Friday, 7 March 2014

A smartphone case to monitor heart rate, blood pressure - Indian Express




Summary


Wello is available for pre-order on azoi.com and costs Rs 12,350.




Do you really have to go to the doctor every time you want to check vital parameters? Not if you have a portable health tracker, like a wristband that tracks fitness. While wearable devices have been the talk of the town for some time, innovation hasn't stopped there. Enter Azoi Inc, a US-based startup that has a research centre in Ahmedabad, with a wearable health monitor for your smartphone — Wello.


It is a smartphone case, one that lets you track six vital parameters — blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, ECG, blood oxygen and lung function — in 30 seconds.


To measure five of these, all you need to do is place four fingers on Wello's sensors just like holding the phone while taking a picture. For the sixth, lung function, you need to breathe in and out using an accessory that comes with Wello.


"The device can monitor health and let people check normal health levels without going through 200 lab tests. We are working on apps for iPhone and Android, which will let you track your medical history," Ami Karnik, co-founder and head of strategy for Azoi Inc, said at an event in Delhi on Thursday.


Karnik was quick to point out that Wello is not a clinical device and that Azoi Inc won't ask doctors to use it. This device is for people who suffer from health problems such as hypertension, heart disease, low or high blood pressure. With Wello, they can find out if they need to visit a doctor.


The prototype case demonstration was easy to use and showed data on all five parameters. Although this reporter's vital parameters appeared to be normal, the data couldn't be verified against lab equipment. Since the demo units were prototypes, Azoi refused a request for a review unit.


However, one thing that was clear was that being available as a smartphone case is an advantage over wearable devices for Wello. Most people almost always carry their smartphones with them, so they are less likely to forget it.


But it cannot passively monitor your health — you will have to keep reminding yourself to spare 30 seconds once every few days.


"Habitual use is a problem with standalone health monitors. That is why we chose to make Wello a smartphone case. It has a 'brain', which can be removed and put into any Wello case. As of now, we have cases for iPhone 4S, 5 and 5S," Karnik said.


Wello is available for pre-order on azoi.com and costs Rs 12,350.







via Technology - Google News http://ift.tt/NHhyiz

IFTTT

Put the internet to work for you.


via Personal Recipe 2598265


0 comments:

Post a Comment

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | Online Project management