Consumers and fitness junkies alike who display a severe abhorrence towards wearables and fitness trackers finally have something to rejoice about. In the future, their smartphones could serve the exact same purpose. Thanks to a recent study conducted by researchers stationed at MIT, BioPhone is the latest project that demonstrates how a mobile can work as a fitness tracker without being strapped onto the user’s wrist.
How does the BioPhone Work?
According to the research conducted here, biological signals coming from smartphone’s accelerometer are able to capture minute movements of the human body, tracking the heart rhythm as it pumps blood to and fro to the entire system. This forms the crux of the study for BioPhone that was presented during August.
Javier Hernandez was the lead author. According to him, when your body is not moving, when you happen to be resting or have placed yourself in an ‘almost stationary position’, then the smartphone can pick up small vibrations from your body. The data collected by the BioPhone can be used to figure out the current mental state of the individual, with the mobile device actually recommending several exercises to alleviate the things like stress.
Emil Jovanov, an associate professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville believes that smartphones have a lot of room to improve on:
“Sensors are definitely much better quality than they used to be in the early days of smartphones. However, their quality is still not sufficient for sophisticated applications.”
Technical Issues Exist
There is still one large hurdle that needs to be scaled before improved versions of smartphones can be released in the distant future. First off, while researchers have done some fine work in tuning a mobile device to work as a makeshift fitness tracker, they still need to figure out how to measure heart and breathing rates at a reliable rate.
If a smartphone has been tucked inside the pocket, depending on thickness of the pocket as well as its material, there is a very high possibility that the readings will be quite different than what would be read if the mobile device is placed in another pocket possessing a different material. As far as the future is concerned, smartphones are destined to get much smarter and who knows; they might actually end up replacing your fitness trackers too.
