Health & Wellbeing

World's first Bluetooth 4.0 heart rate monitor will catalyze new genre of smartphone apps

World's first Bluetooth 4.0 heart rate monitor will catalyze new genre of smartphone apps
The entire belt weighs just 46 grams
The entire belt weighs just 46 grams
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The entire belt weighs just 46 grams
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The entire belt weighs just 46 grams
The new chip is not just energy efficient, but very compact, enabling the creation of an extremely slim (1.1cm-thick) and small (3.8 x 6.5 cm) plastic sensor housing.
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The new chip is not just energy efficient, but very compact, enabling the creation of an extremely slim (1.1cm-thick) and small (3.8 x 6.5 cm) plastic sensor housing.
The volume production of a new low-energy Bluetooth 4.0 heart-rate chest belt is likely to kickstart a whole new genre of health and fitness related smartphone apps
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The volume production of a new low-energy Bluetooth 4.0 heart-rate chest belt is likely to kickstart a whole new genre of health and fitness related smartphone apps
Nordic Semiconductor's new nRF8001 chip
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Nordic Semiconductor's new nRF8001 chip
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OEM/ODM specialist Dayton Industrial is set to commence volume production of a low energy Bluetooth 4.0 heart-rate chest belt using Nordic Semiconductor's new µBlue™ nRF8001 chip.

That might not seem all that ground breaking at first glance, but it's a significant event likely to kickstart a whole new genre of health and fitness related smartphone apps which use the wireless heart-rate (HR) belt to monitor, display and analyse heart rate data. Indeed, I can see a whole new and exciting range of training apps which use social networking to support and share one's progress.

The heartrate belt will turn any Bluetooth 4.0 smartphone into a heart monitor and it is so energy-efficient that it will run for over 500 hours of usage (that's 18 months of one-hour-a-day usage) on a CR2032 coin cell.

The new chip is not just energy efficient, but very compact, enabling the creation of an extremely slim (1.1cm-thick) and small (3.8 x 6.5 cm) plastic sensor housing. The entire belt weighs just 46g.

View gallery - 4 images
2 comments
2 comments
Daniel Spinks
Looks good! When where and how can I get one?
Facebook User
Very similar to the arm band being used by gaming consoles with EA Sports Active 2. Bluetooth makes it less protocol dependent, so definitely an advantage.