The Halo, a fitness tracker, has a unique design. The device doesn't feature a screen or vibration motor. It is a great option for those who want to keep their wrists free of distractions.
The app has a wide range of sessions, workouts, and programs that will help you improve your health. It also features meditation, mindfulness and tone-focused content.
Tone of Voice analysis is the best feature. This analyzes your voice during interviews and other public speeches to improve vocal quality. The app also allows you to take a "voice selfie", which helps to assess your voice clarity and tone.
This is an amazing feature, especially for interviews that can be challenging to hear your voice. You can also listen to your recordings and make adjustments.
Sleep monitoring is another key part of the Halo's data-centric approach to fitness tracking, as it tracks your sleep from start to finish and provides scores based on each sleep cycle. It can also measure your body temperature, which is helpful when determining how restful your night's sleep was.
Amazon has committed that the Halo will be kept private, and users can opt in to use its voice tone analysis and body scan features. The company explains that it processes the body-scan photos in the cloud and automatically deletes them when they're no longer used. This raises privacy concerns.
The paired phone app does the body-scanning. It asks for a photo of you in skivvies. This is limited to 18-year-olds only. Multiple photos are required to accurately determine your body fat percentage.
It does add complexity to your fitness tracking as it cannot be compared with traditional metrics such as steps or calories burnt. It does give you a better picture of your activity over time.
The voice tonal analysis, for instance, uses two microphones to listen and analyze your speech. It's a great feature for anyone trying to project positive images at work and with friends.
It is important to know that this feature only works with paid subscriptions. You'll need to pay $4/around PS3 / AU$5 a month after six months to continue using it.
It also has a Body Composition function, which takes your height and weigh data together with photos to determine your body composition. It is far more advanced than Withings’ bioimpedance based technology. However, it will require photos and may pose privacy concerns.
The Apple Watch and Fitbit have better fitness tracking than the Halo. You'll get a good idea of how you're performing and if you're meeting your weekly goals, but it lacks the colorful graphics you get with those devices. A subscription is required to access the most sophisticated features, such as voice analysis and body scanning.