I just love Winter. And why wouldn't I? Look, I'm a kind of a lazy person and like every other lazy out there, I just want my bed, a blanket and my laptop. This trio is enough for me to achieve my internal bliss. And that's why winter is so great.
But sometimes this winter's cold is too much to handle. In this case wouldn't you like a wearable device that could keep you a little warm on this cold, cold winter? What I'm talking about is basically, a personal thermostat or a thermoregulation bracelet. So, three MIT students (Matt Smith, Sam Shames, and David Cohen-Tanugi) developed a similar device, a personal wearable thermostat known as Embr Wave.
You can check out the Embr Wave by Clicking Here.
Everyone has different temperature tolerance capability. Specifically, in a place like India where temperature (weather) varies a lot according to the places, everyone has different temperature needs. In my city, the temperature in winter rarely goes below 15°C and it's perfectly fine with me. I can tolerate much lower temperature than this but the people around me tend to feel different. They can't leave home without wearing a sweater and when I don't wear a sweater they look at me like I'm some kind of alien species.
So, it would totally be cool if we had some sort of a device which can change our body temperature according to our needs. So, in this article let's discuss about one such device, the Embr Wave. What is it? Does Embr Wave actually work? If yes, then how does that work? How to use that? Let's find out.
What is this Embr Wave?
Embr Wave is actually a wearable thermostat that provides a heating/cooling sensation to your wrist just with the press of a button. Embr co-founder on a interview with CNBC described this as a "mini air conditioner or heater on your wrist". The Wave is not a watch, it won't show you time but rather it's a personal thermostat for your body. It will help you cope up with the extreme temperature around you.
To completely understand Embr Wave, first you need to know about Thermostat. A thermostat is a component or a device that can detect temperature changes and perform some tasks (i.e. switch, or open & close an electric circuit) to maintain a specific temperature in an area.
The Wave does a similar thing. It detects temperature change in our body by nerve endings in our skin, called thermoreceptors , which send signals to our brain. That's why we feel hot or cold when we touch a warm cup of coffee or a cold ice-cream. You have to wear the Wave on your wrist, but it will work more efficiently if you keep it on the underside of your wrist.
Embr Labs said that we can feel up to five degrees warmer or cooler after three minutes of using the device.
How does the Embr Wave work?
As I discussed earlier, the Wave detects temperature change with the help of thermoreceptors inside our wrists. But why only wrist? Why Embr Wave is a watch lookalike? Why can't it be a belt or a knee cap? What's so special about wrists? Right?
The wrists in our body have a very high density of thermoreceptors, that's why dipping hands in hot water gives a warm sensation to our body. So, when Embr Wave is worn on the wrist, it uses these things, the thermoreceptors, to sense temperature change in the body. Now, it only needs to cool or warm a small area in our wrist in order to keep our whole body at an optimum temperature.
The Wave doesn't change the core temperature of our body and it shouldn't even try this. Our body functions best at an internal temperature of about 37°C (98.6°F), it can be slightly higher or lower depending upon the individual. But what the Wave does is, it tricks our brain to feel a little warmer or colder.
As the name suggests, Embr Wave uses some kind of waveform, specifically "Thermal Waveform" to keep our body cool or warm. These waveforms are generated by a thermoelectric module located inside the watch, and they release hot or cold waves which then give us a warming or a cooling sensation. These waves can also be customized if you want a longer, soothing hit of warm or cool waves.
The Wave once activated releases these waves which are then sensed by thermoreceptors and are then transferred to brain and the brain does the rest of "tricking" work. These sensations may feel strange at first but as you keep using it, they become more pleasurable and comforting.
Looks, Design and Specifications
The Embr Wave may be watch lookalike but its looks aren't anything like a normal watch. It's a bulky device made up of stainless steel with a Milanese band (130-210 mm) and dimensions of 52 x 39 x 13 mm, which means it is 13 mm thick. But it shouldn't bother your skin, as the straps are very comfortable. The straps are magnetic ones, that means you can just tighten them with the help of magnets, they don't need holes and pins to fit on your wrist.
The Wave is rectangular in shape and on one side, the metal strap is connected and on the other side the slot is given to slide the strap according to your wrist. There's a textured wave pattern on the front side and on the back side, the thermoelectric module is present. It comes in 2 colours - Rose Gold & Silver.
