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Tay Zonday
@tayzonday
It’s already public knowledge that the pulse and blood oxygen monitoring tech of Fitbits/Apple Watches is inhibited by melanin (they work worse on black and brown people but charge them the same money). But I am pretty sure a higher and more variable heart rate also drains the batteries faster— Using myself as a case study with a sample size of one, my Fitbit battery life more than doubled once I stopped taking an ADD amphetamine (Vyvanse) that raised my heart rate, blood pressure AND made both more variable. The battery cost increase has to be logarithmic or exponential. A 15% increase in pulse or blood pressure, and 50% more variability between peaks and troughs in a day, must cause 50% to 100% more Fitbit battery usage as it increases power usage to keep up. Melanin might also poison-pill this logarithmic increase with a second, undisclosed logarithmic cost. Both Apple and Fitbit probably have internal research showing these shortcomings precisely and choose not to make that data public.
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Trish🫧
@trish
I did not know!
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