Amazon challenges Fitbit with super-cheap Halo View fitness tracker

Amazon Halo View
(Image credit: Amazon)

Amazon announced a new fitness tracker, the Halo View, during the company's annual gadget extravaganza Tuesday afternoon, and it could have Fitbit worried. Unlike the original Amazon Halo, which launched last year, the Halo View has an AMOLED display to show you your health info throughout the day, which puts it in much more direct competition with the established names in fitness wearables.

And, where the Halo Band was purely passive, gathering data throughout the day for analysis in the Halo mobile app, the new device is much more interactive. Not only can it show data including activity stats, sleep reports, and blood oxygen saturation, it also has haptic feedback to alert you to smartphone notifications with a gentle vibration on your wrist.

Amazon says the Halo View should hit your wrist by the end of the year, and will cost $79 (about £60 / AU$110). That makes it much cheaper than any Fitbit device currently on the market, and could make it a real rival to the slimline Fitbit Inspire 2.

Amazon Halo View

(Image credit: Amazon)

Halo Nutrition

That price also includes a full year of Halo membership. As with the original Halo Band, this subscription is required to access many of the device’s most interesting tools and services, such as body composition analysis and tone of voice assessment.

These tools will soon include Halo Nutrition, which helps you plan out your meals for the week, factoring in dietary preferences and allergies – you can then add the necessary ingredients to your Alexa shopping list for easy ordering. Halo Nutrition will be available in January 2021.

Cat Ellis

Cat is the editor of TechRadar's sister site Advnture. She’s a UK Athletics qualified run leader, and in her spare time enjoys nothing more than lacing up her shoes and hitting the roads and trails (the muddier, the better)