The front side contains an LED light strip which is both button and indicator. It indicates the warming and cooling mode through pink and blue colours. You can also push it to change the temperature, pushing the left side increases cooling, the right side increases warming and the middle one stops the device.
Okay we've discussed about straps, design, buttons, but I feel something's missing. Hmm. Oh! yes, the battery. Right? The Wave comes with a Lithium Ion battery and Embr Lab claims that the device can run for 2-3 days with 15 to 50 sessions. It takes around 2 to 2.5 hours to get fully charged to 100%.
Setting up the Temperature and Embr Wave App
There are 2 ways to set up the temperature on your Embr Wave. As I discussed in the previous section, there are buttons on the front side of the device, you can press them to change or set temperature. This is one way, the other way is to use the Embr Wave app.
To start the Embr Wave, you need to press the middle button. In addition to middle button, there are 2 more buttons present on the device, left and right button. The left button will increase the cooling and the right button will increase the warming effect.
The buttons work fine, but to make the best use of the Wave you have to install their app. The functionality of the device can be further increased by the Embr Wave App, which is available for both android and iOS. The app is minimal and easy-to-use. You have to connect your device (Embr Wave) with the app by Bluetooth.
You can change temperature using the app. There are scales for heating and cooling in the app and you can use this scale to customize temperature according to your needs. For heating, there is a scale with numbers from 1 to 16 with 16 being the hottest temperature. For an extreme comfort in winter season, you might want to keep it between 11-14 as 16 can be a bit irritating for you. The default setting is 13 and if you want to go above it, you can go but the device will give you a warning that it may get a little painful.
But for cooling, scale is available till 11. Yes, 11 is the coldest one but keeping it between 8 to 10 works perfectly. Except this scales, there are certain modes available varying according to temperature and wave duration. Modes like "Quick", "Essential", "Extended" are differentiated according to duration of cooling or heating waves.
You can also use this watch while sleeping, there's a "Fall Asleep" preset mode, which releases 35 minutes of long, gentle soothing waves to make you comfortable while sleeping. This mode also switches off the light from the device.
There is another option called "Custom Mode", which you can use to customize the modes according to your needs. It might need a little practice to set it correctly but still it's a great option to set up your device.
Final thoughts and Does Embr Wave Actually work?
Till now, we've discussed so many things about this watch. But all of that will go to waste if at last I were to tell you that this device doesn't work. Don't worry, because Embr Wave does work. It actually cools and warms our body. The Wave works best at indoors, but since at outdoors, external factors like wind, rain, sunrays come into picture, it may not provide the same efficiency as indoors. Now if you noticed, from the very start I've been writing about the pros and advantages of this device. So, let's discuss some problems (cons) related to it.
Cons or Problems with Embr Wave
The Embr Wave is a bulky device. Since to make it work more efficiently you have to keep the device on the underside of your wrist, it creates a little problem. According to some users and online reviews, while working or typing on laptop the device creates hinderance. The Wave can get in the way while using laptop and the buttons may get pressed accidentally. But this totally depends upon you and your working style. It may or may not be a problem for some people.
If you have a sensitive skin and you are using the Wave at its full potential, then you can get some skin rashes and your skin may turn red. This obviously varies from people to people.
The Wave being a innovative and new device, still has a MicroUSB port. It should've had a USB-C charging cable but it's not that big of a problem, still I wrote it just to make it clear for you.
The Wave is an excellent device but it's also expensive. It is priced around $299, which roughly translates to 21,000 Indian Rupees. This might be a bummer for few people because investing this much money may not be a piece of cake for everyone. But still, if you're good to go and can invest tis much money, you should definitely checkout this watch.
Embr Wave is only available for people living in United States or Canada. If you're living outside these countries, like in India or UK or France, then you can't get it delivered to your place directly. Embr Labs Inc. still hasn't started a worldwide operation, so you have to wait until then. This hurts.
You can check out the Embr Wave by Clicking Here.
So finally, if you're a person who gets uncomfortable and keeps wanting to change the temperature around or can't usually tolerate winter and summer temperatures (needs blankets or AC for like whole day), then you should purchase this device. It's a little heavier on the price side, but if you can manage that then it can be a great product for you.
I tried to clear all the things about this device, but still if you have any query feel free to contact us or comment down below. Thank you for reading.