FitBit recently announced a new wearable capable of detecting your stress levels. Knowing how stressed you are could stress out some people even more but I think there’s value in knowing where you stand since you could stop doing whatever it was that you were doing that was stressing you out in the first place or take action such as starting breathing exercises to try to calm you down even further.
The Next Web explains:
“The Sense and Versa 3 appear quite similar at a glance, but as you might’ve guessed from its name, the Sense offers a few more sensors than its cheaper sibling. Notably, it offers EKG (electrocardiogram) functionality to detect atrial fibrillation, something Apple pioneered a few years ago.
But the Sense has one leg up on Apple too: it can detect your stress levels. When you want to check your stress levels, you place your palm over the display, and the electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor — which works via the metal frame around the display — will use fancy algorithms to detect how its results correspond to your stress levels.
The watch can also detect your temperature, and while it won’t be able to provide you with an exact number, it can tell you if your temperature is higher or lower than usual, which Fitbit says can help detect a fever or ovulation. And despite the wealth of new features, Fitbit is promising 6+ days of battery life on the Sense.”
But that’s not the only new wearable about to hit the open market. Amazon is entering the fray as well with a device that makes simply monitoring stress levels seem downright antiquated.
“Amazon is entering the wearables market in a big way.
The company on Thursday introduced a wristband for health and fitness tracking called Halo, alongside a subscription service and smartphone app.
The space is currently dominated by the Apple Watch and devices from Fitbit, which is awaiting regulatory approval for an acquisition by Alphabet’s Google. Amazon’s Halo product builds on these older fitness tracking devices with features that have never been seen in a mainstream wearable device, including one that tracks a user’s emotional state by listening to the tone of their voice, and another that provides a three-dimensional rendering of their body with an estimated body fat percentage.
It’s a departure for Amazon’s hardware business, which has previously focused on in-home devices, such as the Echo smart speakers and the Fire TV streaming video devices. Amazon showed off some wearable devices at its annual hardware event last fall, including wireless headphones and a set of glasses with built-in access to the Alexa voice assistant. But Halo is its first real shot at capturing a piece the fast-growing wearables market, which Gartner last year estimated would top $50 billion in 2020.”
All in all, these two new devices show just how ubiquitous wearable devices have become and how far they’ve evolved in a short period of time. The advances remind me of the similar gains that smartphones have made over the years. Going from simple devices that make calls or count steps to integral parts of our lives that keep us safe and informed. Which begs the question: what will fitness trackers do next?!
Is Amazon Halo the Greatest Idea Ever?
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