TOKYO: Samsung first revealed health-focused wearable Simband could not fulfill its promise as this wearable seemed more like an experiment than the futuristic.
When the company revealed new details about its plans for the health-monitoring wearable and announced it was opening up the platform to developers during the keynote presentation at Samsung’s Developer Conference in San Francisco.
But beyond new opportunities for developers, the company along with a handful of early partners also offered previews of a fully functioning and sensor-laden Simband.
At first glance, the Simband doesn’t look much different than the company’s Gear S smart watch. A thick rubber band connects to a slightly curved touch screen display. But the Simband isn’t a smart watch at all it isn’t even a consumer device at this point. Instead, Samsung is positioning it as a research device what Samsung’s Vice President of Health Ram Fish called “a modular reference platform for wearable sensors.”
The Simband is intended to be used by those within the medical industry start ups and medical researchers alike to develop new applications for sensor technology. Its part of the company’s broader shift to move its wearable from fitness tracking to health monitoring with the goal of enabling preventive healthcare and wellness.