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Nymi band Unboxing & First Impressions

2/1/2016

 
This week I received a batch of Nymi bands. I wrote about Nymi in one of my previous posts about continuous authentication.
The Nymi technology is quite straight forward and ties your biological identity to the network for authentication purposes.

The way it works is that during enrollment a simple but sufficient  ECG is made of your heart. The "template" is stored locally (in the app on the mobile device) and is user-controlled. So no central storage.
Based on the individual "noise" of the heartbeat, the person is identified. (see Nymi's explanation to the technology)
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It looks a bit bulky, but this the developers band
How the technology works
The Nymi band looks quite simple in its form factor which is a good thing. It's a rubber band with on one end a Nymi reader and on the other end a flap with another scanner that has snaps on the reader with magnetic force. Quite easy indeed.
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Top of the reader. This where the flap snaps on with magnets.
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Bottom of the reader clearly show the big metal readers that actually monitors your heartbeat
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Bottom of the flap shows the interface that connects the metal scanner on the top of the flap with the reading device.
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As soon as the band is snapped together the Nymi band and the battery indicators turn on.
Once fully charged you can put the Nymi band on your wrist. As soon as the flap snaps on the reader, the battery/bluetooth indicator turns on warning you that the band is ready for action.
After you downloaded the "companion" app in the store of your choice, you can begin to setup the band and enroll your "heartbeat".

Out of the box the band's first task is the update the firmware. Since Nymi is continuously working on improving the technology and user-experience, the firmware update will probably be something every user will experience on the first run.
I had a funny experience. The update began, installed and after installing it messaged an installation error (see photographs below). As soon as I tried to re-install, the app warned me that the firmware was already up-to date. Hmm. 

The next thing is setting up your profile with the app. It is all reasonably straightforward. It works as expected and provides the user the opportunity to leverage Touch ID as well.
One of the big benefits of the Nymi band is the U2F compliance. U2F is one of the new standards that is being developed by the FIDO Alliance. U2F stands for "Universal 2-Factor" authentication. It's an industry-wide standard to make sure that hard-& software connects easily and the user has complete end-to-end protection, which is a good thing.
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OSX setup looks like a breeze
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Unfortunately I pay the price for being a beta tester @ Apple. The OSX app doesn't work on this version.
Operating systems and Nymi
As you can see above, I tried to hook Nymi onto my Macbook Air. Unfortunately I am a beta-tester @ Apple and my version of OSX was understandably not supported. The Nymi website states that correct.
I will connect Nymi to my Surface Pro later this week and let you know Windows user-experience.

Nymi's future
Nymi band clearly has a bright future but has still development ahead. The current band form factor is not ideal. It fitted my wrist (I have a rather small wrist, all though the band was marked "Large") but it doesn't have a way to adjust it.
Like my Apple watch, reading the heartbeat is only successful and accurate if the band is strapped tied around your wrist. With the Dutch climate (where it is hold and cold) my wrists tend to get bigger when it's hot and I wonder if the band then is still comfortable to use.
I know Nymi is working on other form-factors. The technology screams to be embedded in smart watches. 
​
Below you find more pictures of the Nymi unboxing and screenshots of the app, the enrollment and the way Nymi integrates with existing operating systems.
​Have fun!
Nymi Pro
  • Quick & easy setup
  • Bluetooth-LE support saves battery life 
  • U2F support
  • NFC embedded (payments & physical access)
  • Template stored locally and user-controlled
  • Quick reading
  • ​Potentially continuously authentication
Nymi Contra
  • Bulky design​
  • Not definite form factor
  • Setup has some minor flaws
  • Another band on the wrist

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    Author

    I am Reinier van der Drift. owner of FERGIL. Serial Entrepreneur & Technology Freak. Expert on Strong Authentication.
    Blog on StartUps, Gadgets, Technology in general  and my day to day busy-ness.

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