Last week, Verily, the healthcare research arm of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), introduced their newest healthcare wearable, the Verily Study Watch. However, this watch isn’t the Apple Watch killer that Google-ites have been waiting for. In fact, you won’t even be able to buy it. That’s because the Study Watch is an investigational device specifically designed for capturing health data for clinical research.
The Study Watch features a round, e-ink display that is always on, and will only show the time and certain instructions related to a study. Data that can be collected from the watch’s sensors include a one-lead electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate, electrodermal activity, and inertial movements. Verily claims that the watch’s internal storage can hold weeks of data, but since this is Google, the data is encrypted, uploaded, and processed in the cloud using Verily’s backend algorithms and machine learning tools.
The Study Watch will play a prominent role in Verily’s Personalized Parkinson’s Project, and their upcoming Baseline study that explores the transitions between health and disease, as well as several other studies conducted by Verily’s partners.
More info: Introducing Verily Study Watch