Meta's brain-reading EMG band and the leaked smartwatch would be a perfect match

Sunday, Sunday

(Image credit: Android Central)

In this weekly column, Android Central Wearables Editor Michael Hicks talks about the world of wearables, apps and fitness technology as it relates to running and health in his quest to get faster and fitter.

Everyone who saw Meta Connect was understandably excited about the Orion AR glasses prototype. Still, the most consumer-friendly feature had nothing to do with the glasses themselves; It's the electromyography (EMG) tape controller for reading neural signals that I expect to see on store shelves or in Quest boxes soon.

However, Meta's EMG technology is too good to be just an accessory; It should be the heart of a meta watch or tracker. And we already have evidence that Meta is working on surveillance.

Anyone who heard Mark Zuckerberg say on stage that Meta's EMG band allows you to “send a signal from your brain to the device” via a “neural interface” may have had visions of spooky mind-reading technology, but it's pretty simple.

Currently, a smartwatch like the Galaxy Watch 7 can detect hand gestures like double taps or fists using the heart rate monitor and accelerometer/gyroscope. A VR headset (like the new Quest 3S) or AR glasses use computer vision to interpret pinch gestures for hand tracking control. Either way, you'll get missed entries or false positives.

An EMG band eliminates the need for the visual or tactile middleman. When you make a pinching gesture, your brain sends a neural signal to your hands to trigger it. The band detects that you are pinching your fingers even when they are barely moving, so tracking errors are unlikely and you don't have to exaggerate the movement.

Press photo of a woman wearing the Meta Project Orion AR glasses and using the multitasking software.

A woman controlling the Project Orion goggles interface using the EMG band (Image credit: Meta)

In our hands-on Orion glasses demo, it worked perfectly, proving that EMG isn't just a gimmick. And no actual brain analysis is required; It just reads the neural signals in your arm.

Samsung and Apple like to use gestures to give their smartwatches a futuristic and approachable look, but I rarely use them on my Galaxy Watch Ultra because the elaborate shaking of the fist or wrist to reject calls or open apps is a bit too delicate and it's annoying to remember.

A meta smartwatch with the right EMG shortcuts would make the big watch brands look amateurish and allow for more subtle shortcuts that wouldn't feel so cumbersome.

Such a watch could offer other sensors aside from that also electromyography. I've been thinking for years that Meta needs to develop a fitness tracker, considering how popular Quest headsets are for fitness. Quest headsets vaguely guess how many calories you've burned based on head and arm movements, but the actual heart rate data that can be displayed in the headset during exercise would be awesome. Or imagine if these exercise games could use your live heart rate data to decide whether the pace should be harder or easier.

The big question is of course the software. Meta has many iPhone fans and has a contentious relationship with Google over its XR software. In other words, a Wear OS watch is unlikely. So would a portable meta-OS be viable without serious mobile integration and third-party apps? Can both traditional smart and fitness training plans catch up to compete in a crowded market?

I don't have the answers to these questions, but I know that Meta has been working on smartwatch technology off and on for years.

Leaked photos of Meta's canceled smartwatch (Meta Milan)

Leaked photos of Meta's canceled smartwatch (Image credit: Bloomberg)

Back in 2022, Meta introduced its first Project Milan smartwatch prototype. A Bloomberg report revealed that the watch lasted 18 hours per charge, had a 5-megapixel camera mounted on the dial, and a 12-megapixel camera built into the bottom that could be accessed by removing the dial.

It featured Wi-Fi, LTE, and GPS tracking, as well as “daily activity tracking, workouts, photo gallery, heart rate monitoring, calendar, settings, and breathing.” It had popular meta apps like Instagram and WhatsApp integrated and was priced at $349.

Reportedly, Meta's biggest problem with this prototype was that the bottom camera “caused problems with another function for translating nerve signals from the wrist into digital commands.” In other words, Meta derailed the entire project because the EMG technology didn't work with the design.

According to The Verge, Meta began working on two new smartwatch prototypes this year. But by November 2022, the company discontinued both designs and its portal smart displays while laying off 11,000 employees.

Picture 1 from 3

Image of the alleged meta smartwatch — (Image credit: Kamila Wojciechowski / Twitter)

The following year, we learned from tipster Kamila Wojciechowski that Meta had reportedly restarted internal smartwatch development using Android software (not Wear OS) and a Qualcomm CPU. The new design brought some sensor changes, but the removable dial for photography may have been retained.

After that, there was mostly radio silence from Meta on the smartwatch front; Instead, Zuckerberg bragged about his new EMG band in a 2024 podcast, saying it will be “included in a product in the next few years.”

But last month, leaker Evan Blass released what are believed to be two generations of budget Quest headsets. The Vega 1 and 2 turned out to be the 128GB and 256GB Meta Quest 3S, which somewhat legitimizes this.

A close-up of a man sitting on a couch with the Meta Quest 3S

Will the Meta Quest series get the fitness tracking and improved hand gestures it deserves? (Image credit: Meta)

My colleague Nick Sutrich asked the Meta Orion team about the possibility of EMG technology appearing in a smartwatch design, particularly one with fitness features.

“Right now our focus is on using MEG technology for wearables like smart and AR glasses, but it has the potential to be the best way to control any device,” they replied.

This dampens my hopes a bit for an EMG-powered smartwatch in the near future. Currently, The Verge's sources claim that Meta “will begin selling.” [the EMG band] soon,” but for another AR glasses prototype called Hypernova.

However, if Meta is really working on a new smartwatch, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the EMG band stand out more from the crowd than cameras that can't take high-resolution photos, such as Meta's own Ray-Ban glasses ( or any smartphone).

The EMG band can still be a standalone controller for smart glasses, but paired with watch technology, it would help Meta form its own family of devices like those offered by other major tech brands.

Meta's brain-reading EMG band and the leaked smartwatch would be a perfect match

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