Samsung Galaxy Watch3 gets ECG functionality in the US

San Francisco, Aug 17 (IANS) Samsung has activated the ECG (electrocardiogram) functionality on the newly-launched Galaxy Watch3 in the US.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the requested ECG certification and the news was shared directly to the users with a firmware update.

Along with the ECG monitoring, the new update will also bring the VO2 Max measurement feature.

Through this functionality, one can find out the maximum amount of oxygen consumption during training or resting, reports GSMArena.

Users need to download and install the Samsung Health Monitor app on the watch and the paired smartphone to use ECG.

The ECG feature uses advanced sensor technology on the Galaxy Watch3, and will enable users to measure and analyze their heart rhythm for irregularities indicating Atrial Fibrillation (AFib).

To measure the ECG, a user just needs to open the app and place his smartwatch arm on a flat surface, and then place his fingertip of the other hand on the top button of the smartwatch for about 30 seconds.

Taking on Apple Watch that is currently the best health wearable in the market, the newly-launched Samsung Galaxy Watch3 offers blood oxygen (SpO2) and fall detection tools and would include blood pressure (BP) monitoring and ECG readings in markets where these features have been authorised.

The blood oxygen feature would measure and track oxygen saturation over time, for fitness and wellness purposes.

The Galaxy Watch3 by Samsung runs on Tizen-based Wearable OS 5.5.

It features a 1.2-inch (360x360 pixels) circular Super AMOLED display on the 41mm variant and a 1.4-inch display on the 45mm variant with the same resolution that is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass DX.

The smartwatch is powered by the dual-core Exynos 9110 CPU, Mali-T720 GPU, and packs 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.

--IANS

wh/na