Google‘s parent company Alphabet agreed to purchase Fitbit in a deal that values the wearable maker at approximately $2.1 billion, Google announced Friday. In announcing the transaction the company confirmed a Monday report that Alphabet “made an offer” to buy the wearable company. Fitbit is behind fitness trackers such as the Versa 2 smartwatch and the …
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The expected thing happened: Google is acquiring Fitbit for $2.1 billion. What this all means, well… depends on who you are. Fitbit? Google? The wearer of a Fitbit or a Wear OS watch? Google’s hardware head, Rick Osterloh, confirmed the news Friday morning and also directly confirmed that there are Made by Google wearables to come. Having reviewed many, many …
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Fitbit shares surged Monday on a report that Google’s parent company Alphabet is looking into buying the wearable company. Alphabet has “made an offer” to buy Fitbit, Reuters reports, though terms weren’t disclosed. After briefly being halted, shares of Fitbit resumed trading late Monday morning, with the company’s stock price rising by nearly 28% to $5.51 at time of writing. …
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Still not sold on the merits of owning a smartwatch? Everyone fusses over things like heart-rate monitoring and GPS run tracking — useful features, to be sure — but those aren’t the true benefits. The true benefits are deceptively simple: Telling time and receiving notifications from your phone. Once you get accustomed to having those features on your wrist, you’ll …
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This story is part of The 2010s: A Decade in Review, a series on the memes, people, products, movies and so much more that have influenced the 2010s. When I hustled out of CNET headquarters in San Francisco on May 26, 2010, and slipped into a rental car with two of my co-workers to head to a meeting across the …
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Update, Sept. 18: Read our full rated Apple Watch Series 5 review here. Apple lit up an “always-on” display for its new Series 5 Apple Watch on Tuesday. The tech giant announced its latest smartwatch will now be able to have a display that’s constantly turned on. That means no more taps or wrist raises to see pings, notifications or… the …
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As Apple gears up to show off its latest smartwatch, rival Huami has developed a couple new models of its own: a square Amazfit GTS and a round sports watch, the Amazfit Stratos 3. The company showed off the new watches at the IFA electronics show in Berlin on Friday, and CNET got a sneak peak. It hasn’t yet detailed …
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Wow, Garmin has a lot of watches. September is the time for flagship fitness watches: Fitbit Versa 2, Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2, the Apple Watch and now Garmin. The company’s just launched a handful of Apple Watch competitors: the Garmin VivoActive 4, and a step-up Garmin Venu, which adds an AMOLED display that has an optional always-on mode. Garmin also …
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September is shaping up to be a big month for smartwatches. Fitbit on Wednesday announced its new Versa 2, which will arrive in stores on Sept. 15. Samsung has a new smartwatch arriving two days earlier on Sept. 13, and a new Apple Watch is likely around the corner, too. But, the $200 Fitbit Versa 2 has new features that …
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Fitbit has long been the king of fitness trackers with bands like the Inspire HR, but there’s no shortage of wearables looking to take the crown, such as the Samsung Galaxy Fit and Garmin Vivosmart. They can track your steps, monitor heart rate and keep an eye on your fitness, plus have smart features like getting notifications from your phone. All these …
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