Xiaomi Mi Band 3-makers Huami have been a busy bunch unveiling its new Amazfit Verge smartwatch along with an AI-powered wearable chip. Next up is the Amazifit Health Band 1S, which promises to track heart health.
The fitness tracker successor to the Health band once again features a 0.42-inch OLED screen, a pretty standard-looking elastomer band and promises battery life of up to seven days. It delivers the same tracking features as the first Health Band with a pedometer on board and sleep tracking supported too.
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But things get a bit more interesting in the heart rate monitoring department. The onboard PPG sensor can deliver continuous heart rate monitoring and can also screen the user's heart rate rhythm in the background, It can then send an alert if arrhythmia including atrial fibrillation is detected. If abnormalities are identified, the user will be instructed to place a finger on the top of the band to take a 30 to 120 second ECG recording to capture that heart health in real time.
That detailed data is then uploaded to the cloud where users can receive medical consultation services based on that data. Accessing this will be free of charge to Health Band 1S owners for the first six months before they start needing to pay up. Huami also outlines that the online and phone medical consultations offered through the 1S are limited to monitoring existing health conditions and cannot be used for primary disease diagnosis.
Like the first Health Band, the Health Band 1S is going to be up for grabs in China only. It's priced at 699 Yuan, which works out to and will be available online from the likes of JD.com, Tmall and Pinduoduo. The chances are of it making an appearance outside of China seem unlikely, but it's clear that Apple is not the only one that's getting serious about detecting serious health conditions from the wrist.
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By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.