When it comes to design, Fibit’s mantra seems to be “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The “squirrel” design of the Apple Watch and the original Versa seems to have been embraced by users, and Fitbit has carried that over to the Versa 2. At first glance, the new fitness watch looks strikingly similar to its predecessor, but a closer look reveals some small changes that give the Versa 2 a very sleek look. At 0.47 inches (12 mm) deep, it’s just a tiny bit thicker than the Apple Watch 3, but since the case tapers inward toward the heart rate monitor below, it actually looks slimmer. And with a screen size of 40mm, it should fit most wrists. Thankfully, Fitbit has removed its branding from the Versa’s bottom bezel, which means the Versa 2’s bezels are slightly thinner, giving you a bit more screen real estate than before. While the black background of the display usually does a good job of concealing the bezels, they are pretty obvious from some angles, albeit easy to miss. While the original Versa had three buttons on the case – two on the left and one on the right – the Versa 2 only has a single button on the left, which serves as both the Select and Back buttons. This means that you only ever have to press one or two buttons to reach the desired function, while all other functions are controlled via the touchscreen. Speaking of the screen: This is the only hardware improvement worth reporting. Unlike the Versa’s LCD display, the second generation Fitbit smartwatch has entered the era of bright AMOLED touchscreen protected by Gorilla Glass 3. It can reach a brightness of over 1,000 nits, although we found this to be too bright for general use and permanently set our Versa 2 to the lowest brightness setting. Even at a “low” setting, the display is razor-sharp with a resolution of 300 x 300 pixels and can adjust the brightness to the respective environment thanks to the ambient light sensor.
