Amazon Discontinuing 'Halo' Health and Fitness Wristband

[DaveTheRave]

My thoughts exactly. I want the fitness and sleep tracking, but I’d rather wear something like this with Apple’s tech. All the gps and cellular bits are in my phone, same with the Health and Fitness apps/data, so just make an SE Band or something so I can wear a normal watch.

I am generally happy with my Fitbit Charge 5. Battery life is awesome, but GPS can be a bit off - thinks I cut corners when I jogged on the street etc.

I’d love Apple to make their version of a fitness band, but it’s too low-end for them. Instead they went up to take on Garmin with their premium watches.

 

[mannyvel]

Senior care is a natural for this sort of tech. The problem with seniors, though, is making sure they remember to charge and wear the thing.

Given a good baseline, you can tell a lot from just heart rate and steps. Apple does it better, though, because they've been doing it for years. For example, I just noticed that they have step asymmetry and double support time, which can be used to detect back/posture/gait problems. Interesting.

 

[Scrundel]

I am generally happy with my Fitbit Charge 5. Battery life is awesome, but GPS can be a bit off - thinks I cut corners when I jogged on the street etc.

I’d love Apple to make their version of a fitness band, but it’s too low-end for them. Instead they went up to take on Garmin with their premium watches.

I don’t doubt your reasoning; I also wouldn’t put it past Apple to be able to design and build something pretty high-end. I’d pay the same price as the watch TBH.

 

[dannyyankou]

They're probably going to replace it in the near future if I had to guess.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

I think Amazon reports earnings tomorrow, so maybe this is part of an efficiency initiative that they will discuss, along with killing other projects.

 

[sorgo †]

Who would use this ****? Reminds me of the creepy and invasive body scanners at the airport (which I always opt out of. Yeah being pat down is demeaning, but that’s how little I trust those things. And at least my naked body isn’t exposed to God knows who).

Weird the risky crap people will do en masse in the name of health and safety. Luckily though we pulled through on this one.

 

[Arran]

For a basic tracker, the Jawbone UP bracelet was doing this so much more stylishly back in 2011.

Pity the UP was so fragile and died as a product. Had it survived and evolved, it would make a nice complement to an Apple watch for sleep tracking - or even during the day when you want to wear an old-fashioned mechanical watch.

 

[Velin]

Apple Watch can't be beat.

 

[sorgo †]

Apple Watch can't be beat.

True, which I believe is part of why Apple has grown apparently complacent in their upgrades to the mainline models/SiP. Sure, the Ultra is cool, but let’s see what the Series 9 and/or 10/X bring. Hopefully some bigger things, such as a genuinely updated processor perhaps with improved power efficiency.

 

[KentuckyHouse]

Instead they went up to take on Garmin with their premium watches.

As someone that owns both the Apple Watch Ultra and a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro and Epix 2, good luck with that.

Don’t get me wrong, the Ultra is an amazing piece of tech and absolutely gorgeous. And obviously, Apple’s health tracking is top notch, but they’ve got a long way to go to catch Garmin when it comes to the ruggedness, always-on displays, and especially, battery life.

I can get maybe 2 days out of my Ultra. My Epix, with it’s OLED screen with AOD on, continuous heart rate (measured every second), and pulse ox always on, I get a solid 6 days before needing a charge. Turn off AOD and use raise-to-wake and that goes up to 16 days.

I’m not putting the Ultra down as I love it, but these are two tools that have different purposes. If you want a smartwatch with every function imaginable, the Ultra is great. But if you want a fitness watch first and a smartwatch second, something like the Epix is the way to go.

 

[StyxMaker]

Ironically, I'd love an Apple version of this. Sometimes I want to wear a mechanical watch, but I want my health tracking and biometrics from the Apple Watch.

Do what I do, wear a watch on each wrist. For exactly that reason.

 

[StyxMaker]

For a basic tracker, the Jawbone UP bracelet was doing this so much more stylishly back in 2011.

Pity the UP was so fragile and died as a product. Had it survived and evolved, it would make a nice complement to an Apple watch for sleep tracking - or even during the day when you want to wear an old-fashioned mechanical watch.

The Up bracelet was my first fitness tracker. I only moved to Apple Watch when the Up was discontinued.

 

[svish]

Don't think it was very successful.

 

[contacos]

First time hearing about this product 😅 was it sold in Europe?

 

[Born Again]

At this point, there are very few that can compete with the Apple Watch in regards to features and integration in the ecosystem. Not surprised Amazon is discontinuing.

you need to get a garmin

 

[East India Company]

The Apple Watch is just too advanced, tested by millions of users, is priced right and along with Watch OS updates, to make it even worth competing for the likes of Amazon et al. Go Apple!

You mean priced right about 4 generations ago. No evolution since then and should be available at no more than half the price.

 

[DMG35]

I never knew this thing existed. The body-scan feature looks pretty cool, if it worked, which it probably didn't.

 

[polyphenol]

I don’t understand why they needed the microphones. What health information is in your voice.

Many disorders affect our voices.

From personal experience, and from research literature, hypothyroidism affects the voice in known and identifiable ways. It has been suggested that, for one example, a doctor could have a voice analyser which looked at patients' voices when speaking on the phone.

Obviously, this has serious privacy issues which need to be properly addressed.

But it seems entirely feasible for an Apple Watch/iPhone (or other device) to analyse its owner's voice. It all depends on how much value there would be. Possibly little for those already diagnosed - who will probably be getting blood tests.

 

[Bodhitree]

I always thought this was a ridiculous product which didn’t deserve to exist.

 

[cdarlington1]

I don’t understand why they needed the microphones. What health information is in your voice.

Many vocal biomarkers can help diagnose Parkinson's disease, depression, cardiac problems, and concussion apparently.

 

[szw-mapple fan]

It measured your tone and told you if you were being aggressive/angry with your tone I believe. Something like that.

And only trained on American English. I remember they were saying that if you had an accent it would become less effective. It's an utterly useless way to detect emotions.

 

[9646829]

Never heard of this, was it USA only?

 

[bababooie]

i beta tested it and sent it back, i dont want them listening to my every word all day long

 

[Solomani]

At this point, there are very few that can compete with the Apple Watch in regards to features and integration in the ecosystem. Not surprised Amazon is discontinuing.

Wasn’t this one of those “Apple Watch Killers” in 2020? Yep. RIP.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Amazon and Google both cutting back on their product lines and creating a growing list of orphan hardware...