Samsung Simband health watch announced, part of Samsung's 'investigational' health platform

Here’s a shocking revelation for you: Samsung likes to throw new (or even pre-existing) ideas at the wall whenever possible, just to see what sticks. Okay, so probably not so shocking. We have to give Samsung a great deal of credit for trying new things when it comes to product categories and form factors, however, even if sometimes the ideas end up being less than popular.

So what’s Samsung going to do next? While the rumor mill claims a variety of things are in the pipeline from virtual reality to Glass-like headgear, Samsung has now revealed a whole new health watch platform which it calls the Simband. The oddly named device was officially unveiled at Samsung’s health event in San Francisco today, with the idea of tracking the human body in the new ways — with improved health being the primary objective.

The Simband will accomplish its goals through the use of a variety of sensors, data and behavioral science. On the hardware side, the Simband contains a 28 nanometer 1GHz dual-core ARM A7 processor with WIFI and Bluetooth connectivity. The health tracker will also utilize Samsung’s new SAMI platform, which mixes hardware with a cloud backend for analyzing data and more.

So what kind of health-related things will Simband potentially be able to track? Blood glucose, what’s in the air, heart rate, oxygen levels and the list goes on. Now it’s important to note that Samsung isn’t actively pursuing the Simband as a commercial endeavor just yet, and instead calls the modular health smartwatch an “investigational device”. Samsung isn’t the only organization behind the product either, as it was created in partnership with IMEC and the University of California, San Francisco.

The Simband and SAMI platform are far from complete right now, with many of the healthcare APIs and hardware features still in the works. Samsung also needs to improve battery life so the sensors in the device will be able to work 24/7 without delay.

Bottom-line, Simband and the SAMI platform are research concepts and a way for Samsung to push forward their health-related ambitions. The timing of the event also comes right before Apple’s WWDC 2014 event, which is said to at least partially focus on Apple’s own health related goals.

What do you think of the Simband and SAMI platform based on what we currently know? Intrigued or feel that Samsung is just desperately trying to break into the market ahead of its competitors?