The eventual dream for wearable fitness devices is to allow us to see how our body reacts to the things we do, so we can fully understand our actions and make positive changes. Some things we can see in real-time, like heart rate, but mostly the information is delivered at the end of the day.
Aura Devices is hoping to bring better real-time feedback with its new smart band, simply called the Aura Band, which will debut on Kickstarter on 15 January for $89. While it has an activity tracker and a heart rate sensor, the big new thing is what Aura is calling bioimpedance analysis.
Read this: Aura Band smashes through crowdfunding goal
Basically, this reads information about your body while you're dieting, working out and doing other physical activities. The Band can apparently detect what you're doing, whether that be a simple jog or hiking up a mountain, and it'll take all that data, toss it in with heart beat and blood oxygen level, analyze it and give you advice about how to live a healthier life.
There's a companion app for iOS and Android that'll let you keep track of all this advice, allowing you to also adjust your workouts and diets so that the Aura system understands you better.
Just to be clear: It doesn't look like the Aura Band can actually detect what food you eat and how much water you drink. Instead, you tap the device and let it take a measurement of your body composition. It's not exactly clear how it does this, as the only sensor on the device seems to be a heart rate sensor. It's likely it's using a combination of software, accelerometers and heart rate to measure your body composition.
That app, by the way, feeds into both Apple Health and Google Fit. There's even some gamification, which will see you earn Aura coins for living a healthy life. When you earn enough coins, you'll be able to spend them at Aura's partners for gifts and discounts. You can also compete for Aura coins with friends, setting an amount as a prize for whoever wins your workout competition.
As for the specs, Aura says the Band will get you five days of battery life. It's also IP66 rated, which means it's protected from dust and water but not enough for a swim. It's got three accelerometers, a gyroscope, a barometer, the aforementioned heart rate sensor and a bioimpedance processor. All of this is inside a 20g aluminum case that comes with either a nylon, leather or sport band.
How we test
By Husain Sumra
Husain joined Wareable in 2017 as a member of our San Fransisco based team. Husain is a movies expert, and runs his own blog, and contributes to MacRumors.
He has spent hours in the world of virtual reality, getting eyes on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR.
At Wareable, Husain's role is to investigate, report and write features and news about the wearable industry – from smartwatches and fitness trackers to health devices, virtual reality, augmented reality and more.
He writes buyers guides, how-to content, hardware reviews and more.