Fitbit wants to take on the Apple Watch with its new Blaze smartwatch

Most of Fitbit’s products have smartwatch-like features, but all of them definitely fall into the fitness tracker category, meaning the company doesn’t directly compete against Apple and the Apple Watch. At least, that’s how things used to be, but with the introduction of the Fitbit Blaze, the company has kinda entered the smartwatch market. I say kinda, because the Blaze is still more of a fitness tracker than a smartwatch, which doesn’t exactly work to its advantage.

Fitbit has been the wearable technology leader since before anyone knew what wearable technology was. It’s looking to stay that way, even as Apple is hot on its tail. That’s why Fitbithas unveiled the Blaze, a fitness tracker with some Apple Watch-like features baked in. Fitbit’s fitness trackers are the industry leaders for a reason: They’re simple, reliable and jam-packed with features that are tailored to fitness enthusiasts. They’re just not much to look at, with clunky designs and black-and-white screens. President Obama wears one, and it goes perfectly with his tan suit and mom jeans. The Blaze is different. It has a color touch screen, fashionable and swappable bands, and a slim design. It even has a few standard smartwatch features, such as answering and declining calls, calendar syncing and music playing. But the Blaze is a fitness band — not a smartwatch. Don’t expect to run Facebook (FB, Tech30) on this thing. You can’t use it to pay for your latte. Like all Fitbits, it can track your exercise and automatically sync your workouts with your phone. It monitors your heart rate, steps and your activity throughout the day.