Galaxy Watch
Samsun Galaxy Watch Now Tracks Sleep Apnea
The new sleep apnea feature on the Samsung Health Monitor app has been certified by Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) and will be available in Korea early next year on the Galaxy Watch series, as per the announcement from Samsung Electronics today. The new function is designed to help more individuals detect early-stage obstructive sleep apnea symptoms, which typically go undetected and untreated. The new sleep apnea function on the Galaxy Watch joins blood pressure monitoring, electrocardiogram (ECG) detection, and irregular heart rhythm notification (IHRN) as the newest additions to the Samsung Health Monitor app, providing users with greater awareness of their overall health from the palm of their hand.
Beginning early next year, it will be accessible on the Galaxy Watch series in Korea via Samsung Health Monitor app upgrades. Sleep apnea, a common but significant medical illness, causes someone to stop breathing while asleep, resulting in interruptions in oxygen delivery, decreased sleep quality, and other health consequences such as hypertension, cardiac disorder, stroke, or cognitive disorder. The sleep apnea function monitors blood oxygen levels during sleep and identifies moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea by analyzing how the recorded blood oxygen values change to apnea or hypopnea and then estimating the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) using the Galaxy Watch’s BioActive Sensor.
Around 25% of men and 10% of women in the US suffer from obstructive sleep apnea and fail to recognize their symptoms or seek medical treatment, as per the National Sleep Foundation. The new sleep apnea function is intended to enable more individuals to proactively detect indications of the illness, encourage early detection, and lessen the potential for health-related consequences. Users must measure their sleep twice, each time for more than 4 hours, over the course of 10 days to determine whether they experience these symptoms. The availability may differ depending on the market, carrier, model, or linked smartphone. It will be accessible via the Galaxy Watch 6 and Watch 5 models.
Hon. Pak, Vice President and Head of Digital Health Team, MX Business at Samsung Electronics, said, Samsung remains committed to delivering advanced technologies to Galaxy wearables that help more people better understand and take control of their wellness. With the new sleep apnea feature on the Galaxy Watch series, we are providing users with a simple, proactive tool to recognize this disorder in its earliest possible stages before their condition worsens.”
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.
The Korean brand ‘Samsung’ introduces smartwatches along with the software gap between promise and premium! Now, deep down, it is gearing up to expand its smart wearable family by introducing a brand new Galaxy Smartwatch lineup within the next few months.
Galaxy smartwatch enthusiasts, the giants are cooking something new for you all, as Samsung is expected to release a new Galaxy Watch lineup or at least one in the upcoming weeks. However, a premium smartwatch model might not be the answer to each query that’s holding Galaxy Watches back.
It’s possible that a premium smartwatch with a more polished design could be a blessing or a curse for the Korean giants. Samsung Galaxy Watches, such as non-classic ones, can look like playthings, whereas the software also doesn’t give an experience like a high-end One UI, which it should.
One UI Watch performance appears unexciting, and the UI can sometimes falter or even lag extremely, especially after reconnecting to a mobile device. Even after spending a lot, in the end, somehow you realize that almost every UI element and widget often feels and doesn’t look ready to use or release. Most of the things appear to be in the early access phase. In many ways, it’s reminiscent of the old Android phone experience.
Now it is expected that Samsung’s forthcoming premium Galaxy Watch could solve the external design issue and make smartwatches a bit more appealing and less playful. Also, a more premium smartwatch paired with not-so-premium software will likely accentuate the undercooked One UI/Wear OS experience.
Somewhere, premium Samsung Galaxy smartwatches have software issues such as limited applications, watch faces, and a clumsy UI holding back Galaxy watches. A premium design would only be enough until the brand improved the software experience to feel as smooth and integrated as their smartphones.
Apart from this, the Galaxy Watch 7series is next in line, which should debut at the Galaxy Unpacked event in July. It is also expected that Samsung will release a new rectangular-shaped smartwatch by the end of this year.
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 series is running on Wear OS 4 onboard; now, to add a major layer of upgrade, the brand is gearing up to deliver a new update in the form of Wear OS 5.
Wear OS 5 for Galaxy Watches is under processing
The Korean giant has already started developing a new firmware version for the Galaxy Watch 6, which appears as R965USQU1BXD8. A tipster has revealed that Samsung is working on a new firmware version for the carrier-locked Galaxy Watch 6 smartwatch for the US market, leading to speculation.
This new firmware version indicates a major One UI version change, and it could be One UI Watch 6 based on Wear OS 5. On the other hand, Google has already revealed via @MatthewReiter05 that it will disclose Wear OS 5 and its features at the forthcoming Google I/O 2024 event on May 14, 2024.
A couple of months after the announcement, Wear OS 5 will probably be available in stable form, and Samsung could soon release a stable One UI Watch 6 based on that platform. However, it’s yet to be clear what new features and UI design improvements Google plans to bring with the Wear OS 5 update. It is expected to improve integration with Android-based smartphones, tablets, and TVs.