While comfort and long battery life are pretty cool, a recent survey found that consumers most desire accuracy from their wearable devices.
An article by Mobile ID World reported survey results from a joint poll of 706 Americans by biometric wearable-maker Valencell and the MEMS & Sensors Industry Group. MEMS stands for Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems.
The survey found that 63% of respondents said that accuracy was a highly important feature of wearable biometric devices. This compared to 57% who ranked comfort as highly important and 47% who prioritized battery life.
Furthermore 73% of those surveyed expected wearable with better accuracy will eventually impact users’ health directly. As well, 74% of respondents who currently do not own biometric wearables say they would consider purchasing one if improved accuracy might assist them in improving their health.
“More consumers than ever before are looking to biometric wearables to monitor their health and fitness, and wearables that cannot be trusted for accuracy will ultimately lose-out to wearables that have been properly validated,” said Valencell President and Co-founder Steven LeBoeuf. “These survey results are testament to Valencell’s view that accurate and interesting insights are critical to the success of the wearable industry, and are the biggest drivers of growth today.”
MEMS crucial components for accuracy
‘MEMS are critical components in boosting the accuracy of medical wearables. These components include pressure sensors, accelerometers, environmental sensors and heart rate monitors that are delivering increasing data granularity.
“Beyond accuracy, MEMS and sensors make wearables more interesting because they literally sense the world around us,” said Karen Lightman, MEMS & Sensors Industry Group executive director. “With so much advanced functionality now at their disposal, I am convinced that wearables designers will introduce new and compelling products that consumers will consider ‘must-have’ rather than just ‘nice-to-own’.”
As well, the survey found that biometric wearables are facing challenges with regards to device recharging. 40% of respondents said they had stopped using their devices because they did not want to go through the bother of continually recharging their wearables.
This comes against the backdrop of anticipated 19% growth in the healthcare wearables market by 2020.
