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Apple

Apple Announces Apple Watch Series 6 With Ability To Measure Blood Oxygen Levels (theverge.com) 54

Posted by msmash from the how-about-that dept.
Apple has announced the Apple Watch Series 6, the latest in its line of popular smartwatches. The Series 6 model maintains the same overall design introduced with the Apple Watch Series 4 and continued with the Series 5, but it adds a variety of new sensors to allow for things like blood oxygen monitoring and better sleep tracking. From a report: Apple says the Series 6 can measure blood oxygen levels in about 15 seconds, using both red and infrared light. The company says it's partnering with health networks to start large-scale studies using the new blood oxygen measurement feature, including testing to see if it can detect if a person is infected with COVID-19. The Series 6 also comes with the new S6 processor, which promises up to 20 percent faster performance. It's based on Apple's in-house A13 chip and brings the first major update to the Apple Watch's performance since the Series 4, given that last year's Series 5 model used the same S4 CPU (rebranded as the S5 with other additions like a compass and a new display controller). Starts at $399.
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Apple Announces Apple Watch Series 6 With Ability To Measure Blood Oxygen Levels More

Apple Announces Apple Watch Series 6 With Ability To Measure Blood Oxygen Levels

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  • No blood pressure? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Dru Nemeton ( 4964417 ) on Tuesday September 15, 2020 @12:38PM (#60508356)
    I have a $32 dollar device that not only captures oxygen levels, but heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure. These levels are accurate to about 5% as verified by my doctors office. Which for such a low cost device is "good enough."

    I wonder if adding in BP would have opened to door to lawsuits?
  • A blood oximeter measures the percent of hemoglobin that contains oxygen. This is not the same as the amount of oxygen in the blood. A low hemoglobin content can give a high percentage of hemoglobin that has oxygen. If the new apple watch contains an oximeter, it is not reading "blood oxygen levels" as noted in the post.
    • Its almost certainly a pulse oximeter. My Samsung Gear watch has had this for years and agrees with my regular pulse oximeter.

      While pulse oximeters may not be a direct blood oxygen level, for most people its a good approximation. Additionally if you use it regularly, it can definitely alert you to changes that might be a problem.
      • You are right. The results of oximetry are useful, but often misunderstood.

        If one is unusually tired, breathless or weak after what used to be an easy bit of work, even though your pulse oximiter shows high percent, then a blood draw to measure actual hemoglobin level might be in order. There might be other problems, such a sepsis causing the problem. This is exactly what happened to me. It took two weeks in the hospital being infused with a variety of antibiotics, blood transfusion and infusion of ferr

        • There might be other problems, such a sepsis causing the problem.

          They had an intro part of the video that showed a girl whose live was saved by the heart rate monitor warning her something was wrong, which turned out to be sepsis... so it even if the pulseox didn't see that, the other sensors might still be able to warn there's an issue.

          Between the heart rate, pulseox and fall detection it really does seem like a useful insurance policy against medical issues, since it also provides a lot of utility in othe

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rtb61 ( 674572 )

          The method of measurement in terms of the device and wearability and frequency of use, are the more interesting issues. Watches are so, well, old fashioned, why wear them when you no longer have to?!? I kind of like optically correct glasses with cameras instead, wired to a pocket computer, a phone with no screen, the screen being the glasses, with information added to enhance your environment and make technology instantly accessible, without being intrusive except when you want it to be 100% intrusive, rep

  • The theme of the announcement event was "Time Flies." I was hoping for a time machine to either go back in time to kill Hitler as a baby or forwards in time to when a civilization of apes rules the planet because they'd be doing better than what we've got now.

    • Admit it, you only want to go forward in time to be able to date Dr. Zira.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by teg ( 97890 )

      The theme of the announcement event was "Time Flies." I was hoping for a time machine to either go back in time to kill Hitler as a baby or forwards in time to when a civilization of apes rules the planet because they'd be doing better than what we've got now.

      Going back to kill Hitler would be a very bad idea. Think of all the people whose existence directly or indirectly depend on the events that occurred... The time to fix something is at the time of the problem (e.g. getting a sane President), not depending on time travellers from the future.

  • Title should read “Apple announces new biometric to increase ad revenue”

  • A timely feature, and one for the future (Score:4, Informative)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Tuesday September 15, 2020 @01:32PM (#60508510)

    They have probably been working on the blood oxygen monitoring aspect for quite some time now, so they got really lucky with the timing of that announcement! It's pretty compelling to be warned your blood oxygen levels are dropping more than normal as a warning sign of Covid.

    A feature not mentioned that seems less useful at the moment, is that you can family-share watches now - so you can buy a kid a watch, and have it pair to a parents phone, but the kid essentially has their own phone number on the watch... the parent can control when the kid is allowed to call, and also be notified when a child has reached or I guess leaves specified areas they are supposed to be in...

