Simband is not a product, it’s a reference design, says Samsung Group (KXR:005930). It’s also not a device that act upon commends what you give to smartphone. Simband is a built-in intelligence system that monitors the movements of your body, listen to your body, interpret the signs and acts accordingly. Introduction of two new products, or rather concepts, was the focus of the event “Voice of the Body” held at San Fransisco. The other one was a programme named as SAMI (Samsung Architecture Multimodal Interactions) that will upload health-related information on the cloud network, regularly.
Is Simband Really that Necessary?
Simband is a next–gen product that tracks biometrics like heart rate, body temperature, monitoring blood flow, body fat, hydration level, stress levels and blood pressure. The device makes use of optical, electrical and physical methods to collect vital signs of our body. The device comes studded with tons of sensors, bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Simband is built on an open sensor modular platform, which enables other companies to customize and integrate their technologies.
Voice of the Body from Samsung on Vimeo.
Simband, however, would not be available to users immediately. Samsung has partnered with University of California, San Francisco and the University of Chicago for development and testing of the device, which will focus largely on medical institutions for now. Simband will aim at predicting and preventing the illness and bad habits, and consequently saving the time and money of users and the health institutes.
Simband Open Reference Sensor Module from Samsung on Vimeo.
SAMI – The Ecosystem
Samsung, through SAMI, aspires to bring itself in contact with third parties to track and collect data from users and use that for building health apps. All the information will be uploaded on cloud network. The data will be in context of users – location, calendar, and environment – and various machine rules, and algorithms will be applied on it to process and analyse the data.
The announcement by Samsung comes in wake of rumours related Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:APPLE) iWatch that could be unveiled at WWDC 2014. The announcement can also be taken as a reaction to the criticism of Galaxy S5 heart rate monitor. The Galaxy Gear, Gear 2 watches and Galaxy S5 heart rate monitor, all keep track of the calories burned and the heart rate of users using these devices. TicTrac, a health activity app, has been integrated with SAMI for its capability of quickly taking a rating and analyzing the data.
Samsung is already a known brand in the field of wearable gadgets. Although, Samsung is losing out on its smart wearable band market share, the Gear 2 smartwatch features in Top 5 Wearable Gadgets. Â With Simband and SAMI, the Korean electronics giant has taken a step ahead in its endeavors of improving the health of its customers and bringing third parties together. Furthermore, the company has pledged $50 million to startups in advancing innovation in the area of digital health.
