Fitbit dropped a Christmas present this month for the army of Charge 2 owners, the ranks of which will have been swelled by the festive season.

Announced on the company’s blog, and likely to have been rolled out by the end of December (because hey, who doesn’t like unwrapping a shiny new toy on Christmas day and being hit by a software update – Xbox and PlayStation owners know that feeling all too well), version 22.48.14 is an update of note.

While the Charge 2 is a good device, it does have limitations and it is good to see Fitbit taking some steps towards addressing those. The first is an enhancement to notifications – the lack of an on-wrist notification centre is my biggest gripe with the device – so I’m pleased to see a dedicated display. At the moment it is limited to just turning notifications on or off (no-one likes a buzzing wrist at an inopportune moment) but I am hopeful that further enhancements may follow. Other notification improvements see a ‘+’ if there is more than one notification, although there remains no way to retrieve old notifications or extend the all too brief period of time for which notifications are displayed.

The other new feature comes under the category of ‘stuff I didn’t know I needed until someone gave it to me’ and is a battery meter screen. Having had to make do with the whinging of the app or emails from Fitbit as the battery in my Charge 2 ran down, the meter is a handy thing to have.

Other changes make the relaxation mode a tad less pointless by using vibrations rather than having the user stare at the screen to know when to breathe. I’m sorry – but this really isn’t my thing, and I would rather have better notification handling. Also getting an update is the multisport functionality with pause and resume functions and a neat heart rate indicator.

Get the full lowdown on what is new here:

https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1372

Leave a Reply