Galaxy Watch
Galaxy Watch 5: Blood Pressure and ECG monitoring features now available in the Philippines
The South Korean tech conglomerate Samsung’s Galaxy Watch lineup has some of the world’s best health-related features in it, and the Blood Pressure and ECG features are also some of these. Previously, these two utilities were available in some limited regions only, but now the company has extended their availability in the Philippines region also, with the Galaxy Watch 5 series. So, let’s take a look at it.
Notably, as these features are now accessible in the Philippines too, their residents will also be able to check their Blood Pressure and Heartrate using their Galaxy Watch 5 device. The Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro devices will track both of these health statuses by Samsung’s BioActive sensor. Without a doubt, these features are indeed helpful and lifesaving, so having them in your device will decrease the health risk.
Let us tell you, to enable the Blood Pressure monitoring feature, first install the Samsung Health Monitor application on your Galaxy phone and connect it to your Galaxy Watch. Afterward, the Galaxy Watch will start to measure your BP wherever you tap on the ‘measure’ option. Informatively, this feature measures Blood Pressure through pulse wave analysis. Users will be able to access this info and export measurements to PDF.
On the other side, the Electrocardiogram (ECG) feature works by recording the user’s heart’s electrical activity through a sensor. To use this feature, open the Samsung Health Monitor app on your Galaxy phone during a comfortable sit and make sure the Watch is completely fitted to the wrist; then let your forearm free on a flat surface and lightly place another hand’s fingertip on the Watch’s top button for 30 seconds.
After successful measurement of the user’s Heart rate and rhythm, the device will display the results in any of these two terms- Sinus Rhythm (Regular heartbeat) and AFib (Irregular heartbeat). Additionally, just like the Blood Pressure feature, you can export ECG measurement data as well, in the form of a PDF. You can make the Galaxy Watch5 40mm yours for 16,990 PHP and Galaxy Watch5 Pro for 26,990 PHP.
Samsung Galaxy smartwatches are on the way to significant improvements, as at I/O 2024, Google unveiled Wear OS 5, promising even more worthy enhancements, including battery life improvements.
Initially, Wear OS 5 is expected to launch with the forthcoming Galaxy Watch 7 in July at the Galaxy Unpacked event, and then on the Pixel Watch 3 by the end of this year, as its availability expands to other Wear OS watches. With Samsung’s continued collaboration and Google’s ongoing commitment, Wear OS is poised for a bright future, providing a robust and versatile smartwatch experience.
However, Google just teased Wear OS 5 but has yet to reveal all the details, but the giant claims this new update will decrease up to 20% of battery drain when tracking a marathon compared to Wear OS 4.
Samsung Galaxy Watches will receive the Wear OS 5 update, hopefully bringing worthy attention to a decent boost in battery life. Apart from this, it is expected that the fitness application will have access to more data types, such as stride length, group contact time, and vertical oscillation. None of these are radical new features, but these enhancements should help further refine the Wear OS experience. Plus, longer battery life is always a welcome improvement, especially on smartwatches.
Google will base Wear OS 5 on Android 14, with the release packing a few major developer-facing changes, including the next version of the Watch Face Format, which is expected to support new complications such as weather, goal progress, and many more.
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Samsung is actively looking forward to expanding its wearable smartwatch family by adding one more member to the line called the Galaxy Watch 7, which is expected to arrive with the Exynos W1000 3nm. On the other hand, the existence of the Galaxy Watch FE is also confirmed.
The next-generation Galaxy Watch 7 is supposed to be introduced at the Galaxy Unpacked event in July, consisting of three variants, including an “Ultra” model that could be the first smartwatch with a 3nm chipset. However, another affordable model is also rumored to be in the line called the Galaxy Watch FE.
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Initially, the rumors teased the fan community that the forthcoming Galaxy Watch 7 series’ three model could arrive with a 3nm Exynoss W940 chipset. If the new reports are to be believed, the upcoming watches will still be the first Samsung smartwatches with a 3nm chip, but the chip might be named the Exynos W1000 by contrast.
The predecessor series Galaxy Watch 6 lineup arrived with the 5nm Exynos W930, and according to the new reports, the latest Exynos W1000 should bring 12% more enhancement in performance as well as energy efficiency. If the reports come true, then Samsung will introduce the Galaxy Watch FE alongside the Galaxy Watch 7.
The Galaxy Watch FE is expected to be more affordable, similar to the recently launched Fan Edition phones and tablets such as the Galaxy Tab S9 FE, Galaxy Tab S9 FE+, Galaxy S23 FE, and Galaxy Buds FE. The reports from Android Headlines are revealing the two popped-up firmware models on the Samsung servers: the SM-R866 version, which was actually already looked at previously as an LTE variant, and the SM-R861 version with the R861XXU0AXE5/R8610XM0AXE5 firmware, which is expected to be a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth variant.
It seems that the forthcoming Galaxy Watch FE may feature a lot of similar specs as the Galaxy Watch 4; for instance, a 1.2- or 1.4-inch AMOLED display, an Exynos Wg20 SoC, and more.
Samsung is actively working on expanding the Galaxy Watch’s functionalities for users’ convenience. The company has filed a US patent for continuous atrial fibrillation detection through PPG ECG signal translation.
Many smartwatches available on the market perform atrial fibrillation (AFib) spot checks using an ECG sensor, but unfortunately, continuous AFib data is impossible without a medical monitor. A week ago, Samsung patented a plan to convert that for the forthcoming Galaxy Watch 7 by employing a generative AI model.
Initially spotted by Wareable, the US patent “System and method for continuous atrial fibrillation detection via PPG to ECG signal translation” would “translate PPG signals to corresponding ECG waveforms.”
Samsung got FDA consent for the passive detection of irregular heart rhythms. Samsung, such as Fitbit, Apple, and Withings, can use their watches to monitor irregular heart rhythms. Although this is not a diagnosis tool, It is only capable of suggesting a potential issue and requires confirmation with a proper ECG reading.
Samsung’s patented PPG-to-ECG mechanism would offer more definitive data at all times, making it more possible to catch the lead-up to serious heart conditions such as arrhythmia and heart failure. The patent describes that “conventional models” can only count on “long-term relationships” between PPG heart rhythm data and possible ECG results. Along with its GenAI models, Samsung assures that it will create a “first-order Markov relationship” between them for better accuracy.
Samsung’s patent confesses that by using generative AI, “fake information may be introduced, which affects an AFib detection result.” The giant decided to solve this by “incorporating prior knowledge in terms of probabilistic graphical models” so that it is “robust to noise,” also known as irrelevant or misleading details.
The generative AI plan of Samsung might make heart health data available to Google since it typically relies on Gemini AI.