Google has been working on the Fitbit Ace LTE for the last two or three years and it shows. In my brief use of the Fitbit-branded Wear OS device, what amazes me most — as someone outside of the intended kid/parent audience — is how much of an end-to-end experience it provides.
From the basic podcast experience in YouTube Music to the Gemini app that lacks phone assistant features, the minimally viable Google—as I call it—can be frustrating as an end user. The Fitbit Ace LTE offers the opposite as it has a clear, if narrow, focus.
A well thought out game by Google
Ignoring the fact that you can actually play games on it, the entire Fitbit Ace LTE has an impressive video game-like quality. This is, of course, with the intention of making children want to wear it. The basic premise is: “The more [kids] they start, they unlock more time to play.”
The titles in Fitbit Arcade take full advantage of haptic feedback, accelerometer input, and speakers. As such, it’s more than just cramming a touch-intensive phone game into a smartwatch-sized screen.
I had the opportunity to play a virtual fishing title where your hand becomes a rod that you cast out and reel back. Another game I tried is similar to “Mario Kart” and involves flicking your wrist to navigate the race track. The games definitely got me going and serve as a nice complement to Ace LTE’s traditional Move Goal where 90 points is roughly 45 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity.
Built with the Unity engine, these titles are a little slow to load at first, but smooth once you get into it. The style of the games is a little generic and I wish they were a little more Google-y in nature. Playing on a rounded square is acceptable, and the 7+ target audience might be more forgiving of this very real limitation.
As they progress and complete daily activities, kids earn arcade tickets to customize their virtual characters – called “eejies” – and decorate their homes. This is the other big aspect of the Ace LTE and it is clearly inspired by “Animal Crossing”.
Google sets limits to ensure kids don’t overexert themselves. It collaborated with “independent experts on child psychology, public health, privacy and digital well-being”.
Meanwhile, Google is further inspired by old Nintendo cartridges with a patented tape mechanism that loads new virtual content, such as different items, styles, rooms and the “Noodles” activity ring. You don’t need to be wearing the wristband to access this content. As such, Google envisions kids trading bands to get more content in a nice playground/social aspect that allows technology to be more tangible. I love that tactility as much as the pouch packaging.
A thoughtful but limited Fitbit
The Fitbit Ace LTE isn’t really meant to be a full-featured fitness tracker, with less activity tracking than even previous models in the Ace line of fitness trackers. For example, only 30 days of activity is shown in the native Fitbit Ace app, with Google directly deleting the data from its servers after 35 days as part of its data minimization plan for this product.
The main stat is the Move Goal which appears as a “Noodle” activity ring around the clock face. Other data available are active minutes, steps, floors and heart rate. There’s no sleep tracking, and Google encourages kids to take it off and charge it while they sleep and even “rewards” them via software for remembering to charge the watch.
It’s not a full Fitbit in that regard, and I hope this is something Google will consider in the future. After all, Google Research clearly put effort into making this a precision fitness device for kids by reworking the sensor algorithms for them instead of just using the adult version.
The versatile Google
Most smartwatches for children, often sold by operators, are not very powerful. Google is going big with the Apple Watch SE and leveraging existing Pixel Watch 2 and Wear OS hardware for this project.
Swipe down for quick settings, such as battery percentage, screen brightness, ringtone on/off, and Do Not Disturb. Swiping up takes you to notifications, such as messages from set contacts and updates on achieved goals.
If you go left, you can access the virtual world of your eejie. Swiping to the right reveals a dashboard that shows your eejie’s face, what level you are and the number of arcade tickets you have, as well as your progress in daily tasks. Arranged like tiles, you return to the watch face by continuing to swipe.
There are two buttons on the side. The top one takes you to Call & Message where you get a list of approved contacts (up to 20), day/date and a list of basic fitness stats, while Google Wallet will arrive in an upcoming update. The chat UI is basically Google Messages for Wear OS, although the Ace LTE uses an IP-based backend for messaging and calling. The bottom button starts the carousel of games.
The target audience is children over 7 years old, but the managed one-touch calling and messaging function, as well as location sharing, seems useful for everyone. Speaking of location, Google will note the patents when the Ace LTE is in location, but not currently being worn.
If you are 13 or older, you can set up Ace LTE on your phone and receive basic app notifications.
You need an LTE subscription for the initial setup of Ace LTE. If you stop paying, step and activity tracking will still work, with Wi-Fi available, although those settings are by design unavailable in the surface-level software. However, the entire Wear OS Settings app can be accessed.
Wearables for kids are a fast-growing segment, especially for those who aren’t ready for a smartphone yet.
Google’s usual strategy is to launch with a core set of features and then add new ones with updates down the line. By comparison, the Ace LTE feels like a complete story. It has to be because the bar for something you give your kids to make sure they are safe and sound is so high. Frankly speaking, refreshing is like a Google user.
The end result is a product that tries something new with a great deal of whimsy and versatility, even for someone outside of the target audience. The Fitbit Ace LTE costs $229.95 + monthly/annual subscription and is available for pre-order on the Google Store, as well as Amazon, ahead of general availability on June 5.
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