- Masimo, the company that sued Apple over patent infringement, has unveiled its own blood oxygen monitoring smartwatch called the Masimo Freedom.
- The Masimo Freedom is a health-focused device that can track blood oxygen levels, hydration index, respiration rate, pulse rate variability, pulse rate, steps, and detect falls.
- The smartwatch is currently in prototype stage and will be available for sale later this year at a price of $999.
Archive link: https://archive.ph/aOUXX
$999
I have no use for a HR smart watch but at this price it’s not even a possibility. Hundreds of dollars is acceptable but this is a hard no for me. My Casio G-Shock GBD 200 + GadgetBridge has all the features I want from a smart watch and costs about $150.
However, I will say kudos to Masimo for sticking it to Apple. Not many people can go against a giant like that and win.This is less than some of the more feature-rich Garmin watches. That said, Garmin’s offerings are best-in-class, so they can justify it.
Garmin software, particularly their integration with third parties absolutely bloody sucks. Their hardware is amazing though.
I haven’t had an issue in the 8 years I’ve owned Garmin stuff. What apps are you having trouble with? I sync with Strava, training peaks, swim coach, humango, and probably others over the years
In the name of every medical professional out there:
Fuck Masimo. You piece of shit garbage company.
Masimo does strategically patent troll other companies to keep their monopoly on oxygen saturation technology, deliver a subpar product that is very likely designed with planned obsolescence (which actively endangers patients). It’s an absolute shit show.
Patent trolling Apple doesn’t seem like a winning move. Can they really sell a smartwatch without infringing on anything in Apple’s patent portfolio? The revenge will be swift and terrifying
They aren’t a patent troll. This is literally their business. They are sueing apple becsuse they are violating their patent and could have or has had a negative impact on their business. This is the kind of suit patents were designed for.
Patent trolls buy up patents but produce nothing and do nothing with those parents–except for suing people to make money.
I feel like they’d have made more money by licensing their patent to Apple rather than trying to sell a watch for a ridiculous $999 price tag. I’m not saying they were wrong for their patent lawsuit, and it’s nice to see that small companies can still win, but I just don’t see this early product getting enough sales for them to profit.
I might be mistaken, but I think Apple started with a licensing deal and then walked back on it?
Googled and found this
I am very curious to see if this will be the first smartwatch that works with tattooed wrists. None of the health & security features have ever worked for me with any of the major brands.
Not a fan of Apple but the number of people who would benefit from being able to monitor blood oxygenation is more meaningful to me than Masimo’s ability to sell thousand dollar smartwatches with its patent technology. Would be great if somehow this patent was bought out and made public domain so people outside the upper middle class could have an affordable way to track their vitals.
Would be great if somehow this patent was bought out and made public domain so people outside the upper middle class could have an affordable way to track their vitals.
Apple is a strange choice as a champion for that. Their devices always have been notoriously overpriced.
Their devices always have been notoriously overpriced.
I disagree. They don’t offer a low-end option, but their devices are fairly priced for what you get. People keep claiming they are overpriced but when you ask them for a cheaper alternative they always respond with something not even remotely comparable.
I can’t relate to the value you place in them. You couldn’t pay me to use Apple software.
With Windows or Linux, I spend a lot of my time operating the computer. On macOS I just spend my time on the tasks I was working on. The nice thing about Apple’s software is that it gets out of the way so you can focus on what actually matters.
This can be absolutely true the other way around too, depending on how proficient you are, and what you are used to or find intuitive. For me, macOS is extremely unintuitive, for example, while my fully personalized Linux setup allows me to do what I want. It is very subjective, ultimately.
I’m very proficient in Linux. I used to run it as a desktop about 15 years ago, before I was able to afford a Mac. Still run it on the server, both personally and professionally. It’s come a long way, but it’s not nearly as polished as macOS.
A desktop linux user is not someone “very proficient”
You ran an install script.
I’m very proficient. It’s my career.
I think it’s hilarious that you show proof of how overpriced Apple products are and there are still fanboys that down vote you.
Which apple product doesn’t have a chaper alternative?
All of them. Every cheaper alternative is just a crappier product that cheaper because it’s simply not as good.
I’ll take my Garmin over you apple toys any day
Can a Garmin even run apps? It’s a completely different product.
There’s been a Garmin app store for twice as long as Apple has been making watches.
https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/
It’s not at all a different product. It’s a direct competitor who makes a superior product.
Again – I’ve had a smart watch that does all the shit apple watch does, for half a decade before apple even thought about it. And mine can go a month without charging.
Copyright and patent laws need to die.
Only idiots think that work wouldn’t get done without them.
Pebble - $99
Pebble Steel - $149
Now Pebble is gone and Masimo is selling a $999 smartwatch.
Apple’s cheapest watch is $249.
All I want is a watch like the Pebble again. I don’t need color or all this extra health stuff.
Which is odd because I do want the health stuff, but don’t want the rest of that stuff that is useless to me. I don’t need the texting, music, weather, or the phone stuff - my smart phone still needs to be in bluetooth range for it to work anyway.
But I do value the ability to take a pulse, blood pressure, and count steps. It has increased my self-awareness and improved my health consciousness - small changes can make big differences. And for $40US, I found a decent watch that actually works pretty well.
May I ask which watch you ended up with?
I bought a FITVII smartwatch from Amazon, (the price has gone up a bit since I ordered mine), after seeing a review of smart watches on a tech website. It was rated as their “Best Budget” -YMMV- smart watch.
A word of warning - it took over 3 months to receive the watch even though it was listed as in stock with 10pcs available. In truth I forgot about it until it showed up in the mail…
