HALO BAND: AMAZON'S WEARABLE THAT MAKES PEOPLE TALK
Amazon enters the wearable device industry with a straight leg with a product that is already causing discussion. It will be called Band , it will be a smart bracelet with rather basic functions, without a screen but with a whole series of sensors and the combination with a program, Halo , which will provide a more or less complete screening on the lifestyle and weight-shape of the 'user. With a choice that has already created more than a controversy, the company tries to carve out a space of its own in an already widely occupied and competitive world, with a series of question marks and perplexities that will accompany the release of the product and its marketing and will decide, in some way, the future fate.
Bracelet and app
Halo Band consists of two main tools, the Band, a
watch-sensor to put on the wrist, and Amazon Halo, the proprietary application
that allows the wearable to work. Band, in fact, is just a fabric strap with a
module mounted on its top that must remain in contact with the skin. Inside the
module there are all the sensors with which the device will make its
measurements: these will be constantly synchronized with the app and will
provide the user with all the results he needs. Band will collect rather basic
information and measurements , already present in most of the competing
devices, let's talk about calories consumed, sleep monitoring, activity level.
The focus, according to Amazon, will be all about lifestyle:In fact, Halo will
take the measurement data to trace a real profile of the user , providing them
with useful tips to improve their quality of life. A pioneering goal with which
the company tries to differentiate itself from competitors, covering its
shortcomings with something that had not yet been seen in the world of
wearables.
"Invisible" functions
Band does not want to be a smartwatch in the strictest sense
of the word. From an aesthetic point of view, only a highly customizable
bracelet remains, which offers no visible measurement on the wrist and does not
even allow you to check the time. It lives only as an external meter for Halo,
which for all intents and purposes we can consider the real beating heart of
the entire project. The meter, in fact, has no GPS or Wi-Fi and does not
interface with anything except the app; the sensors inside are numerous:
accelerometer, temperature meter, heart meter, two microphones with a small
button to turn them off, an LED indicator and a bluetooth sensorto communicate
with the smartphone to which it will be paired. The straps will be numerous and
interchangeable, while the module will have a battery that will last at least a
week and will be water resistant. In addition to the aforementioned classic
measurements, there are two functions with which the Halo app will build the
user's profile and "condition" their lifestyle: voice recording and
3D scanning of the body.
Body and voice
To allow Halo to give his advice with the greatest possible
accuracy, it will be necessary, during the creation of your profile, to remain
in underwear and use the camera of your smartphone to build a real 3D map of
your body , taking at least four photos from different angles. The images will
be processed to estimate the body fat index and to create a 3D model as close
as possible to reality, considered essential by Amazon to give advice on health
conditions and to help users improve. Using the Band's microphones, on the
other hand, Halo will record the user's basic tone of voice, which he will use
during his measurements to provide information on mood: the meter, in practice,
will use his microphones to record - with frequency and modalities that are not
completely understandable - vocal fragments that will be used to understand if
the user is cheerful or sad, if he is tired or energetic, if he is bored or
hopeful, giving advice and exercises aimed at changing or improving his mood.
A virtual coach
Halo and his Band will focus in all respects on the user's
all-round lifestyle, on his state of health and on the psycho-physical one. In
Amazon's objectives, artificial intelligence will be able to process the data
in the best possible way to guide the user towards real personal improvement.
Thanks to the collaboration with numerous commercial partners, the data will be
used to propose advice, guided tours or exercises to intervene on the points
that the measurements will have captured as the most critical. Not a cold and
aseptic measurement, not a complete monitoring of one's physical activities,
but a real coach who follows the user step by step in his path of personal self-improvement.
If the other devices address those who are already physically active in some
way, Halo targets the "normal" user, mainly sedentary, who will be
guided in a slow path of change. Hence the choice not to offer detailed
measurements, not to automatically recognize any type of activity other than
simple walking or running and to give only a weekly (and not daily) report of
the activities carried out.
Costs and exit
Amazon Halo and its Band are not on sale for now but are
available as a trial by invitation only, pending a definitive marketing yet
without a precise date. What is certain, for now, is the price of the device, $
99 and that of the monthly subscription to use Halo to its fullest potential,
which will be $ 3.99. Halo can also be used without a subscription, but only in
its basic form, to have access to its more sophisticated functions it will be
necessary to subscribe: it will be necessary to understand if the audience
segment that Amazon has decided to contact will be willing to make a subscription
of this type. and whether it is really worth doing so to be able to enjoy the
functions of the product to the fullest. The account with which Halo will be
used will still be distinct from the Amazon one, with the promise that all data
collected, including photos and voice recordings, will be used only for
measurements and processing and then deleted.
So many doubts
There are many doubts around the new path taken by Amazon.
It was only a matters of time before Bezos studied a solution to enter a market
where the company's absence had been felt for too long. They did so with an
undoubtedly original project, aimed at a transversally new target and therefore
different from the classic one that the usual owners of wearable devices turn
to. A courageous strategy and a device that wants to radically break away from
the competition both on an aesthetic level and as a total user experience. The
main problem is the habits of typical users of these devices: those who usually
use them will be far from a product that offers nothing technologically
advanced and that does not have some of the basic functions of the cheapest
meters. The more casual audience, to which Halo Band aims, could also be
frightened by the high price - complete with an additional subscription - and
by an underlying philosophy in some ways questionable and far from being a
scientifically valid or really useful tool for purposes it sets out.
So many perplexities
Against the background of all this, also the aforementioned
problems of privacy and use of sensitive data: even with all the guarantees of
the case, you will have to deal with a product that constantly records the
user's voice.and storing her photos without clothes to build her 3D models.
Amazon has made it clear that the files will be deleted as soon as processing
is finished, but how will they be used and how will they be shared with the
partners the company will work with to build its advice and incentive system?
All legitimate doubts to which a certain danger is added on the way in which
this program made to measure for users will burden individuals who are already
psychologically fragile or with physical or nutrition problems.
