The MiracleBand is a concept mobile health wearable with a built-in ECG scanner. Handily, it provides advice on how to act on the data it gathers to improve your health.
Tracking your fitness is all very well, but without any personal motivation or guidance on how to change or improve your current health status, largely for curiosity value only. The more complex the fitness tracker, the more this applies. The Mitac MiracleBand is a prime example. It’s a FitBit-style wristband with an ECG scanner below a small screen. Press your thumb against it for two minutes, and you get a comprehensive overview of your health at that exact moment. Cool, but what can you do with the data?
The MiracleBand actually gives you some advice. The key stat is your autonomic nervous system balance, and if it’s out of line, it’s supposed to cause all sorts of problems from tension and anxiety, to poor sleep quality. Therefore, it’s better for it to be settled. Should the ECG scan show you’re out of balance, the MiracleBand’s accompanying app has exercises to lower stress and increase energy. In other words, it provides some sort of solution to any problems it may uncover.
Beyond the ECG, the MiracleBand provides all the usual step and calorie tracking, plus if you wear it 24-hours a day, it’ll track your sleep. Stored data, along with the exercises, are all displayed in an accompanying smartphone app. The ECG also captures heart rate, estimates energy levels, and gives a “physical age” reading as a way to judge overall health.
We gave the MiracleBand a try, and were told that while the MiracleBand isn’t completely unique on the market, its level of accuracy sets it apart. The ECG scan produced a slight tingling in the fingertip, and the test takes two minutes to perform. The idea is to follow any guidance based on the results, and use the MiracleBand to supplement part of an ongoing fitness regime, in order to bring everything into balance quicker.
Only extended use will reveal whether its advice makes any difference, but it was simple to use, and the app gave clear results through easy-to-understand charts. Best of all, it doesn’t leave you alone with the data, and makes an attempt to help you improve. That’s more than most fitness trackers manage.
Sadly, the MiracleBand hasn’t been confirmed for sale because it’s more concept than final product. The model pictured isn’t the final design – it’s reminiscent of the Runtastic Orbit in its build and style, and not even the name is confirmed. However, as convenient, more complicated mobile health devices become more affordable, we’d expect the MiracleBand to see a release in the future. If not, then we hope to see more wearables start to provide guidance on how to make better use of the data they gather.
Highs
- Provides basic advice on how to improve health
- Simple to use
Lows
- Not confirmed for launch
