Fitbit Sense 2 review: A glorified smart(band)

Design that blends in

Sense 2 looks similar to the original Sense that came out in 2020, though I must say the new version is slightly thinner and lighter. Otherwise, it still features a square face with rounded corners with a crisp, clear 1.6-inch always-on OLED display and a solid aluminum build. So yes, it feels similar. But the most notable design change is the addition of a physical button. With a quick tap, it takes you back to the home screen while a double tap can be customised to perform various shortcuts. Although Fitbit doesn’t technically use IP ratings, the company says the device is water resistant up to a depth of 50m. Swapping straps is very easy. All you need to do is press the button, remove the strap, and then snap the new one in its place. While jogging, I didn’t feel I was wearing a watch, making this piece barely noticeable when strapped on.

The Sense 2 has a square casing, but with curves on the sides, rounded edges and rounded corners. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Terrific battery life

The Fitbit Sense comes with a proprietary charger that fits into a USB port and sticks to the back of the watch magnetically. Sense 2 has the same 162maAh cell as the original Sense. Charging the watch fully takes up to two hours and should give you up to six days of battery life. In my testing, I found that the Sense 2’s battery lasted close to two-and-a-half days on a single charge. Smartwatches used to be something one had to charge every night, but now I’m not worried about the battery every single day.

A tool for stress management

For me, the standout feature of the Sense 2 has been the ability to measure stress via an EDA sensor. The EDA scanner uses skin temperature to check stress levels along with other metrics like heart rate variation, and deliver a stress management score. The Sense 2 has an upgraded sensor, this time you get automatic alerts in real-time. It works, at least for me. For example, I had a bit of a hectic week. I had a lot of travelling; first I went on a vacation and immediately I had to attend an event in Thiruvananthapuram. I barely had a few hours to relax.

When I was stressed, I got a body response alert and Sense 2 prompted me to meditate. I won’t say the alerts come on time every time I feel under pressure but somehow Fitbit’s stress management feature helped me to acknowledge my fears and work on them to destress my life.

The Sense 2 can detect possible heart-related health issues (ECG readings), and rising stress levels (continuous skin conductance). (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Top-notch fitness tracking

The Sense 2 is pitched as a fitness coach on the wrist and it does live up to the promise with 40 types of activities to choose from. Best of all, it’s easy to stop and start any activity with the button. The watch has seven exercise types: walking, running, outdoor cycling, elliptical, sports, aerobic workout and swimming, all supporting auto-recognition. Some activities have GPS integration, although it’s not comparable to the accuracy of a dual-band watch. As I found in my testing, the accuracy of the tracking wasn’t great. In fact, GPS was slow to connect, sometimes requiring 15 to 20 minutes.

The Sense 2 can also be used to collect data while you sleep, which is the best in the industry. Every user gets Fitbit’s sleep score and sleeps stages, with detailed info available only when you subscribe to a premium service. Besides that, Sense 2 can notify you of abnormal high or low heart rate readings as well as look for signs of AFib, an irregular heart rhythm condition.

Fitbit can track your workout through about 40 modalities, including running, strength training, spinning, walking, and bike riding. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

A fitness tracker in a smartwatch body

The Sense 2’s ships with a brand new Fitbit OS that is more like WearOS. The user interface is tailored for a smartwatch and that is a good thing. Swiping left and right to view widgets or pressing the button brings up an app list. Swiping up brings up notifications, and swiping down gets you to the quick menu. I must say the watch’s UI is a step forward but at the same time, Google, which owns Fitbit, has done something that bogs down the Sense 2 capabilities. There’s no Google Assistant, Gmail or Calendar integration – despite being a Google product now. Although Amazon Alexa is there, it’s there on every smartwatch available on the market. The promise of Fitbit services being deeply integrated with Google hasn’t happened, and what we are getting is a confusing product.

The omission of Wi-Fi on the Sense 2 is another missed point. Without Wi-Fi support, updating Sense 2’s software will be super slow. Sense 2 doesn’t support native music storage at all – and support for apps like Spotify is also missing. The Sense 2 doesn’t have third-party apps and you are limited to basic apps pre-installed on the device like alarms, timers and weather. And that’s not all.

If you are an iPhone user, there is no way to reply to a text message on the watch itself. You can read a message but cannot reply. That’s annoying, especially if you are in the middle of a meeting or stepping outside for a walk. You have no choice but to pull the iPhone out of your pocket to reply to a text message. It seems that Google deliberately wants to curtail features on the Sense 2 , so that more people buy its Pixel watch. That defeats the purpose of a smartwatch, making the Sense 2 more like a premium smart band.

The Sense 2 also features a physical button, rather than the capacitive one on the first Sense.  (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Should you buy Fitbit Sense 2

At this point, you might be thinking, “Right, why don’t I get an Apple Watch?” Starting at Rs 24,999, the Sense 2 is priced on the premium side. And that to me is a bit problematic. It really is a fitness tracker and not a smartwatch. Fitbit’s great strength lies in sleep tracking and its subscription service that unlocks extra fitness features, classes and health insights. You can get those features on any Fitbit wearable. To put it in another way, the Sense 2 is a weird product not because it’s a bad device – rather it is thoughtfully designed to do less.