As a dad who put up a cellular Apple Watch for my oldest son to remain in touch before he received a phone, I know how beneficial -- and often annoying -- watches as phones can be for kids. It's easy and more distraction-free to use a phone-enabled watch for daily conversations from a distance, and it eliminates concerns about losing a phone. That's why I was happy Google's new Fitbit-branded child watch, the Fitbit Ace LTE, comes with cellular connectivity. For $230, this is pretty much the perfect Apple Watch alternative for kids.
Or, I should say, almost. My younger 11-year-old son was eager to wear and try the Fitbit Ace LTE. He doesn't have a phone yet, and he's appreciated prior Fitbits for their daily step-tracking objectives, which inspired him to take lengthy walks and stay more active. He's been wearing the Ace LTE for over a month now.
In that time, he's kept it with him practically continuously. He records his walks and activities and plays short games as a reward -- but not too much that it becomes a distraction. He's phoned me from walks, while at the pool and from downstairs to say hey.
But, he wants to add his buddies so he can call them. The Fitbit Ace LTE has a hard time with it. I'll explain.
Hardware-wise: A Major Victory
The Fitbit Ace LTE is a truly fantastically designed watch, more like a Pixel Watch in square form than a regular Fitbit. The squircle design seems like the earlier Fitbit Versa but with a lighter, smoother feel. The display is a brilliant OLED, and the internal processor is the same as the one inside the Pixel Watch 2, which makes graphics and animations seem incredibly fluid and sharp.
Besides the bundled LTE connectivity, the watch offers an accelerometer and gyroscope, GPS, optical heart-rate tracking and 5ATM water resistance for swimming. It also includes a Gorilla Glass 3-covered screen, which is scratch and impact resistant. There's an accompanying screen bumper/protector also, which is useful since kids bash stuff about.
The Ace LTE can also perform mobile payments in principle, although the Google Pay tap-to-pay feature isn't operational yet. It should be shortly, though.
A few plastic buttons on the side start games and phone/messaging shortcuts, while the remainder of the watch operates using touch controls. There are simply a few basic capabilities, but besides monitoring activities, playing games and making calls, there are inbuilt clocks, stopwatches and alarms.
Snap-on velcro straps pop on and off relatively effortlessly, and Google includes a cunning marketing twist where more straps also unlock new watch face animations and in-game goodies. Separate straps are $35 each.
The watch charges using its own unique magnetic charger, which is the same as the one on the current Pixel Watch 2. Battery life lasts up to two days, but youngsters will need to remember to charge it at some time.
Games and Fitness: Yes and yes
The most amazing thing of Google's Fitbit-infused watch is its heavy dose of gamified concepts. I used to adore how the Nintendo 3DS, a portable device from years ago, could measure steps and transform that activity into cash that unlocked features in games. I wanted that notion to develop in fitness wearables for literally decades, and the Fitbit Ace LTE is the first watch I can think of that's done it.
The Ace's fitness tracking objectives yield ticket money, and it's these points that are spent on game enhancements or extra goods for an in-watch avatar called an Eijie that you build a tiny home for and gift accessories to, like Nintendo's Animal Crossing.
The Ace LTE contains pre-installed games with motion controllers, and playing these games unlocks prizes after activity currency has been earned.
I didn't play these games too much, though, because I wasn't wearing the watch all the time. My son did. So here's how he describes it. "I really like the games on it, and you can play the different levels of them or other things in the game by doing steps or movements. That's a terrific approach to motivate. I also enjoy the Noodles, since they're all quite attractive, and I like the animations when it gets to the finish [of a goal]," he informed me.
Noodles are Fitbit's moniker for the activity progress bar, which wraps around the watch display -- they're animated and have a triumph animation at the end, depending on which Noodle is selected. Some seem like pixelated snakes or creepy canines.
I don't see him playing games on the watch all the time anymore as I did during the first couple of weeks he wore it, but he always loves wearing the watch, and he gets thrilled about completing the fitness objectives.
Google has six games on the Ace LTE right now. Smokey Lake is a fishing game that employs hand gestures to throw and reel in random fish. Pollo 13, a racing game with chickens that employs hand-tilt motions to control the Mario Kart-like circuits; it's one of my son's faves. Another favorite is Kaiju Golf, a monster golfing game where you swing your arms to putt. There's a puzzle game called Otal's Secret, a dancing game called Jelly Jam and a space action game called Galaxy Rangers. Google is promised more games that will come for free over time, and there's also an Animal Crossing-like environment called Bit Valley where your Eejie resides.
