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Alphabet's newest smartwatch is not what you'd expect

Nope, you can't buy it. The Study Watch is a new tool for investigative medicine.

Patrick Holland Managing Editor
Patrick Holland has been a phone reviewer for CNET since 2016. He is a former theater director who occasionally makes short films. Patrick has an eye for photography and a passion for everything mobile. He is a colorful raconteur who will guide you through the ever-changing, fast-paced world of phones, especially the iPhone and iOS. He used to co-host CNET's I'm So Obsessed podcast and interviewed guests like Jeff Goldblum, Alfre Woodard, Stephen Merchant, Sam Jay, Edgar Wright and Roy Wood Jr.
Expertise Apple, iPhone, iOS, Android, Samsung, Sony, Google, Motorola, interviews, coffee equipment, cats Credentials
  • Patrick's play The Cowboy is included in the Best American Short Plays 2011-12 anthology. He co-wrote and starred in the short film Baden Krunk that won the Best Wisconsin Short Film award at the Milwaukee Short Film Festival.
Patrick Holland
This smartwatch isn't for sale, but it could help with life-saving research.

This smartwatch isn't for sale, but it could help with life-saving research.

Verily Life Sciences

Verily Life Sciences, formerly known as Google Life Sciences and owned by Google parent company Alphabet, has unveiled a new smartwatch -- one you'll probably never wear.

The Study Watch features a simple circular e-ink display that only shows the date and time. It's not intended to be a consumer product but instead passively records a person's health data for medical research studies. The watch has multiple physiological and environmental sensors that can measure heart rate, electrodermal activity and inertial movements.

In a blog post, Verily explains how the encrypted data from the watch would be uploaded and processed through the company's cloud service using algorithms and machine learning. Verily is hoping to use the Study Watch to gather data as part of the Personalized Parkinson's Project, which studies the progression of the disease, as well as the Baseline study, which explores how people's bodies are affected over time by disease.