The evolution of fitness bands technology continues to grow and innovate. Amazon has announced the next step in this gear, and it is called the Halo.
On the surface, the Amazon Halo seems very similar to the traditional fitness bands like the Apple Watch or FitBit. However in practice there are a ton of major key differences that set it apart from anything else on the market. For starters, the fact that it has no display screen on the actual band shows that the priorities of the Halo are very different than other fitness bands.
Instead of information showing up on the band itself, the data collected will be wirelessly transmitted to your phone through Bluetooth. But what sorts of information will be collected? While other brands will monitor your heart rate, check to see if you have fallen, and things of that nature, the Halo has a much different set of priorities. Through the app, with a subscription price of $3.99, there will be features that measure your body fat, as well as analyzing your voice.
To start, users can use the app to take multiple pictures of their bodies from different angles. These images will be uploaded to Amazon servers briefly, before being sent back down to your phone as a single, 3D composite of your body. Here, the app will analyze your body fat percentage to determine your overall health and fitness. Not only that, but a slider will be available, with which you can see what your body would look like with more or less body fat.
This is not the only revolutionary feature Amazon has included in their new bands. Provided that you opt in to the service, there is also a microphone on the band that will detect your voice, and scan it for various levels of emotion. Using the app, it can be determined if you are stressed, or apologetic, or a variety of different emotions, just based on your vocal patterns.
Obviously there are a lot of concerns that come along with the Amazon Halo, especially when it comes to the privacy of your information. Developers have assured that, while your body pictures are momentarily uploaded to their servers, they are immediately deleted, and only stored locally on your device. As for the voice detection, this will not be connected to Alexa in any way, and you can opt out or mute your microphone at any time. Moreover they express that tbe microphone is set up to listen to your vocal patterns alone, and not actually listen to speech. Also, the account used for this service will be different than the one used for Prime.
The Amazon Halo will cost $99.99, with the aforementioned $3.99 subscription in order to use the advanced features of the product. It is going to interesting to see how well this preforms, considering the lack of features available in other fitness bands, albeit they are deliberately left out of this device. On the other hand, the subscription opens doors to future advancements with the service, such as a potential for workout videos and other such materials.
For more details check out the Amazon Halo here.
Published: 27 August, 2020 | 1:03 PM EDT
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