There are parental restrictions in-app to reduce distractions: much like the Apple Watch, games may be shut down during school time. I enjoy how the phone app allows me to manually reactivate access on the go, too, just in case my son has spare time after school that he'd want to play and pings me to ask.
Read Also: Fitbit Ace LTE Review: A Kids' Activity Tracker
Phone Service With More Than A Few Catches
All the games are included in Google's subscription service for the watch, which also includes LTE phone calls, messaging and location monitoring. The $10-a-month subscription (being provided at a discount for the first year presently) is managed by Google inside its Fitbit Ace LTE app and isn't the same as a conventional phone plan. You can call your kid and your youngster can call you but only from within the Fitbit Ace app.
I had to add myself as a trusted contact from the app, which sits on a parent's phone and handles your kid's watch contacts, provides fitness objectives and monitors their whereabouts. Unlike the Apple Watch, which can be turned into a kid-ready wearable within a parent's Watch app on their phone but can still make standard phone calls and text messages to anyone added as a contact, Fitbit's extra level of safety requires that anyone added as a contact for your kid have a Google account.
Anyone who wishes to get a call from the youngster wearing this watch also has to install the Fitbit Ace LTE app on their own phone and set themselves up as a contact. In that way, the watch's ability to make calls feel more like an app-to-app walkie talkie than an actual cellular number.
I appreciate that the Ace LTE enables for calls and texts as well as rapid voice messaging. So does my kid, who often sends me short audio pings telling me what's going on at the town pool or on a walk around the block. On a boat excursion with my sister a month ago, he went ashore with his cousins and told me where he was on his watch while I stayed aboard.
"The texting, I like how there are terms you can click on and the standard text by tapping letters, and I think it's pretty great because there's not only voice type but a voice record so you can send voice messages instead of just phoning. It's like a combination between texting and calling… it's a quick, easy method to check in," he remarked.
But there are drawbacks. Because calls flow through Google's phone-based Fitbit Ace LTE app, which operates on iOS and Android, incoming calls are received nearly like calls from applications like Signal; they can be responded, but on your phone screen, they'll have a separate interface for responding and adjusting audio. Also, these calls can't be received on a cellular device like the Apple device.
"It should be easy to connect with other individuals so you can text and phone them. I also think the messaging software should be available with Apple Watches, not just iPhones," my son stated.
Also, at the time, there's no mechanism to add kid contacts at all. We haven't been able to add another buddy who also has a Fitbit Ace LTE, because Google accounts for kids under 13 handled by Google Family Link are currently restricted from being added to the Fitbit Ace LTE. It's a strange move that Google's product staff claim is being looked at (perhaps calls between youngsters can be enabled soon). It's a concern because although the Ace LTE is fantastic for helping parents remain in touch with kids, it's not so great at helping kids stay in touch with each other… or allowing younger siblings to add each other as emergency contacts.
After a month-plus of observing my youngster use the Ace LTE, it's definitely a watch he adores. He's 11, and at some time, he'll progress into using a phone. In the meantime, it's just enough for him, and it's pleasant without being too distracting. It's more deliberately developed for kids than the Apple Watch, especially for exercise.
But, I have a serious concern with the watch's limited support for contacts for youngsters, and its lack of Ace-to-Apple-Watch connection. More significantly, so does my son. He told me the other night, with a sorrowful look on his face, that he frequently wished this Fitbit was more of a full watch like the Apple Watch. He'd like to run additional programs, and he'd like to chat to his buddies. What's the use of a watch like this, he asked to me, if you can't chat to your friends?
I hope Google improves this, because it restricts the Ace LTE's appeal as a viable phone option for youngsters old enough to want to do more than just play games, be active and make calls to adults. The Apple Watch offers music and navigation and other functions, items that may not be significant for younger kids but will matter if you have a tween who prefers a watch over a phone. Still, that's a terrific start, and I hope Google keeps developing it. The child watch space needs better alternatives, and this is absolutely one of them. But it may be a lot more.
