Amazon Halo: price, specifications and what can the new fitness band do?
Amazon has released its first fitness tracker with the wristband now available to US customers via the Amazon Early Access scheme.
Retail giant Amazon has unveiled Halo, an activity band that goes beyond simply tracking user activity and promises to measure how happy a person is by the sound of their voice.
Halo combines data collected by a sensor laden band with tools equipped with artificial intelligence to provide users with data about their physical and mental health, the online sales giant announced in a statement.
"Despite the rise in digital health services and devices over the past decade, we have not seen an improvement in the health of the US population," Amazon Halo chief medical officer Maulik Majmudar said in the note.
Health and wellness
The expert highlighted that "Amazon's vast experience in artificial intelligence and machine learning was used to offer customers a new way to discover, adopt and maintain personalized wellness habits."
Amazon Halo can, among other things, discern the intensity of physical activity and reliably assess the user's body fat level, according to Amazon.
Amazon Halo Band is purpose-built to focus on your health and wellness—unlike smartwatches and fitness trackers, it doesn’t have a screen or constant notifications. The small sensor capsule delivers highly accurate data, and includes an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a heart rate monitor, two microphones, an LED indicator light, and a button to turn the microphones on or off, among other functions.
To protect privacy, the voice samples are analysed on the user's smartphone, which is synchronized with their Halo band, and that data is deleted after the process, Majudar said.
The Amazon Halo apps were designed for Apple-powered smartphones as well as Android software, backed by Google, Amazon added.
Early access
Customers in the U.S. can request early access to Amazon Halo starting today (Friday, 28 August), with the Amazon Halo Band and 6 months of Halo membership available for a special price of $64.99. Learn more at www.amazon.com/haloband.