Wearable technology has been around just as long as the portable listening device, but originally in the form of a wristband that only told you how many steps you had taken that day; but not very accurately.
With the invention of the smartphone, we now have Bluetooth enabled bands that can monitor our heart, calories burned, and how well we’ve slept. As of last month, Apple celebrated their second anniversary since developing their groundbreaking wearable product, the Apple Watch.
The Apple Watch wasn’t a completely brand new invention but it was a convenient way to have your pedometer, iPhone, and heart rate monitor in one device. With the third series of Apple watches just on the horizon, it is fortuitous that Stanford has conducted a smartwatch study to test the accuracy of seven of the “best” products on the market.
Among the competitors are the likes of Fitbit, Samsung, Microsoft, and of course, the Apple Smartwatch (to name a few).
The findings
The test was conducted by 60 participants wearing said devices and undergoing 80 physical activities on your basic exercise equipment such as treadmills and ellipticals. When it came to heart rate monitoring, the Apple was the best of the best with a mere 2% error while other top shelf devices, such as Samsung, tested in 6.8%.
As a person just working out, you would think this is negligible but it means a lot when you consider the potential benefits to the healthcare world.
The other main focus of the study was the always obsessed over calorie burn measurements. This is always a tricky test because everyone burns calories differently because we all breath at different rates, our hearts pump differently based on height and weight, and of course, it’s nearly impossible for a wristband to know what the rest of our body is doing on that workout mat. The results varied from 20% all the way up to 92.6% in error with Apple falling right in the middle at 40%.
What this means for the future
The fact that Apple is already at a 2% error rate with their heart rate monitoring in their second attempt tells us that they are only going to improve with each series. This could mean that the medical world could take their superb technology and use it to proactively predict a heart attack before it even happens.
This just could save someone’s life who is just sitting at home as an elder. The watch could warn the old man/woman about an impending attack and then have the time to either pop a pill or call 911 and state “I’m about to have a heart attack.”
Apple has also recently released a sleep monitor called the Beddit. It is a thin strip of cloth that you place under your bed sheet that monitors the activity in your chest while you doze. This could be combined with the watch and iPhone for a full laboratory’s worth of information at a much lower cost.
The Apple Watch 3
The third series of Apple watches is due to be released in just three short months. The price will undoubtedly be substantial; likely $459 for the base model. It is currently rumored that this new generation will feature a big change called the smart band, which will move the center of measurement from the actual device to around the entire wrist for even more accuracy.
It will be going through big changes as seen here in a style sense as it will be lighter, look more like a traditional sports watch (rumored), and offer better water proofing which is essential for people actually using the watch for more than just apps.
All-in-all, it appears that Apple is trying to focus most of their upcoming technology to not only entertain but to improve the quality of life as well.
Source: This article was published techdigg.com By John Pond
