Apple's Seamlessly Embedded Heart Rate Monitor could turn the iPhone into a new-age mood ring
By Tim Stevens 
posted May 6th 2010 7:44AM
posted May 6th 2010 7:44AM
[Thanks, Staska]
posted May 6th 2010 7:44AM
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For sports, you'd have to run while holding it, or strap it to your back? Non-sport uses seem retarded....
@pretol
I love when Engadget updates their pictures right after they upload the article...
...perhaps the iPhone HD's battery will be able to power the iDefibrillator?
@pretol
Like for someone with... heart problems?
@Wesscoast
If you had heart problems do you really want a iPhone as your defense?
@pretol This has a future as the new scientology e-meter.
Awesome, your heart stopped and there's no one around? there's an app for that!
@pretol
I'm just waiting for the "shooting rainbows" feature...
That's... interesting? Well, it's something, alright.
Maybe next year's model will come with a thermometer built-in.
Unfortunately, it will be a rectal thermometer.
@Peter Moore Using that thermometer would take being a fanboy to a whole new level :|
@Peter Moore If there were a thermometer, you would know how hot your pocket and hand were... It would be pretty useless.
But then again, it's Apple, so they might have a way to do it...
@Peter Moore Just the way Steve likes it.
So what's this now? Something they just thought about? Something they want to do? Something that someone simply leaked to get yet another news item?
It's about development in consumer goods? Mhh, I guess Philips filed another 3000 patents last year. Let's hear about them. Piece by piece please. ;-)
I see Apple iMend product series on the horizon.
Professional medical equipment by Apple (not supporting patients without Apple iEnsure life plan).
lol at the tag 'SeamlesslyEmbeddedHeartRateMonitor'
So this would be something like Apple's version of the Wii Vitality Sensor then?
@pensiver
More like the apple version of japanese phones already on the market. If the patent office grants this one on anything but a technicality, you'll see other companies adding it and then telling apple to take a hike or risk them invalidating that patent.
iMeh?
Don't utilize in-front of your girlfriend/wife unless you like fights and are open to the possibility of breaking up.
@juanvaldez Users' mood? Lol. For male users at home with their gf/wife, there would be only one.
@Atkins "For male users at home with their gf/wife, there would be only one." This is where the problem lies, especially if you aren't with her: you're home alone or with some friends and then the woman walks in and all of a sudden she sees your mood go from relaxed and content to nervous and distraught in the matter of seconds and your world come crashing to a halt. ;)
@juanvaldez
As long as we get the option to disable it_ were good!
iHeartAttack
You are having a heart attack. Would you like Apple to ring for an ambulance? We will charge you $100 to your iTunes account.
maybe Aple will have the cerebral leads next!! This way they can just put thoughts straight into our brains instead of telling us what to think?!
God they literally jump on everything apple even sniff at ....
Bella would not like this
Now all we need is a mandatory Apple-branded pacemaker so that Steve Jobs can stop your heart when you're found to be engaging in unapproved activities.
That's weird yet interesting application. i think soon Apple will be bringing their very own iFirst-aid Box or iMedicines
I don't get Nike+ with the iPhone. GPS is way more accurate than accelerometer based distance calculation. The iPhone has GPS, so why would you buy Nike+? With that said, a heart rate monitor would be nice for running too, but I'd imagine that it isn't very accurate.
@NaJaKwa exactly, don't want to trust anything that important with something that is consumer grade.
@david1984 Ouch, you opened the wrong door here....
This could help explain the seams in the new design. I had imagined that they were due to the outside metal trim being part of the antenna.
Am I the only one who noticed that the depicted image more closely resembles the 4th gen iPhone than the 2G/3G(S)
@Origin
Just noticed that too.
With a Heart Rate strap, this might work. Not sure if you can mount this on a bicycle and 'touch' it the entire time. Seems silly.
But from a hospital perspective yes.
the only thing my Garmin 705 bike computer is missing is music playback.
This whole Apple-Google-Microsoft-HTC-Adobe meta-kerfuffle is beginning to feel like a carefully staged wrestling match.
