Buckle Up, Fitbit Fans: The New Smartwatch Has All the Features You've Been Dreaming Of

With all the capabilities of your favorite wearables (and then some). Buckle up.

You don't even need to press "start": your Ionic will intuitively know that you're working out and what kind of exercise you're doing. Apple Watch users know the frustration of doing a workout only to realize you never hit the "start" button, so all the tracking is lost. With Fitbit's SmartTrack, those frustrations are a thing of the past.

With the Prepulse Heart Rate feature, you can get stats on your heart rate all day, not just when you're exercising. This can alert you to any heart changes, as well as give you a more accurate read on your resting HR.

You might be thinking, "Wait — continuous HRM and four to seven days of battery life?" It's true. Somehow the wizards at Fitbit have engineered a miraculous combination of continual heart rate tracking and a smartwatch that doesn't need to be plugged in every single night. That also means . . .

The Ionic features sleep stages and insights, as well as guided breathing. Because you don't have to charge the Ionic every night, you can take advantage of the tracking technology that automatically senses when you're in light, deep, and REM sleep — then delivers personal insights and can even go so far as to determine if you have sleep apnea.

That's right — it's released the Fitbit Flyer Bluetooth wireless sweat-proof headphones that can connect to your Ionic (or phone!). The Ionic can store around 300 purchased songs and/or downloadable playlists from Pandora (if you have a subscription).

The Ionic is water resistant for up to 50 meters, meaning you can take it in the pool and get those laps in. And you know, like . . . wear it in the shower. FINALLY.

With the built-in GPS, you can see your pace and distance in real time on your watch display, and your data will be more accurate than ever before. Though we loved the Fitbit Charge 2, run tracking was a weak spot — now you can get the features you love with the addition of excellent real-time running data.

Arguably one of the best parts of Fitbit is the community. With the Ionic, you'll get the benefits of Fitbit's programming, challenges, and more, so you can have the support you need along your fitness journey.

Travel and expenses for the author were provided by Fitbit for the purpose of writing this story.