Tove Svendson 
As a dad who put up a cellular Apple Watch for my oldest son to remain in touch before he received a phone, I know how beneficial -- and often annoying -- watches as phones can be for kids. It's easy and more distraction-free to use a phone-enabled watch for daily conversations from a distance, and it eliminates concerns about losing a phone. That's why I was happy Google's new Fitbit-branded child watch, the Fitbit Ace LTE, comes with cellular connectivity. For $230, this is pretty much the perfect Apple Watch alternative for kids.
Or, I should say, almost. My younger 11-year-old son was eager to wear and try the Fitbit Ace LTE. He doesn't have a phone yet, and he's appreciated prior Fitbits for their daily step-tracking objectives, which inspired him to take lengthy walks and stay more active. He's been wearing the Ace LTE for over a month now.
In that time, he's kept it with him practically continuously. He records his walks and activities and plays short games as a reward -- but not too much that it becomes a distraction. He's phoned me from walks, while at the pool and from downstairs to say hey.
But, he wants to add his buddies so he can call them. The Fitbit Ace LTE has a hard time with it. I'll explain.
Hardware-wise: A Major Victory
The Fitbit Ace LTE is a truly fantastically designed watch, more like a Pixel Watch in square form than a regular Fitbit. The squircle design seems like the earlier Fitbit Versa but with a lighter, smoother feel. The display is a brilliant OLED, and the internal processor is the same as the one inside the Pixel Watch 2, which makes graphics and animations seem incredibly fluid and sharp.
Besides the bundled LTE connectivity, the watch offers an accelerometer and gyroscope, GPS, optical heart-rate tracking and 5ATM water resistance for swimming. It also includes a Gorilla Glass 3-covered screen, which is scratch and impact resistant. There's an accompanying screen bumper/protector also, which is useful since kids bash stuff about.
The Ace LTE can also perform mobile payments in principle, although the Google Pay tap-to-pay feature isn't operational yet. It should be shortly, though.
A few plastic buttons on the side start games and phone/messaging shortcuts, while the remainder of the watch operates using touch controls. There are simply a few basic capabilities, but besides monitoring activities, playing games and making calls, there are inbuilt clocks, stopwatches and alarms.
Snap-on velcro straps pop on and off relatively effortlessly, and Google includes a cunning marketing twist where more straps also unlock new watch face animations and in-game goodies. Separate straps are $35 each.
The watch charges using its own unique magnetic charger, which is the same as the one on the current Pixel Watch 2. Battery life lasts up to two days, but youngsters will need to remember to charge it at some time.
Games and Fitness: Yes and yes
The most amazing thing of Google's Fitbit-infused watch is its heavy dose of gamified concepts. I used to adore how the Nintendo 3DS, a portable device from years ago, could measure steps and transform that activity into cash that unlocked features in games. I wanted that notion to develop in fitness wearables for literally decades, and the Fitbit Ace LTE is the first watch I can think of that's done it.
The Ace's fitness tracking objectives yield ticket money, and it's these points that are spent on game enhancements or extra goods for an in-watch avatar called an Eijie that you build a tiny home for and gift accessories to, like Nintendo's Animal Crossing.
The Ace LTE contains pre-installed games with motion controllers, and playing these games unlocks prizes after activity currency has been earned.
I didn't play these games too much, though, because I wasn't wearing the watch all the time. My son did. So here's how he describes it. "I really like the games on it, and you can play the different levels of them or other things in the game by doing steps or movements. That's a terrific approach to motivate. I also enjoy the Noodles, since they're all quite attractive, and I like the animations when it gets to the finish [of a goal]," he informed me.
Noodles are Fitbit's moniker for the activity progress bar, which wraps around the watch display -- they're animated and have a triumph animation at the end, depending on which Noodle is selected. Some seem like pixelated snakes or creepy canines.
I don't see him playing games on the watch all the time anymore as I did during the first couple of weeks he wore it, but he always loves wearing the watch, and he gets thrilled about completing the fitness objectives.
