Typically speaking, when a smartphone company unveils its latest handset, the new product is often accompanied by a wave of accessories designed to go along with it. The launch of OPPO’s Find X10 series is no different. However, unlike the typical accessories we’ve come to expect, the brand also introduced a new AI tracker designed to keep tabs on its user and provide them with various forms of assistance.
The device in question is called the AI Heart Ball, which OPPO is pitching as an “AI growth coach”. Its main function is to track the user’s activities and help them stay focused on their tasks, remind them of commitments they have made, and flag potential risks. It can also review the user’s previous decisions and their outcomes, allowing them to reflect on their past actions.
The device looks like slightly larger clip-on earbuds, featuring a small and large module on either end of a folded band. Weighing 9.8g, it is designed to clip onto the user’s shirt collar without getting in the way. The larger module, by the way, is meant to sit inside your shirt. The company says its battery can last up to 24 hours on a single charge.
Under the hood, the AI Heart Ball uses OPPO’s own PersonaX Memory Symbiosis Engine. It combines voiceprint recognition, information association, and what the company calls a “memory evolution” algorithm to build a better understanding of the user’s activities over time. As the system gathers more information about the user, it can use these capabilities to develop a more personalised understanding of their behaviour.
The wearable also uses VAD voice detection and an in-memory computing architecture to process the information it collects. From there, OPPO’s O-Mind bionic behavioural deep-thinking algorithm analyses that information to generate personalised suggestions and actions, rather than simply turning everything it hears into a transcript.
Of course, to keep track of its user, the AI Heart Ball comes with a built-in microphone that can pick up sound from as far as five metres away. That said, such a wide range could raise privacy concerns for some users. OPPO says the device uses its Private Computing Cloud (PCC), a secure cloud infrastructure with end-to-end encryption covering data storage, transmission, and processing. The brand further notes that it doesn’t retain any user recording.
Lastly, OPPO is also giving developers access to the AI Heart Ball’s MCP ecosystem. This will give them access to some of the device’s AI tools while allowing them to build additional experiences around the wearable.
At the time of writing, the AI Heart Ball is available for an experience price of CNY499 (~RM302) in China, with user recruitment now underway. The device is also not listed in SIRIM’s database at the time of writing, so it remains unclear if or when it will make its way to Malaysia. It could potentially launch here alongside the Find X10 series, but we’ll have to wait for OPPO to confirm its local availability.
(Source: ITHome, via Gizmochina)
