Amazon Halo arrives as new fitness tracker

After what’s been a relatively slow year on the hardware front, Amazon is announcing a new fitness tracker and service that’s designed to offer a more complete view of your health. Officially dubbed Amazon Halo and Halo Band, this new product combines hardware and software into a one-stop suite of data. Of course, in typical Amazon fashion, there’s a monthly fee attached to really make the most of this service. Head below for full details, pricing, and more.

Amazon unveils Halo fitness tracking suite

Amazon Halo arrives today as a two-part venture for the online giant. First up is the fitness tracking hardware, which comes as an alternative to Apple Watch and Fitbit, two of the major players in this space.

The Halo Band is laden with various sensors to provide “highly accurate information necessary to power Halo insights.” With a design that looks something like an Apple Watch sans display, but also other fitness trackers on the market, the Halo Band focuses more on certain measurables as opposed to notifications and smartphone integration.

Dr. Maulik Majmudar of Amazon, who is leading the Halo Band charge, explains further:

“Health is much more than just the number of steps you take in a day or how many hours you sleep. Amazon Halo combines the latest medical science, highly accurate data via the Halo Band sensors, and cutting-edge artificial intelligence to offer a more comprehensive approach to improving your health and wellness.”

That’s not to say the Halo Band will be without plenty of sensors for collecting data. In fact, there’s quite a bit going on here, including an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a heart rate monitor, two microphones, an LED indicator light, and a button to turn the microphones on or off, among other functions.

Halo Band joins an increasingly crowded field of products designed to tackle sleep tracking, as well. Amazon Halo uses motion, heart rate, and temperature to measure time asleep and time awake, with the goal of painting a more accurate picture of your overall health.

Amazon’s new Halo Band is going to be available to early access beta testers initially for $65. You can sign-up on this page for the chance to be included.

Halo is also a data collecting service

While it’s easy to focus on the new hardware in today’s announcement, there is also a software service coming alongside the product as well. Amazon Halo will cost $4 per month and will be the one-stop location for all of your data.

Of course, there are some natural privacy concerns about how that data will be collected and used. At a time when more and more consumers are becoming protective of how their lives are tracked, this may be a tough sell for some.