Amazon launches its smart band with a subscription to monitor your health

Amazon launches its smart band with a subscription to monitor your health.

This new smart band will analyze sleep, activities, body fat percentage … but a monthly subscription will be required.

Available in the USA

Firstly, it is already available in the United States at a price of $64.99 as part of a launch promotion. Secondly, this connected bracelet is made of polyester, nylon, and elastane; it has the form of a small device without a screen; indeed, the latter is not necessary, as all statistics will be visible on your phone and Amazon claims that the screen is just an unnecessary distraction. Thirdly, this connected bracelet incorporates an accelerometer, a thermometer, a heart rate sensor, and two microphones. Moreover, the application will allow viewing all statistics and will be available on iOS and Android, collecting data via Bluetooth 5.0.

And a versatile device

Thus, Amazon presents this device as a very versatile tool that will not only serve to count steps and monitor the wearer’s heart rate. The application will classify all data to make it clear and precise, and it will recommend exercises and experiences to contribute to the user’s health. Furthermore, the application will also be able to estimate body fat percentage, track sleep time, analyze deep or light sleep cycles, for example. And, of course, it will also be able to formulate a score that evaluates sleep quality and provide suggestions for improvement. Finally, most incredibly, the application will be able to listen to the tone of voice with an end-of-day report indicating dominant moods.

Halo, Amazon’s smart band that wants to guess your emotions

The smart band stands out from its competitors thanks to the use of artificial intelligence that will listen to the user’s voice to guess their emotional state. Through voice tone, the bracelet will be able to detect hesitation, joy, excitement, or boredom … The bracelet could be useful in helping depressed people manage their anger issues, for example. Voice recording can serve as a work support for the doctor following the patient or even to warn a person about their emotional state.

But this technology is not yet 100% reliable, it is difficult even for artificial intelligence to fully understand emotions without context, as they differ according to culture, social environment … a connected bracelet can hardly claim to be able to perceive all the nuances of voice that can vary from one individual to another. So it’s not certain that this bracelet is effective enough and it may simply be a gadget to differentiate itself from the competition.

© copyright image : Amazon

But, Is this smart band a marketing tool ?

So, yes, it’s a bit scary, a band that detects your mood ? This invention seems straight out of a Black Mirror episode. Moreover, the usefulness of such a gadget is debatable. For Amazon, it’s a perfect marketing tool that will allow the company to collect data to easily adapt its offers to the emotional state of its customer. Because let’s remember that Amazon is an e-commerce site.

Of course, Amazon firmly denies this theory and states that voice data will be processed inside the smartphone and never sent to a server. Thus, “No one will ever hear your recordings and you can delete them from the phone,” Amazon’s press release assures. Nevertheless, Amazon hardly inspires confidence in terms of privacy, particularly with the data from its Alexa connected speakers that were listened to by company employees.

So, smart band and artificial intelligence ?

Apparently, all these features are possible thanks to artificial intelligence, but especially thanks to a subscription. Indeed, the purchase of the bracelet includes its services for six months, but after that, it will cost $3.99 per month. Probably the bracelet doesn’t stop working if the subscription is canceled, but there will be no more analysis through artificial intelligence: there will only be sleep time records, heart rate, and number of steps in the day.

Moreover, in terms of battery life, the watch will be able to last seven days, but only two when voice analysis is activated. Charging time takes about 80 minutes. On the other hand, Halo is water-resistant up to a depth of 50 m. And, there will also be numerous bracelets available for purchase on Amazon.

However, no export in sight

For now, the American company has not talked about exporting the product to Europe, knowing that voice analysis is explicitly optimized for American English. Moreover, the American firm announces that at the end of the launch offer, the product price will rise to $99.99.

Would you like to have this type of smart band at home ?