Google has six games on the Ace LTE right now. Smokey Lake is a fishing game that employs hand gestures to throw and reel in random fish. Pollo 13, a racing game with chickens that employs hand-tilt motions to control the Mario Kart-like circuits; it's one of my son's faves. Another favorite is Kaiju Golf, a monster golfing game where you swing your arms to putt. There's a puzzle game called Otal's Secret, a dancing game called Jelly Jam and a space action game called Galaxy Rangers. Google is promised more games that will come for free over time, and there's also an Animal Crossing-like environment called Bit Valley where your Eejie resides.
There are parental restrictions in-app to reduce distractions: much like the Apple Watch, games may be shut down during school time. I enjoy how the phone app allows me to manually reactivate access on the go, too, just in case my son has spare time after school that he'd want to play and pings me to ask.
Read Also: Fitbit Ace LTE Review: A Kids' Activity Tracker
Phone Service With More Than A Few Catches
All the games are included in Google's subscription service for the watch, which also includes LTE phone calls, messaging and location monitoring. The $10-a-month subscription (being provided at a discount for the first year presently) is managed by Google inside its Fitbit Ace LTE app and isn't the same as a conventional phone plan. You can call your kid and your youngster can call you but only from within the Fitbit Ace app.
I had to add myself as a trusted contact from the app, which sits on a parent's phone and handles your kid's watch contacts, provides fitness objectives and monitors their whereabouts. Unlike the Apple Watch, which can be turned into a kid-ready wearable within a parent's Watch app on their phone but can still make standard phone calls and text messages to anyone added as a contact, Fitbit's extra level of safety requires that anyone added as a contact for your kid have a Google account.
Anyone who wishes to get a call from the youngster wearing this watch also has to install the Fitbit Ace LTE app on their own phone and set themselves up as a contact. In that way, the watch's ability to make calls feel more like an app-to-app walkie talkie than an actual cellular number.
I appreciate that the Ace LTE enables for calls and texts as well as rapid voice messaging. So does my kid, who often sends me short audio pings telling me what's going on at the town pool or on a walk around the block. On a boat excursion with my sister a month ago, he went ashore with his cousins and told me where he was on his watch while I stayed aboard.
"The texting, I like how there are terms you can click on and the standard text by tapping letters, and I think it's pretty great because there's not only voice type but a voice record so you can send voice messages instead of just phoning. It's like a combination between texting and calling… it's a quick, easy method to check in," he remarked.
But there are drawbacks. Because calls flow through Google's phone-based Fitbit Ace LTE app, which operates on iOS and Android, incoming calls are received nearly like calls from applications like Signal; they can be responded, but on your phone screen, they'll have a separate interface for responding and adjusting audio. Also, these calls can't be received on a cellular device like the Apple device.
"It should be easy to connect with other individuals so you can text and phone them. I also think the messaging software should be available with Apple Watches, not just iPhones," my son stated.
Also, at the time, there's no mechanism to add kid contacts at all. We haven't been able to add another buddy who also has a Fitbit Ace LTE, because Google accounts for kids under 13 handled by Google Family Link are currently restricted from being added to the Fitbit Ace LTE. It's a strange move that Google's product staff claim is being looked at (perhaps calls between youngsters can be enabled soon). It's a concern because although the Ace LTE is fantastic for helping parents remain in touch with kids, it's not so great at helping kids stay in touch with each other… or allowing younger siblings to add each other as emergency contacts.
After a month-plus of observing my youngster use the Ace LTE, it's definitely a watch he adores. He's 11, and at some time, he'll progress into using a phone. In the meantime, it's just enough for him, and it's pleasant without being too distracting. It's more deliberately developed for kids than the Apple Watch, especially for exercise.
But, I have a serious concern with the watch's limited support for contacts for youngsters, and its lack of Ace-to-Apple-Watch connection. More significantly, so does my son. He told me the other night, with a sorrowful look on his face, that he frequently wished this Fitbit was more of a full watch like the Apple Watch. He'd like to run additional programs, and he'd like to chat to his buddies. What's the use of a watch like this, he asked to me, if you can't chat to your friends?
I hope Google improves this, because it restricts the Ace LTE's appeal as a viable phone option for youngsters old enough to want to do more than just play games, be active and make calls to adults. The Apple Watch offers music and navigation and other functions, items that may not be significant for younger kids but will matter if you have a tween who prefers a watch over a phone. Still, that's a terrific start, and I hope Google keeps developing it. The child watch space needs better alternatives, and this is absolutely one of them. But it may be a lot more.