THE BAND APP FULL
THE BAND APP ANDROID
THE BAND APP SERIES

Halo uses AI in AmazonвЂ™s cloud to create the 3D scan and calculate body fat percentage. Amazon says it did an internal study to back up those claims and may begin submitting papers to peer-reviewed medical journals in the future.ДЇinally, once you have your scan, the app will give you a little slider you can drag your finger on to have it show what you would look like with more or less body fat. Amazon also claims that smart scales that try to measure body fat using bioelectrical impedance are not as accurate as its scan. Amazon argues that body fat percentage is a more reliable indicator of health than either weight or body mass index. Once you have the 3D scan, Amazon uses machine learning to analyze it and calculate your body fat percentage. The data is then deleted from AmazonвЂ™s servers. Then it takes four photos (front, back, and both sides) and uploads them to AmazonвЂ™s servers where theyвЂ™re combined into a 3D scan of your body thatвЂ™s sent back to your phone. The app instructs you to wear tight-fitting clothing (ideally just your underwear) and then stand back six feet or so from your camera. Image: Amazon Body scansД«ody scans work with just your smartphoneвЂ™s camera. HaloвЂ™s body scanning feature, which calculates body fat percentage. The former uses your smartphone camera to capture a 3D scan of your body and then calculate your body fat, and the latter uses a microphone on the Halo Band to listen to the tone of your voice and report back on your emotional state throughout the day.

Amazon calls it вЂњswimproof.вЂќД«ut where the Halo service really differentiates itself is in two new features, called Body and Tone.

THE BAND APP FULL

The fabric bands will cost $19.99 and the sport bands will be $15.99.ДЄmazon intends for users to leave the Halo Band on all the time: the battery should last a full week and the sensor is water resistant up to 5ATM.

THE BAND APP SERIES

There will of course be a series of optional bands so you can choose one to match your style - and all of them bear no small resemblance to popular Apple Watch bands. The three main band colors that will be sold are onyx (black), mineral (light blue), and rose gold (pink-ish).

THE BAND APP ANDROID

It communicates with your phone via Bluetooth, and it should work equally well with both iPhones and Android phones. There is explicitly no Alexa integration. The microphones are not for speaking to Alexa, by the way, theyвЂ™re there for the voice tone feature. It has 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. The band lacks increasingly standard options like GPS, Wi-Fi, or a cellular radio, another sign that itвЂ™s meant to be a more laid-back kind of tracker.

Image: Amazon Amazon will sell lots of different band styles and colors. The three color options for the Halo Band. As such, it hasnвЂ™t submitted the device to the FDA for any sort of approval, including the lighter-touch вЂњ FDA clearanceвЂќ that so many other fitness bands have used. The Halo Band вЂњis not a medical device,вЂќ Amazon tells me. TheyвЂ™re short challenges designed to improve your health habits - like meditation, improving your sleep habits, or starting up basic exercise routines.

Alongside cardio, sleep, body fat, and voice tone tracking, a Halo subscription will offer a suite of вЂњlabsвЂќ developed by partners. The lack of a screen on the Halo Band is the first indicator that Amazon is trying to carve out a niche for itself thatвЂ™s focused a little less on sports and exercise and a little more on lifestyle changes. The Halo service is a separate product that isnвЂ™t part of Amazon Prime. Amazon is launching it as an invite-only early access program today with an introductory price of $64.99 that includes six months of the service for free.

The Halo Band will cost $99.99 and the service (which is required for HaloвЂ™s more advanced features) costs $3.99 per month. The app that goes along with it comes with the usual set of fitness tracking features along with two innovative - and potentially troubling - ideas: using your camera to create 3D scans for body fat and listening for the emotion in your voice. Unlike the Apple Watch or even most basic Fitbits, the Amazon Halo Band doesnвЂ™t have a screen. Amazon is getting into the health gadget market with a new fitness band and subscription service called Halo.

The band app