Strap it to your chest to monitor heart rate while running. If the word Android is uttered during your jog the phone will correct you by shocking you like a defibrillator.
Hoo boy there's so many ways we can do this, but based on Apple's business model, I predict with near certainty:
1. iPacemaker: Sheethed in industrial Titanium and clear, glossy plastic with chrome bezel. Sells for 3 times more than standard pacemakers. Comes in 2 flavors: White or Macbook Pro Titanium (TM).
2. iPacemaker requires activation through iTunes via iPad tethered through the iPhone, with diagnostics on a iPod running on AT&Ts "super fast & reliable"(TM) network.
3. iPacemaker requires a separate monthly subscription of unlimited data (of which Apple pockets 30%).
4. You can download Apps, games and social networking tools to the iPacemaker.
5. Apple disallows you to have any other type of medical prostetics in your body if you use an iPacemaker; citing poor user experience and UI incompatibility. Takes another random swipe at Adobe.
6. Releases with 1 valve/pump. When challenged by the medical community, Apple cites the reason being "You only need 1 valve." 1 year later, releases a new model with revolutionary 2 valves! etc...
7. Sells millions in the first month. Admob releases data to back up the notion that this is the first "consumer-friendly" pacemaker! data shows, 95% have no heart condition prior to buying iPacemaker.
8. Random man replaces his perfectly functioning heart with iPacemaker, spends rest of his life gripping his chest in ectastic pain while sermonising about how much more awesome his ipacemaker is than your smartphone...and that he's getting an upgrade wo the 2 valve version ... soon. Can your phone do that?!
9. First couple models suffer from hairline cracks, micro explosions and poor battery performance.
10. First man to be alerted to a heart attack via iPacemaker makes the headline to much applause driving AAPL stocks soaring 200%. In an interview, the man cites the ease of use for saving his life,
"When I felt chest hurting, I immediately drove 20 minutes back home! I made a call using the iPhone to my MacBook Pro which initalised the iTunes software.
iPhone monitor told me I was about to die.
When I crawled to the living room through the garage, I managed to connect my iPad through wifi (the 3G signal kept dropping to edge on the freeway), activated the emergency response signal on my iPhone, synched it with itunes and an ambulance was immediately notified!
It's so magical! I don't know how I could have done it had I used another pacemaker!---- btw can your smartphone do that!?"
omg that was fun to write!
@ounkeo
Looool, hilarious story! Number 7 is the best! Thanks for that man. ;-)
I've been screaming for someone to properly market a bluetooth heart rate monitor for years. It'd look just like the regular ones that you strap around your chest, except any software on any device could pick up and record the signal, in line with GPS tracking etc..
@MarkA Exactly. Especially if you make a compact one that wraps around your arm/wrist. It relays heart rate data via bluetooth to your iPod/iPhone/Zune.
iFit? iVitality sensor?
Looks like Apple is taking some advice from Nintendo
I'd imagine they've designed it not only with an onboard sensor for heartrate monitoring but to allow the connection of an external sensor that straps onto you somewhere perhaps the chest and it wirelessly sends the data recorded a'la Nike+ module via 'bluetooth'
How come the Engadgeters love controversial Apple products like the iPad but hate technologies with a real feasibility of application?
What kind of music would Genius play if my cardiac signal would say "cardiac arrest"
Haha, it crack me up to think that Apple would rather install a heart rate monitor than USB ports, SD card slot etc. Some geek somewhere is gripping his chest in agony and disgust. May I suggest that you purchase an Apple iMedCare Plan that includes one said iPhone with all the Apps listed above plus special services by Apple geniuses (MD) and a private medical insurance plan all for the low low cost of half of your firstborn?
Oh Apple, just implant a chip in my brain already.
Surely this must pave the way for having a mobile lie-detector app. iLie sounds quite fitting. You can use it when you chat up those random girls at the bar who claim that they are 18yrs old! Could save you a lot of money in legal fees!!
@Ruthless
But they might turn the tables on you and use it again when you tell them that you are interested in a real relationship.
I woudl still like to see an external monitor supported so us techno athelete psychos can wear it during runs etc...