The rumors were true; the newly unveiled Samsung Galaxy Note 4 does integrate a UV sensor and can also read one’s blood oxygen saturation (SpO2).

The Korean company started its “mHealth journey” with the Galaxy S4, which introduced a built-in pedometer and the S Health app. A year after, the Galaxy S5 was the first phone to sport a built-in heart rate sensor, and now the Galaxy Note 4 is going one step forward.

Reading SpO2 level works the same as reading the heart rate; when you take a reading of the former, the Note 4 will also report the latter.Like that was the case with the Galaxy S6, the Note 4’s sensors are placed on the back, just below the camera hole. Additional circuits obviously demanded more space, hence the sensor on the Note 4 is bigger than the one Galaxy S5 has.

That being said, reading one’s SpO2 level works the same as reading the heart rate; and when you take a reading of the former, the Note 4 will also report the latter.

Recording UV levels uses the same sensor, with Note 4 asking users to point the back of the phone up towards the Sun for a few seconds, and then gives them a reading from low to high.

All this information, along with activity details (or their lackoff), are then neatly presented in the S Health app which grew to accomodate the new information. In addition, said application can also store exercise details, food/calorie intake, weight, sleep patterns (with a supported accessory), and your heart rate.

Overall, we like where Samsung is going with this, bringing mHealth technologies towards mainstream users. Soon enough, we expect them to include these sensors in lower-end devices, making them available to folks all around the planet.

Similarly, we would want to see other handset makers following suit, adding sensors to their devices, as well. It is said that Apple is working on that as we speak with the next iPhone integrating more sensors than any previous device made by the Cupertino giant…

[Via: AndroidCentral]