Fitbit Versa Review - Elegant Waterproof Smartwatch!

Fitness tracking watches can pull off a premium jewelry design aesthetic too! The Fitbit Versa is the company's most premium waterproof offering yet!

Meet Fitbit Versa

The increase in interest in fitness tracking by Filipinos have been great but most of the previous models mostly looked like the usual electronics. This created a gap for people who wanted to track their health but wanted a more premium looking device.

The Fitbit Versa with its anodized aluminum body with colors like rose gold, black and silver aim to solve these concerns.

This is our review of the Fitbit Versa.

Fitbit Versa Specs

Display: 1.34-inch 300 x 300 resolution w/ Sapphire Glass protection at 317 ppi

ROM: 2.5GB

Battery: LiPo with up to 5 days battery life

Compatibility: Android and iOS

Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC (Special Edition only)

Sensors: 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer, optical heart rate tracker, SpO2, altimeter, light, vibration

Others: Water resistance

Price: PHP 13,890

Disclaimer: The Fitbit Versa is a seeded unit from Fitbit Philippines.

Unboxing / Accessories

Complete with extra straps!

The box is designed with the familiar white on Fitbit shade of blue. Once the outer box is removed, you will find the following: The smartwatch, quick start guide, extra straps, USB Type-A cord to charging dock, and documentation.

Build Quality

Sensors and CPU contacts for the charging dock

The body is made of a square anodized aluminum unibody that has one button on the left and two buttons on the right. A display on top, sensors and strap lugs at the bottom.

Pretty links

Slim profile

The one we got is the rose gold version and it matches rose gold Apple products without problem! There are silver and black colors as well.

Premium build paired with elegant design!

You can easily change straps by pulling the levers on the metal rods and it will pop-off. The special edition has an extra set of black silicone straps aside from the purple one.

Display Quality

Bright and sharp display!

The display is a 1.34-inch multi-touch LCD that is bright enough to be viewed even with direct sunlight. Most watch faces are sharp enough to read texts, stats and animations. There are no noticeable stuttering or slowdowns. It gets the job done.

The display is bright and sharp!

Our only gripe is that compared to past Fitbits, it has a slight delay when the display lights up after moving your arm to have the watch face you. It is a minor nitpick but worth nothing. We think this can be fixed in a firmware update.

Battery Life

We would wear the watch everyday for two to three day while connected to our phone continuously. This means that aside from fitness tracking, we would get notifications in real time.

When used without being connected to our phone continuously, we were able to get the 4 days of battery life it was rated for.

Considering that it is using a colored LCD, it performs really well to the black and white OLED panel from the Fitbit Charge with 5 days of battery life.

It takes less than 90 minutes to charge from 0 to 100 percent.

Performance

To set up, you need to get the Fitbit app from the Android Play Store and the Apple App store. We downloaded the app on our devices and proceeded with the setup process. It's relatively intuitive but requires an active internet and Bluetooth connection.

The Versa is compatible with both ecosystems. The set up process time will vary depending on your internet connection as I had to download day one firmware updates for the Versa.

You can not call or send messages via the smart band though. You can control the Deezer app with the strap but not Spotify or Google Play Music. This will be a problem for people who use those platforms.

Unlike the Samsung Gear S3 Frontier and later, the Versa doesn't offer more interaction with notifications like replying to a text message or calling with the watch. Honestly, we don't mind too much as we think it is tacky to call or text from the watch. We just wish it had Google Assistant Integration.

For fitness tracking, it does all of what Fitbits have been measuring, recording since the beginning. You can see statistics from the pedometer (number of steps), sleep, elevation, exercise, and your real time heart rate.

One useful app we got was the calculator. Yes the display is small but it is practical for those quick and easy addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions for the day to day.

Unlike previous Fitbits, some settings are accessible right away from the Fitbit App or in the settings on the Versa.

Pros - Simple UI, solid build, sweat resistant, push notifications, fitness and sleep tracking is good!

Cons - No steel band or leather out of the box, slight delay when lighting up from resting position

Verdict

This is one of the best and prettiest looking fitness band out there. We have almost no complaints aside from the slight delay on the display that can easily be fixed by a firmware update.

We just wished that you could buy a Versa with a leather strap or metal link strap right away and not separately.

Build / Design - 4.75

Display - 4.25

Battery Life - 4.5

Performance - 4.5

Average - 4.5 / 5