Name: Google Fitbit Edge
Brand: Google

Google‘s new Fitbit Edge is the first Fitbit the company has designed to be repaired: a slim aluminium tracker with a replaceable battery, a much larger screen than the band it succeeds and roughly a week between charges. It also gives up something owners of the old Charge used every day, the chip that let them pay for a coffee by holding their wrist to the terminal.

For anyone who wants notifications and workout data without wearing a full smartwatch, the Edge is Google’s answer, placed between the screenless Fitbit Air and the Pixel Watch. The bargain is unusually plain. You get a tracker you can keep alive longer by replacing its most perishable part, and you lose a wallet feature that bands at this price normally include.

The Edge costs $179.99 in the US, £159.99 in the UK and €179.99 in the eurozone countries where Google sells it, including Germany, France, Italy and Spain, according to Google’s own store listings. That is $20 more than the Fitbit Charge 6 it replaces, as The Verge notes, and the price includes three months of Google Health Premium. Google says the display gives 46 percent more viewing area than its previous trackers; Wired puts it at 1.34 inches against the Charge 6’s 1.04, which is the difference between glancing at a split time mid-run and squinting at it. The case is 11.5mm thick, and Google claims it weighs 45 percent less than an Apple Watch Series 12 case.

The battery is the part that matters over years rather than weeks. Lithium cells lose capacity with every charge cycle, and on most fitness bands a tired cell ends the life of the whole device because it is sealed inside. Google says the Edge has an internal modular architecture and “a replaceable battery designed to extend the life of your device.” Rated life is up to seven days, or about two with the always-on display switched on, according to The Verge, and five minutes on the magnetic charger buys roughly a day.

What Google has not said matters as much. Its announcement does not explain who performs the swap, whether owners can open the case at home or need a service centre, or what a replacement battery will cost, and Wired reports that repair options will vary by region. A repairable design is only as useful as the parts supply behind it. The missing NFC chip is the more immediate loss: no Google Wallet payments from the wrist, which the Charge 6 offered. There is no microphone or speaker either, so calls appear on the screen but cannot be answered from it.

Most of what the Edge adds is tracking. It brings back built-in GPS, which Google says is up to 40 percent more accurate than on its earlier trackers, along with an altimeter for elevation, an ECG app for heart-rhythm checks and a dedicated skin temperature sensor. It recognises up to 100 workout types automatically by reading context such as location and routine; The Verge’s example is that activity logged at a tennis court is assumed to be tennis. Blood pressure and insulin resistance trends require the Premium subscription, and Google stresses that they are wellness estimates, not diagnoses. The Edge works with Android and iPhone through the Google Health app.

Europe is the backdrop to the battery decision. The EU’s battery regulation requires portable batteries in consumer devices to be removable and replaceable by their owners from February 2027, and Wired suggests the rule is likely part of Google’s reasoning. Yet a delegated act adopted by the European Commission in July exempts smartwatches and fitness trackers that meet its criteria, moving their battery replacements to independent professionals, according to legal and trade-press summaries of the act. Google has built repairability into a category that regulators were preparing to excuse from it.

Preorders are open now on the Google Store and through retailers, and the tracker reaches shelves on October 27. Google’s store also lists it in Japan at ¥26,800, Australia at A$269, Canada at CA$229.99, and Sweden and Norway at 1,999 kronor, with Denmark at 1,299. At the time of writing, Google’s own store had no Edge listing in India, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Turkey, South Korea or Taiwan. Several health features, including skin temperature readings and the Health Guardian alerts, are not available in every country, Google says. A Stephen Curry edition sells for $219.99, and Google Maps turn-by-turn directions are due on the Edge later this year, according to Wired.

The battery promise can only be tested when the first Edge cells wear out, years from now. That is when Google’s parts and repair network will need to exist.

Tags: Google, wearables, Fitbit, fitness trackers, Google Health, Fitbit Charge 6