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Google is crossing genres with its latest kids’ wearable, combining a gaming system and activity tracker with the Fitbit Ace LTE, which the company touts as “the first-of-its-kind connected smartwatch that turns exercise into play and helps kids safely lead more active, independent lives.” Essentially, think of it as a Nintendo Switch stripped down to an activity tracker for kids ages 7 and up, with some built-in safety and connectivity features.
The main idea here is to get kids up and moving in exchange for progression in the Ace LTE’s onboard games. But there are also basic tools that let parents (and trusted contacts) stay in touch with the wearer: Through the new Fitbit Ace app (which adults can install on iOS or Android), parents can set playtime, monitor activity progress, and even make calls and messages. On the watch itself, kids can type or dictate text using the on-screen keyboard or microphone, and even choose emojis.
Fitbit Ace LTE hardware: It’s basically the Pixel Watch 2
The Fitbit Ace LTE uses a stripped-down version of the Pixel Watch 2’s hardware, so it’s pretty responsive. The big difference, though, is that in addition to the 5 ATM water resistance shared by both models, the kid-friendly tracker uses Gorilla Glass 3 to cover it. Google includes a protective case with each Ace LTE, but it doesn’t add much weight.
There are other obvious differences: The Pixel Watch 2 has a circular face, while the Fitbit Ace LTE has a “squirky” OLED with two large buttons on the right side. The latter’s band is also much thinner, and “the technology is built in,” says Anil Sabharwal, Google’s vice president of product management. This is just another way of saying that the Ace LTE will know when you swap out a new strap, and each accessory will come with its own content.
The company calls these straps “cartridges,” another nod to the Fitbit Ace LTE’s pastiche of a gaming console. When you slip on a new strap, an animation of the bonus material you’ve just acquired appears, including new backgrounds and items for your Tamagotchi-esque pet, “eejie.” Another band also adds a unique cartoon-style strip called a Noodle that runs around the edge of the watch’s display each day to track the wearer’s progress toward daily goals, similar to Apple’s Activity Rings.
I don’t want to talk about the hardware, so I won’t go into the main parts of the Fitbit Ace LTE proposal. The most interesting concept here is the idea of a wearable gaming system. The Ace LTE’s home screen is pretty typical: it shows the time with a Noodle activity ring around it, and in small font at the bottom, how many points you’ve earned.
On the left side of the page is a collection of daily quests, which Sabharwal calls “playlists.” Like other iOS and Android games, this is a set of goals to be completed within a specified time frame to keep the player engaged, and completing these goals will earn rewards.
Eeji: Similar to Tamagotchi, but less cute
Most of these perks can be used to spruce up your digital pet’s home on the right side of your home screen. Google calls these things “eejies,” but the name doesn’t actually mean anything. Some engineers in a room saw the letters “I” and “J” and read them aloud and thought, sure, that might be nice. (No, those letters don’t actually mean anything either.)
According to Google, “Yeezy is a customizable creature that is nourished by daily activities. The more kids achieve their fitness goals, the healthier and happier Yeezy will be.” As daily activities are completed and each kid earns arcade tickets (or a new watch strap), they can be redeemed for new clothes and furniture for Yeezy.
Yeezy is supposed to be a “customizable creature” but it’s anthropomorphized and looks like… well, a child. Depending on how it’s styled, it can look like a moody teenager. Don’t expect to play with a cute Pikachu or a Digimon. This Yeezy is a two-legged creature with a head, arms and neck. I wish it was cuter, but maybe the target audience likes to feed and play with their weird avatars.
When multiple Ace LTE users get together, their friends can visit each other and leave emoji messages. Of course, how much fun that is depends on how many of your (or your kids’) friends have Ace LTE.
Gaming with Fitbit Ace LTE
Even without the social element, the Ace LTE is plenty fun: it’s home to Fitbit Arcade, a new library of games made specifically for the wearable. So far, I’ve only seen about half a dozen games in the collection, including a room escape game, a fishing simulator, and a Mario Kart-like racing game.
