What kind of sensors do these devices use to detect body movements? Do they include accelerometers, heart rate sensors, or skin temperature measurements? How often do they update user data, and does battery life affect this? How accurate are they really?
How are health data collected?
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Are there really sensors that measure skin temperature? These things are pretty detailed; the systems used are actually quite complex.
Dude, I think I can give Apple Watch's sensors as the clearest comparison. With its accelerometer + gyroscope capabilities, you can track your steps, movements, and even detect falls. It uses a light-based PPG (photoplethysmography) sensor for heart rate and a near-infrared sensor to measure skin temperature. The data refresh rate is usually every 10-15 minutes for battery conservation, but it can be set to provide instant alerts in emergencies (like irregular heart rhythms). Honestly, I've found it gives much more consistent results in terms of accuracy compared to other band-style devices, but as you said, continuous measurement can drain the battery by 30-40%.
Galaxy Watch 4 when I first put it on, the thing I was most curious about was this, bro. Like, if you're someone who runs like me, you're constantly checking how accurate the step count is. When I started using the sensor that measures skin temperature, I was like, "Seriously, do these actually work?" There are also apps that analyze my sweat rate and stress levels using skin temperature measurements, but that's a whole other story. Most importantly, thanks to the accelerometer and gyroscope, it can track movements almost down to the millimeter—it's so precise that it even knows where you're stepping.
I've had one issue with battery life: I charge my watch at night and take it off in the morning, but it keeps measuring my heart rate and sending running data all day. Once I panicked thinking, "The watch is gonna die," but then I checked and it had only used 20% of the battery. So yeah, how often it sends data depends on the battery, but Google's database is so good that every time I open the app, the data syncs almost instantly. It wasn't this stable on watchOS, so I'm way more comfortable with the Galaxy side of things.