Wearables Q&A

Yes, we’re very pleased to say that you will be able to keep the watch.

We plan to start this part of the study later this year.

No, falls cannot currently be detected. This is due to the large amount of data that is collected by the watch, that then requires processing. However, this functionality is something that we are very keen to investigate, and with your participation, our aim is to work towards achieving this.

No, the watch has been designed to be worn on the wrist only.

We would like you to wear the watch continuously, if possible. However, we recognise that there may be some occasions when you cannot, or do not want to, wear the watch and this would not prevent you participating in the study. Wearing the watch during the day and night enables the collection of very valuable information relating to your daytime activities (step count, activity level and heart rate) as well as sleep patterns (duration of sleep, skin temperature, oxygen levels and breathing rate) as accurately as possible. This also enables us to look at daily and weekly trends.

Yes! It will use the GPS to track the ride.

No, the watch does not measure blood pressure.

Yes, this watch connects to a smartphone.

Yes, it will require a compatible smartphone running an operating system of Apple iOS 12.2 or higher, or Android OS 7.0 or higher. Most mobile phones in the UK are smartphones and would meet this specification. If you do not have access to a smartphone and wish to participate we will be able to provide a basic phone that meets the requirements.

The watch does not use 5G. It will not connect to 5GHz, 802.11ac, WPA enterprise, or public Wi-Fi networks that require logins, subscriptions, or profiles.

The watch is water-resistant to 50 meters.

There are two steps to the data synchronisation process:

1. The watch and the phone communicate via Bluetooth to synchronize the data between the two. This process does not require an internet connection and does not use your phone data allowance.
2. The data is then uploaded to the central server via the phone’s internet connection. This generally uses WiFi but can use the phone data allowance. If you choose, we can restrict the upload to only upload data when the phone is connected to WiFi. If you do wish to use the phone allowance (e.g. if you are in a location where there is no WiFi connection) then the phone data allowance usage for upload is very small.