Amazon Halo fitness tracker can detect stress, body fat

For the past three years, the smart wearable market has steadily become highly competitive and thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdown, it has further intensified between big players such as Fitbit (soon to be owned by Google), Apple, and Xiaomi, among others.

Fitbit, earlier in the week announced Sense, the world's first smartwatch that can detect skin temperature, mental and body stress. Now, Amazon has announced its foray into the smart wearable market with an ambitious fitness tracker Halo with advanced health monitoring capabilities.

Amazon's new Halo is not like any other smartwatch or a fitness tracker we see in the market. It has no display as such but comes with loads of sensors including an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a heart rate monitor, two microphones (with a button to turn on/off), an LED indicator light and others to track body movements, voice, body fat and more.

Amazon Halo Band is also water-resistant for all-day wear. The battery can last up to seven days and fully charges in under 90 minutes.

Notable aspects of the Halo band are that it can give accurate calorie count and special award system, wherein it gives more points for running compared to walking. The baseline goal of 150 activity points is set and measured weekly. This apparently will make the user toil harder, in the long run, improve the health.

Also, Amazon Halo has a sleep tracker and it makes use of motion, heart rate, and temperature sensors to measure time asleep and time awake; time spent in the various phases of sleep including deep, light, and REM (Rapid Eye Movement); and skin temperature while sleeping. It will give a baseline goal of 100 points for sleep and if there is any deviation, it will be recorded and would recommend the user to develop a better sleep routine.

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"Using new innovations in computer vision and machine learning, Amazon Halo lets customers measure their body fat percentage from the comfort and privacy of their own home, making this important information easily accessible. The Amazon Halo body fat measurement is as accurate as methods, a doctor would use—and nearly twice as accurate as leading at-home smart scale," the company said.

Another key attribute of Amazon Halo is the Tone feature. It uses machine learning to analyze energy and positivity in the user's voice. This will help the user better understand how they may sound to others and also improve their communication and relationships. For instance, Tone results can reveal that a difficult work call leads to less positivity in communication with a customer’s family, an indication of the impact of stress on emotional well-being, Amazon noted.

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Furthermore, there is a Labs feature, This is a personalised service with a monthly plan, wherein the customers can subscribe to get expert-advise on developing eating habits, exercises and other activities. For this, Amazon is collaborating with 8fit, Aaptiv, American Heart Association, Exhale On-Demand, Harvard Health Publishing, Headspace, Julian Treasure, Lifesum, Mayo Clinic, Openfit, Orangetheory Fitness, P.volve, Russell Wilson, Relax Melodies, SWEAT, and WW.

All the data monitored and recommendations of the Halo fitness tracker can be viewed on the mobile app.

Amazon Halo costs $99.99 and there is a subscription Labs service for $3.99/month, which will give access to advanced features and personal custom guide options.

There is also an invite-only launch offer, which the customer can get it for an introductory price of $64.99 with six months of free service.

For now, Amazon Halo service will be initially limited to the US market. Depending on the response, it is likely to be expanded to other global regions in the coming months.

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