Tag Archives: Smartwatches

Samsung Galaxy Watch non-invasive glucose monitor will be a live-saving game-changer

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While there seems to be a rising interest in smart rings as condensed fitness monitors, smartwatches are hardly done growing. Smart rings, at least in their current incarnation, promise a discreet way to keep track of your body’s state, but smartwatches have more room for more advanced sensors and features that you can never fit inside a ring. Some of those features might even make the difference between life and death, as proven time and again by Apple Watch anecdotes. Samsung, however, is setting its sights on a more ambitious goal that’s considered to be one of the Holy Grails of home healthcare. In the near future, its Galaxy Watch line could tell the wearer if their blood sugar is dangerously low or high, all without having to prick their skin and draw blood.

Designer: Samsung (via Bloomberg)

Next to heart-related disorders, diabetes is considered to be one of the most serious diseases plaguing people today. In fact, it’s also labeled as a “silent killer” because of how too late a diagnosis often comes. Monitoring one’s glucose or blood sugar levels, after all, is a literally painful procedure that most people would avoid, including diabetics themselves. There is a great and urgent demand for non-invasive glucose monitoring solutions, and Samsung is apparently already eyeing that achievement.

According to the company’s digital health chief, Hon Pak, Samsung is really pushing hard to make this innovation available in a future version of its Galaxy Watch wearables, like the Galaxy Watch 6 pictured in this piece. A non-invasive blood sugar monitor, together with continuous blood pressure monitoring, would definitely put Samsung at the head of the race. Of course, it’s easier said than done, and even the exec can only hope that the technology and the product will be available within the next five years.

It can’t take its sweet time either, because in addition to medical equipment manufacturers trying to cash in on this potentially lucrative future market, Samsung is also racing against Apple. The Cupertino-based company whose Apple Watch has become synonymous with life-saving wearables, has long been reported to be working on a solution as well. Such a smartwatch with a non-invasive glucose monitor will surely be a reality, but whoever gets there first will be able to claim a large share of the market.

Then again, diabetics and healthcare workers probably care less about who launches a design first, as long as a reliable product does indeed arrive. There are already a few non-invasive monitors that indirectly compute glucose levels from other biometrics, but their accuracy is often still in question. A smartwatch might not even be as accurate as those, but anything that will give wearers the faintest clue is still significantly better than not knowing at all until it’s far too late to make a difference.

The post Samsung Galaxy Watch non-invasive glucose monitor will be a live-saving game-changer first appeared on Yanko Design.

Retro Gaming Watch puts a tiny handheld on your wrist, also tells the time

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There’s a retro design craze that’s gripping multiple industries, from fashion to music to gaming. The latter is probably one of the most prolific sectors, spewing out new designs based on old models every year or sometimes more than once a year. Regardless of the origin, almost all these retro gaming devices have the same goal of allowing people today to experience the games of the past the way they were meant to be played, at least to some extent. Some, however, do try to just mimic the looks while offering a bit more freedom in what you can do with the device, like this rather unusual Game Boy SP look-alike that’s meant to ride on your wrist and act as a smartwatch when you’re not playing games on it.

Designer: Jason Rogers

There’s no shortage of small gaming handhelds, some of which can even be attached to a key ring. They’re not great at comfort or ergonomics, but these novelty items capture a lot of attention and even let you play a few retro games on the fly. You do have to take them out or pull them off your key ring before you can use them, though, which translates to seconds or minutes of lost opportunities.

The Retro Gaming Watch loses no time, no pun intended, by having that gaming handheld always at hand, or in this case, on your wrist. In its inactive, unused form, it masquerades as a regular though thick smartwatch, with a standard squarish display and typical features such as a digital watch face and notifications. It doesn’t have activity tracking, though, because that would require cramming more hardware in an already cramped space, space that would rather be used for running games instead.

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The watch changes its tune the moment you detach it from its strap, unfolding to reveal a clamshell-style gaming device not unlike the Nintendo Game Boy SP. Given the existence of gaming devices smaller than this, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Retro Gaming Watch can handle a few emulated games, at least the 8 to 16-bit titles that can fit in the device’s small memory. Where you get your emulated content, of course, is up to the reader’s ingenuity.

The Retro Gaming Watch is supposed to be a sort of counter-movement to the “Great Conformity” that is happening in a world filled with Apple Watches and its clones. It recalls a time when watches looked fun and could even be used as toys, at least for a younger crowd who wouldn’t be embarrassed wearing bulky and sometimes gaudy designs for everyone to see. Again, it’s not going to offer the best gaming experience, presuming it even becomes an actual product, but it has that novel character and rebellious spirit that’s going to tickle the fancy of many gamers, even if they’re just gonna wear it for show.

The post Retro Gaming Watch puts a tiny handheld on your wrist, also tells the time first appeared on Yanko Design.