Samsung released the Simband way back in 2014 and was meant to be a reference wearable for the manufacturers to tinker with. This unit was packed full of sensors, which also included sensors that could track blood pressure, skin temperature, sweat production, blood volume, heart rate and much more.
Reference Model
The release of the reference unit led many to believe that a retail version of Simband would be released once the Apple Watch hit the shelves. However, that did not happen. The Simband was meant to be an incredible Health Device.
It is believed that Samsung never meant to release Simband into the open market. The device was made for developers exclusively. This became more clear when Samsung released Galaxy Gear 2, with an assumption that Samsung had retired the Simband in favor of the Samsung’s Gear line. However, new information suggests that Simband is not, in fact, dead, and some of its technologies may make it out in some new upcoming device.
According to Dr. Francis Ho, Samsung’s Head of Digital Health, Samsung’s Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC), has been working with researchers on the project in an effort to build on its “Voice of Body” concept. It is to make the human body to communicate important health information through sensors a reality. This includes the idea of helping to predict or detect cancer at an earlier stage to make it easier to treat.
“We invited researchers to come in and use it to do new kinds of studies,” said Dr. Ho while speaking with the Wearable, “So we work with many of these top groups in the world and they use it for everything from autism studies to heart arrhythmia studies.“
It is said that Samsung has been making investments in digital health to improve upon the Simband. This includes investment in health-based startups. They are developing new technologies for future sensors. Dr. Ho says the company is looking to take ideas from the Simband to build into new commercial products that can health improve health.
Samsung is very much involved in the Digital Health Industry. It is difficult to forget that Samsung has become a global leader with their Gear Devices. As it turns out, another Samsung division, SSIC is still into innovating the future of wearable technologies.
Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TwGc1udHbM
