Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you
Australian technology news, reviews, and guides to help you

Minions on arms as Fitbit collaborates for kids

You don’t always need to encourage kids to be active, but if you’re looking for an extra reason, the latest Fitbit is yellow and all about getting your kids moving like Minions.

On the desk of this writer, there used to be a Minion straight out of Despicable Me. Then came along having a child, and of course, much like the plush Companion Cube, it became a close personal friend of the little one. Imaginations are good that way.

Those characters are now part of a regular cuddle-and-tea party, as you do, but these characters can be used to get kids doing something else, such as running, jumping, and being a little more active.

While it’s unlikely we’re going to see a Portal collaboration to get kids jumping through obstacle courses with a Companion Cube, the Minion is at least showing up in an exercise gadget, as Google’s Fitbit brand involves Universal’s Minions films for a fitness tracker for the little ones.

Technically, it’s a variation of the recently released Fitbit Ace 3 for kids, with the main differences being a Minions-based silicone band, plus a Minions clock face for the wearable and Minions-themed activity badges set to arrive later. In essence, it’s a small tie-in to get kids moving a little more, with the badges supporting step milestones from three of the Minions — Stuart, Kevin, and Bob — and able to work for kids and parents, even if the parents have a different Fitbit style.

Of course, if your child already has an Ace 3 or you opt for the model without Minions, the special edition bands will be made available separately, though there’s no confirmation on whether the special edition Minion watch face will be able to roll out to other Fitbit bands just yet.

We’ve also not heard whether Fitbit’s Ace 3 will support the recent Tile tracking rolled out to the Fitbit Inspire 2, though our guess right now is no, since the last time we asked, Fitbit didn’t have news on other models.

Tile integration could potentially make the Ace 3 more useful for families, particularly if kids accidentally lose their wearable, but for now, they’ll have to settle for the wearable having either a Minions theme or none, with either variation fetching $99.95 in Australia, while the Minions bands by themselves will cost $44.95 locally.

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