on the go, you’ll be able to upload up to 300 tracks onto the Fitbit Versa.
If you don’t own music though, you’ll be able to connect up a Deezer account to get streamed music on your wrist, but it looks like you’ll have to download playlists or your FLOW to the watch before you start running as there’s no 4G connection here.
Fitbit Pay is also supported and we were told that it is expected to start working in the UAE in the second half of the year. Fitbit said that it is already in talks with some of the bigger banks in the region.
As for battery life, Fitbit estimates the watch should last around four days. We’ll be sure to test this during our full review, but considering the battery life on the Fitbit Ionic this makes a lot of sense.