The first game I tried at the Google briefing was Smoky Lakea fishing game. After a quick introduction, I tapped on the shadow of a fish in the water and swung my wrist out. I waited until the Ace LTE vibrated, then pulled my wrist in. It told me I caught a pufferfish, and I swiped to see details of my past catches. The catch earned me five arcade tickets.
I happily gave it another go and landed what I was told was the “biggest pineapple gillfish” caught that day. Other fish I caught with the Ace LTE included a “Ramen Squid” and a “Blobfish” and tapping the icon in the top left corner brought up a library of fish I’d caught.
I then Polo 13a racing game in which I play as a chicken in a bathtub, competing against my nemesis in an intergalactic space match, where I tilt my wrist in any direction to steer and keep my car on course or swerve to collect speed-boosting items, which is exactly what I expected it to be. Mario Kart Due to my lack of experience (and general lack of real-life driving skills), I was terrible at this game and came in last, and Sabharwal kindly informed me that this was the worst result he’d seen today.
I was not able to check other titles that were installed. Galaxy Ranger, Jelly Jam or Sprouting But what intrigued me most was my favorite genre: escape rooms.
But Google doesn’t want to encourage obsession or addiction to the Ace LTE games. “We don’t want kids to overexert themselves. We don’t want kids to think, ‘Oh my God, the world has ended!’ if they miss a day of playing after playing for several days in a row,” Sabharwal says.
So each game’s progression is built around encouraging the wearer to reach athletic goals and progress to new stages. Every 2-3 minutes, you’ll be reminded to get up and move. Smoky LakeFor example, it might let you know that you’re out of food and need to walk a few hundred steps to get to the bait store. You can do this by walking a certain number of steps or doing an activity that meets a similar requirement. Google calls this “interval-based gaming,” a play on the idea of ”interval-based training.” The company believes that after about five to 10 sessions, each wearer will hit the World Health Organization’s recommended daily activity requirement of 60 to 90 minutes.
While the idea of using activity as a game currency isn’t entirely new, Google’s approach is very cautious. As well as trying to avoid addiction, a serious concern for the target age group, the company says it built the Ace LTE “responsibly from the ground up” by working with “experts in child psychology, public health, privacy and digital wellbeing.” It adds that the device was “built with privacy first” and that only parents will be able to see their child’s location and activity data within the app. Location data is deleted after 24 hours, and activity data after up to 35 days. Google also says that “there will be no third-party apps or ads on the device.”
While activity is the primary goal at launch, the Ace LTE also has the potential to track sleep and other aspects of your health to help you reach your goals. Some parts of the Ace LTE’s interface look similar to other Fitbit trackers, including reminders to move and a Today-like dashboard, but in my brief time with it, it was hard to fully explore and compare.
While I like the idea of the Ace LTE and I definitely enjoyed some of the games, I still have some reservations. I noticed that the device I tried felt warm, but Sabharwal explained that this was probably because the demo unit was on a charge all day. I also didn’t like the thick bezels around the screen, but it didn’t negatively impact my experience. What seemed more of an issue were the occasional delays while waiting for a game to load or go to the home screen. I’m not sure if this is due to early software or if the final retail units will have similar delays, so I’ll need to run a full review to find out.
The Fitbit Ace LTE is available to preorder starting today for $230. Google Store or Amazon It will be available on June 5th. The Ace Pass plan, which includes LTE service (through Google Fi), access to Fitbit Arcade, and regular content updates, will cost an extra $10 per month. With the annual subscription, you’ll get a collectible Ace Band (six will be available at launch), and between now and August 31st, you can get a 50% discount on the annual price, bringing it down to about $5 per month.
Update, May 29, 3:15pm ET: This story has been edited to clarify that the Fitbit Ace LTE has stripped-down hardware from the Pixel Watch 2. It can’t track sleep or stress.
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