On Thursday, Amazon announced its entrance into the wearable technology market by introducing a wristband for health and fitness tracking called Halo, with a smartphone app and subscription service.
What We Know:
- The wearable technology sphere is currently dominated by the Apple Watch and devices by FitBit, but Amazon’s Halo product is said to build on these older fitness trackers with upgrades and features that have never been seen before on mainstream wearable devices. Some of these features on the Halo include its ability to track a user’s emotional state by listening to the tone of their voice as well as providing a three-dimensional rendering of the user’s body with an estimated body fat percentage.
- Melissa Cha, a vice president at Halo, shared that the company has spent several years preparing the device and there have been a whole new set of hires at Amazon for its expansion into the health field. “We did a global search to find the best experts,” she said. “We found cardiologists, fitness experts, and people who had spent their careers researching sleep and wellness.”
- Amazon has promised new Halo users a commitment to privacy, pledging that the company won’t use data collected to sell health-related products to its users. Instead, the company said the insights from the Halo will allow them to learn more about users’ health habits and gain feedback along the way.
- The Halo more closely resembles FitBit devices rather than Apple Watches. It has a simple design without a screen, with LED lights and two microphones. Cha shared that the device was meant to be worn at all times; it’s water-resistant for the shower or swimming, and it shouldn’t catch on clothes or bedsheets. The device also comes in a variety of styles and multiple sizes for women with slender wrists to make sure it doesn’t feel overly clunky on anyone.
- The basic features of the Halo are similar to most other fitness trackers on the market: it tracks motion, heart rate, sleep phases, and skin temperature while sleeping. However, Amazon boasts that their new device will have a unique “points” tracking system that will be more effective than competitors, especially when it comes to encouraging exercising. The Amazon Halo will use points when tracking exercise with a baseline goal of reaching 150 points per week. Users will get more points for the more intensive exercises such as running or hiking. “This approach is more aligned with scientific guidelines,” said Dr. Maulik Majmudar, a cardiologist and principal medical officer with Amazon Halo. The biggest way the point tracking system differs from its competitors is users who are sedentary for long periods of time, besides sleep, will lose points. This differs from the other products on the market as they only focus on positive motivation.
- The battery power is the most impressive on the market, lasting about seven days. In part, because there is no screen, but also because the sole purpose of the device is health and fitness so there are no additional features like making calls or accessing social media.
- The Halo has the ability to track a user’s emotional state by listening to the tone of their voice. This is an optional feature that listens to the user’s voice throughout the day and analyzes the data to show how the user feels at each particular moment of the day, for example showing times when they felt energetic, hesitant, or hopeful. Amazon said that none of the conversation snippets are stored and all are automatically deleted once they are processed. The company also promised that none of the voice recordings will be used for targeted advertisements.
- The other major unique feature of the Amazon Halo is its ability to give users a three-dimensional rendering of their body with information about their weight and body fat percentage. This feature requires the use of the smartphone app and guides users to stand in front of their phones in various positions, taking photos from the front, back and both sides, spitting out results within seconds. Amazon recommends users take these scans once every two weeks because, over time, the Halo app generates a body model with a slider which allows users to move back and forth in time to get a visual representation of their progress. Amazon once again stressed that the data can be deleted at any point and the images are automatically removed from the cloud after they’re processed, but those who want to store them in the cloud may do so.
- The Halo will also have “Halo Labs” for users who have specific goals, like weight loss or getting better sleep. These “Labs” partner with organizations like the American Heart Association, WW, Headspace, the Mayo Clinic, and more to provide “science-backed” challenges for users. Additionally, the Amazon Halo will have third party integration features, like allowing WW members to link their accounts and have their Halo points translated to WW FitPoints. Similarly, users who access their medical information via Cerner can also opt to share the health information gathered through Halo with their doctor.
- Unlike its competitors, you can’t buy the Halo by itself, it is only available as part of a subscription service. Amazon says this was a deliberate move that they hope will allow the Halo to avoid the fate of many wearables, which people typically use for a few months before throwing them in a drawer. Users will be able to buy a single band plus a six-month subscription for an upfront price of $64.99 during the early access period, which started on Thursday and has no end date as of yet. Prices will then go up to $99.99. After the first six months are over, users will have to pay $3.99 a month to keep the service going.
You can buy the Amazon Halo here.
