The Fitbit Ace LTE, an important youngsters’ smartwatch, is right down to $170 Leave a comment

The Fitbit Ace LTE is a superb smartwatch for teenagers who aren’t fairly prepared for his or her first smartphone. It has cute video games, a enjoyable little exercise tracker, location monitoring, and it lets youngsters name or textual content with preselected contacts. There’s no app retailer, no web entry, no smartphone connection, and no method for them to get spam calls or texts. It’s right down to $170.95 from $229.99 on Amazon in each spicy (inexperienced and grey, with a purple and inexperienced band) and gentle (grey, with a grey and black band) in the course of the present arbitrary buying occasion. My daughter has been utilizing one since this summer season, and we each suggest it.

The Ace LTE is a cross-platform standalone watch; dad and mom or guardians set it up utilizing the Fitbit Ace app on Android or iOS. That app can be the place you select who your baby can name or textual content (these folks additionally want the Ace app), set faculty hours (no video games or incoming cellphone calls), and verify on location (although location sharing additionally exhibits up within the Google Maps app, which is good). Calling, texting, and placement sharing require the Ace Cross, which is $9.99 per thirty days and permits LTE entry. There’s no service integration required.

The watch additionally has interchangeable bands, at $40 a pop, that unlock new video games and actions when linked. It’s a shameless try to interact the gotta-catch-em-all mode — or at the least encourage watchband swapping at recess — and it’ll most likely work.

The Verge’s Vee Track did a hands-on with the Ace LTE earlier this 12 months, and my household has been testing one since June. My favourite factor about it’s that it lets my nine-year-old textual content me, which I actually appreciated in the course of the summer season when she was at day camp. She was capable of inform me her brother wanted dry footwear, for instance, or that the toys on the toy museum they visited regarded creepy and that the place smelled bizarre. It opened up a complete new method of speaking in comparison with the preset textual content replies and 20-second audio clips she needed to work with on the Garmin Bounce.

The Ace LTE is finest fitted to youngsters between perhaps 7 and 11 years outdated, by which age they’ll most likely begin to chafe at its limitations in comparison with an Apple Watch or an precise cellphone. However for now, I’m cherishing these limitations. Search for my full evaluation quickly.