Tag: samsung wearables

Wearable technology advances from Samsung continue with a health tracker

| June 3, 2014

The electronics giant now has a prototype for yet another device in the wearables category.

Ram Fish, the vice president of digital health at Samsung, was spotted at a San Francisco event, showing of a prototype of the Simband, which is a conceptual model for a new form of health tracking wearable technology wristband that is currently in the works at Samsung.

There have already been a large number of players within the health and fitness tracker market due to popularity.

Among all of the categories in wearable technology, it is in health and fitness that it has managed to take off at the greatest rate. There have been many different guesses as to why this is the case. Among them, one of the primary explanations is that these devices are practical and are affordable for the average consumer, particularly when compared to smartwatches which are easily two to three times more expensive…or more.

While pedometers have been around for ages, Samsung and other wearable technology companies aim for more.

Wearable Technology - Health TrackingAlthough the technology for pedometers has changed over the years, the basic concept has been around for a while. However, in the latest wearables, these trackers are meant to bring much more value to consumers, such as the intensity of a workout, the number of calories burned, and even more complex information such as biofeedback. Many consumers would also like to measure things such as vital signs – heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, hydration, and others, for example.

The Simband is designed to provide biometrics just like that, such as temperature and heart rate. Ram Fish didn’t hesitate to show curious event attendees the device, which features a square face and black body. He was reported to have appeared highly enthusiastic about this new mobile tech as he spoke before the San Francisco crowd.

The device on the health and fitness tracker revealed real time vital signs such as the fact that his heart had been beating at a rate of 87 beats per minute (which is about healthy considering the situation and environment) and his temperature. That said, he also switched screens on this open sensor platform based wearable technology device to be able to show trends, such as the variability of his heart rate and other forms of data that were being tracked and recorded.

Wearables “wonder material” discovery made by Samsung

| April 10, 2014

A new method in creating graphene has now been found by the manufacturer and a university.

The scientists at Samsung have now announced tremendous technology news in that they have come up with a new way of developing graphene, which is a silicon alternative that is only one atom thick and that could change the way the wearables industry develops now that it can be manufactured on a commercial scale.

This is an achievement that the industry has been seeking to achieve for a decade.

The Samsung scientists made their achievement as a part of a partnership with Sungkyunkwan University. This new method that has been discovered could completely reshape the wearables industry – quite literally, as it brings flexibility in a material that is still more conductive than silicon. Now it could provide flexible and very strong touchscreens, among other uses.

That said, the research isn’t quite ready for wearables and mobile gadgets, just yet.

While this is a breakthrough, the discovery is not yet to the point that it is ready to hit the manufacturing plants. The research is still in its early stages and there are still limitations to the size of the graphene particles that can be created through the current techniques. Currently the sole method of synthesizing a usable amount of graphene is to bring a number of its crystals together. But in that form it reduces its ability to conduct electricity.Graphene Wearables - Samsung

Silicon is used in today’s semiconductors, but graphene can conduct more heat and electrical charge. Equally, graphene is a substance that has greater strength than steel but is still flexible. This would be the perfect option for the wearable technology industry if it could be produced on a commercial scale. In Samsung’s own words, it is the “perfect material for use in flexible displays, wearables and other next generation electronic devices.”

Two men in Manchester, England, Sir Kostya Novoselov and Sir Andre Geim first isolated graphene in 2004 and received the Nobel prize for doing it. It is unlikely that they had any idea that the wearables industry would reach the point that it has today and that their discovery could one day prove to revolutionize its shape and nature.