    No word yet on a Running Man Edition of the watch that comes with a non-removable neck collar Apple Watch for the kid.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      Funny how easily you see utility in a freshly announced Apple product virtually identical to ones that came before it, yet can't seem to imagine any value whatsoever in a competitor's new and unique product, for example, the recent LG Wing. If all our minds were as open to "truth" as you maybe we could be set free too.

      Not sure why it would be "pretty compelling" as a "warning sign of Covid" when we all know that humans have a natural immunity to Covid because a /. poster named SuperKendall said so. Just t

      • Funny how easily you see utility in a freshly announced Apple product

        I am talking specifically about the blood oxygen monitoring feature, which is directly useful in the case of Covid and did not exist on previous models. You seem to be confused here.

        There is no question an oxygen monitoring tool is of direct use in the current world.

        Hell I even said they got lucky with the timing, as otherwise that would have been a non-feature that meant very little to most people!!

        can't seem to imagine any value whatso

    • It's not compelling at all. My Fenix 6 watch has had it since I bought it - I've looked at it twice. "Oh, 9X% again. how interesting (snooze)".

      Useless gimmick feature, I promise - and I know because I have it already and don't use it. You would get better Covid warning from your heart rate and HRV data, or - you know, from when you feel like shit and cough and whatnot?

      • Useless gimmick feature, I promise

        It was - pre Covid. Especially with notifications if it drops below a certain level, a lot of people would find it extremely useful. We never owned a pulse-ox device before Covid, now we have one and my wife uses it all the time.

        I would find it handy when traveling, to warn me if I had bought something and was in the early stages of losing oxygen intake.

        Again, this all really only applies to as long as Covid is a thing. Otherwise I wouldn't care either. That's why callin

    • They have probably been working on the blood oxygen monitoring aspect for quite some time now, so they got really lucky with the timing of that announcement!

      Lucky? No one cares about COVID-19 anymore. If anything this announcement is woefully late. Now compare that to Huawei who promised a "future" upgrade in their Band 4 Pro and shipped it with the hardware in place in December. The intent was to at some point ready the software. Then COVID-19 hit and they rushed a software update to make it work by mid Feb when people still cared you could measure the blood oxygen concentration effortlessly and a few more software updates had improved its reliability so it ac

  • Not really much of an update to it. A little faster, another sensor that others have already beaten them to market with doing. Waiting for Apple to surprise me here, I would have been thrilled if they tried something like: Apple Band, the organic LED display that wraps around your wrist, or something. Would be nice to see them try and innovate again.

  • ... but they are not Apple, of course.
    That specific Withings watch, not content with O2, also measure ECG (medical-grade) and can detect sleep apnea.
    https://www.withings.com/eu/en... [withings.com]
    Also it's a f**g watch with real hands, that you can glance t without switching the device on beforehand.
    And standard bands that you just can switch. And autonomy in weeks.

    And no, I don't have one.

    But I'm a bit pissed off by Apple roars at this moment.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by MikeMo ( 521697 )
      It’s ok to say “hey this is a great thing we’ve added to our watch” even if someone else has done it before.

    • Why do people (you) get so upset that some other product that you aren't interested in got new features in a new version? What is with the visceral anger reaction?

      What the fuck do you care if you are already happy with what you own?

      Seriously, ask yourself these questions and if you can't come up with a good answer, you may want to lighten up a bit.

      Monitor your blood pressure a bit, it might be high.

      • Why do people (you) get so upset that some other product that you aren't interested in got new features in a new version? What is with the visceral anger reaction?

        What the fuck do you care if you are already happy with what you own?

        Seriously, ask yourself these questions and if you can't come up with a good answer, you may want to lighten up a bit.

        Monitor your blood pressure a bit, it might be high.

        Don't you understand that to be one of the Cool Kids of Slashdot, you gotta do that Apple Hate Thing? Richard Stallman requires it.

    • You're pissed at Apple because they advertise their products, unlike Withings which I didn't even know existed before your post, let alone the products they make.

      And at € 279.95 (331.78$USD) it's not that much of a price leap to instead buy the Apple Watch in order to have better Apple ecosystem integration.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shilly ( 142940 )

      This is such a weird complaint. Apple has an ECG app on the watch. It detects disturbed sleep. It has an always-on display so you don’t have to turn it on to read the time. Can’t you at least complain about some features that Withings has and the Apple Watch *doesn’t*??

  • If they are talking abourt pulsometers,then surprise -- you can get one for that is bluetooth enabled for about $40. For at least the last ten years.

  • Apple is woefully behind on capitalising on the desire to measure bloody oxygen concentration. Huawei did it right, shipping a watch with hardware but no software in December and promising sometime the following year this feature no one cares about would come. Then dropping everything when COVID-19 hit and working on getting the blood oxygen measurement working and rolling out a software upgrade in February as a surprise to all.

    Seems to work quite well too.

  • When I get low blood oxygen, I fall flat on my face. Simples.

  • It's great. Personally I constantly take care of my health and I often various fitness challenges with the help of this [inkin.com] application because it's so exciting and interesting. It's a tough time right now and these things can be quite useful in my personal opinion. Please visit this website and tell me your thoughts.

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