Amazon is finally joining the health gadget market by introducing a new fitness band and also a new health subscription service. Amazon Halo is an AI-powered tool that you can use to improve your health and wellness while the Amazon Halo Band is a fitness wearable that doesn’t have a screen to just focus on the things that matter in your health journey. Amazon says they’re using their “deep expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning” to help users in their various health goals.
The thing that makes the Amazon Halo Band stand out from the competition is that it doesn’t have a screen so you won’t be distracted by all the notifications that will probably come your way if you connect to a smartphone. What it does have is an accelerometer, a heart rate monitor, two microphones, a button to turn mics on or off, and an LED indicator light. It is also water-resistant so you can wear it while swimming and the battery will last up to seven days.
Even though it has a mic, it’s actually not for Alexa. Amazon’s digital assistant is specifically not included in this wearable as privacy is one of the main components of the sensor capsule and the Halo service as well. The mics are for the Tone feature which analyzes your voice to determine your “energy and positivity”. It will use machine learning to study how you sound and then help you improve your communication. Well, that’s what they said in the press release, we’re not sure how it will work in real life.
Amazon Halo meanwhile is made up of five core features, some of which are the usual things we find in a fitness app. It detects your activity and gives you points for things that you do like walking, running, etc and deducts points if you’re sedentary for a long time. It also measures your sleep activity and gives you a sleep score based on what the Halo Band detects. It also helps you with your BMI and lets you take a picture of yourself to make it more accurate. Labs are science-based challenges, experiments, and workouts that also give you points when you finish them. Tone is the fifth core feature, which we talked about in the previous paragraph.
The Amazon Halo Band costs $99.99 but will be available for an introductory price of $64.99 which includes six months of the Amazon Halo service. The service itself is $3.99 per month but you can use the fitness band without it. You’ll only get the basic features like steps, sleep time, and heart rate. If you live in the U.S., you can request to have early access to these products.