[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Seulgina Jo] "I slept for 6 hours and 32 minutes yesterday. My sleep score came out to 72 points. That's a very high level." Yang Tae-jong, Vice President and Head of Health Development Team at Samsung Electronics MX Division, lifted his wrist to show the Galaxy Watch he was wearing during a media roundtable held on the 11th (local time) in Chelsea, Manhattan, New York.
Vice President Yang expressed confidence that Samsung Electronics' new product, the 'Galaxy Watch5,' unveiled at this month's 'Galaxy Unpacked 2022,' will "set a new standard for wellness." He emphasized, "Through the pandemic, people have realized that health holds a different meaning for them," adding, "We set our direction to meet various needs." He explained that smart wearable devices, which are always carried on the body, are the optimal devices for health management, and the Watch5 can be the best companion for this purpose.
Yang cited three directions: ▲Innovation ▲Connectivity ▲Collaboration. The goal is to innovate sensor technology so consumers can achieve their individual health goals, provide a more connected health management experience, and advance all these processes through collaboration.
First, the newly released Watch5 is equipped with various sensors, including a BioActive sensor, as part of its innovation. Vice President Yang reiterated that all health management begins with understanding an individual's current situation and accurate status. For a 40-44mm wristwatch to accurately grasp the consumer's health status, sensor innovation is essential. Samsung Electronics has focused particularly on sleep and body composition measurement through the BioActive sensor.
Yang publicly mentioned his sleep status from the previous night early in the session for this very reason. He explained, "Sleep measurement has been a part of Samsung's mobile efforts for a long time," adding, "Beyond accurate measurement, we have quantified it into scores so consumers can better understand, and we have prepared coaching programs for consumers asking, 'What should I do?'" For the Watch series, not only simple sleep tracking but also coaching programs medically validated through joint development with Samsung Medical Center are available for free. These programs are typically offered for a fee at hospital sleep labs but have been made available online.
Along with this, the body composition measurement feature, which was first introduced and gained great popularity in the previous model, has become more accurate. For the first time in the Watch series, a temperature measurement sensor has also been installed. This opens up the possibility of measuring body temperature for various health management uses in the future.
Additionally, Yang introduced features such as route guidance and vibration alerts through the watch for exercises where routes are important, like cycling, which are difficult to follow using smartphone maps. He also mentioned a backtracking function that helps users return to their starting point. Furthermore, he highlighted the need for recovery data after exercise, mentioning the Sweat Loss feature that estimates sweat loss and suggests hydration amounts, and the HR Recovery feature that checks how long it takes to return to a normal state.
Following innovation, Samsung Electronics places great importance on connectivity. Yang stated, "Samsung Electronics is one of the world's largest home appliance companies," and added, "We constantly think about how to connect well to create an optimized environment related to health for consumers."
Samsung Electronics provides tools that allow consumers to check their health status regardless of location. This is the 'Samsung Health' application, which has over 200 million users worldwide. It can be used across a wide range of devices including smartwatches, smartphones, tablets, and TVs. Connected through home Internet of Things (IoT), the watch can recognize the user's sleep state and automatically dim lights or turn off the air conditioner. Yang evaluated, "Watch5 has enhanced connectivity with various Samsung devices using SmartThings, further improving convenience."
The final direction is collaboration. Yang began, "We cannot do everything ourselves. That's one of the big lessons." He explained that open collaboration is essential for better user experiences. In this regard, he evaluated the previous Watch4 as having had a successful start. Samsung Electronics collaborated with Google to jointly develop Wear OS and Health Connect. Sleep research is being conducted in collaboration with the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) in the U.S., and blood oxygen research is underway with the University of California San Diego and San Francisco campuses. They are also discussing ways to apply health solutions in the medical field.
Vice President Yang expressed high expectations that ideas for collaboration will be limitless. He reaffirmed that they are working on a new open-source project to provide comprehensive solutions in various areas using wearable devices, from medical research to clinical services. Industry insiders expect Samsung Electronics to reveal detailed information soon.
He emphasized once again, "Samsung's technological innovation, the ecosystem connectivity with home appliances Samsung owns, and finally collaboration. Samsung is very sincere about collaboration. We will not do everything ourselves but will invest in creating an open ecosystem with partners so that consumers can gain more value."
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