The new Amazon Halo Band and service will improve your health and wellness

Amazon today entered the consumer health and wellness market with the introduction of the new Halo and Halo Band. Amazon Halo offers a suite of AI-powered health features that provide actionable insights inside the new Amazon Halo app using the Amazon Halo Band, which uses multiple sensors to provide accurate information necessary to power Halo insights.

Amazon Halo Band:

• Amazon Halo Band is similar to Microsoft Band, but it doesn’t have a screen.
• The small sensor capsule delivers accurate data, and includes an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a heart rate monitor, two microphones, an LED indicator light, and a button to turn the microphones on or off, among other functions.
• Amazon Halo Band is water resistant for all-day wear and the comfortable fit means it won’t snag or irritate at night.
• Plus, the battery lasts up to seven days and fully charges in under 90 minutes.
• Customers can choose from three fabric band colors at purchase, with fabric and silicone sport accessory bands available in 15 additional colors.
• Customers can choose from three color combinations for their Amazon Halo Band: a Black fabric band with an Onyx sensor capsule, a Blush fabric band with a Rose Gold sensor capsule, or a Winter fabric band with a Silver sensor capsule. Customers can purchase fabric accessory bands for the special early access price of $19.99 each. Six additional fabric color options include: Denim, Hummingbird, Mint Edge, Olive, Unicorn, and Volcano. Customers can purchase sport accessory bands for the special early access price of $15.99 each, with nine color options available: Ash, Black, Dark Mint, Domino, Lavender, Pink Slate, Seafoam, Sunset, and White.

Amazon Halo app features:

• Activity: Informed by American Heart Association physical activity guidelines and the latest medical research, Amazon Halo awards points based on the intensity and duration of movement, not just the number of steps taken. For example, customers will earn points for walking, but will earn more points for running. Medical guidelines also advise that a sedentary lifestyle can negatively impact health, so Amazon Halo deducts one activity point for every hour over eight hours of sedentary time in a day, outside of sleep. A baseline goal of 150 activity points is set and measured weekly.
• Sleep: The health benefits of consistently good, sufficient sleep are well documented—as are the potential negative health impacts of not enough or consistently poor sleep. Amazon Halo uses motion, heart rate, and temperature to measure time asleep and time awake; time spent in the various phases of sleep including deep, light, and REM; and skin temperature while sleeping. The sensors in the band allow for continuous sleep monitoring, so customers get rich, detailed information without having to charge the band every day. In the morning, Amazon Halo delivers a sleep score out of 100, any deviation from baseline sleep temperature, and a hypnogram showing time spent in each sleep phase.
• Body: Medical research has shown for years that body fat percentage is a better measure of overall health than just weight or body mass index (BMI) alone, but the tools that measure body fat percentage can be expensive or difficult to access. Using new innovations in computer vision and machine learning, Amazon Halo lets customers measure their body fat percentage from the comfort and privacy of their own home, making this important information easily accessible. The Amazon Halo body fat measurement is as accurate as methods a doctor would use—and nearly twice as accurate as leading at-home smart scales.
• Tone: The globally accepted definition of health includes not just physical but also social and emotional well-being. The innovative Tone feature uses machine learning to analyze energy and positivity in a customer’s voice so they can better understand how they may sound to others, helping improve their communication and relationships. For example, Tone results may reveal that a difficult work call leads to less positivity in communication with a customer’s family, an indication of the impact of stress on emotional well-being.
• Labs: Amazon Halo Labs are science-backed challenges, experiments, and workouts that allow customers to discover what works best for them specifically, so they can build healthier habits—for example, some customers might discover that cutting out afternoon caffeine improves their sleep quality, or that a certain type of at-home workout is more effective than others. Customers can choose from labs created by Amazon Halo experts, as well as brands and personalities they already know, including 8fit, Aaptiv, American Heart Association, Exhale On Demand, Harvard Health Publishing, Headspace, Julian Treasure, Lifesum, Mayo Clinic, Openfit, Orangetheory Fitness, P.volve, Russell Wilson, Relax Melodies, SWEAT, and WW. Additional content from more providers will be added to Labs regularly.

You can order the new Halo and Halo Band here from Amazon.  For early access customers, the device will be available for $64.99. After the early access period, the device will cost $99.99 with six month free subscription. After six months, your subscription will automatically renew at $3.99/month plus applicable tax.