Bang Design

The First TriCorder and Most Successful mHealth Product

Our Solution
How we helped BPL Medical and Intel Launch India’s first mHealth Device
The Result
A category-first multi-parameter feature phone and smartphone accessory, for personal health.

The Story

Pioneering mobile health with Intel and BPL Medical

We are on a relentless quest to make the unseen, seen; and the complex, simple. And sometimes, we get to be a part of something that truly matters. This was one of those times. It’s the story of the BPL LifePhone Plus, a device that was more than just a gadget—it was a glimpse into the future of personal health, a truly groundbreaking product that showed how a little bit of design thinking could make a huge impact.


India has among the highest global incidence of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The healthcare gap was not about knowledge—it was about access. Most diagnostics remained locked inside large hospitals, and consumer devices were limited to single-parameter monitors.


This is where the story of the BPL LifePhone+ begins. Intel wanted to extend its mobile computing platform into healthcare and imagined a personal device that could track multiple vitals, anywhere, anytime. Born from the Quantified Self Movement, the idea was simple: to create a device that could be an extension of a person’s body, a constant companion that could monitor vital health metrics.

OUR APPROACH

When we started this project, we knew it couldn’t just be another device. It had to be a piece of personal technology that people would want to carry, use, trust, and importantly, test often with. We collaborated with Intel, pooling our expertise in product design, user experience, and hardware and software development. The challenge was to integrate a complex array of features—ECG and blood glucose monitoring—into a single, compact, and elegant form.
Defined a form that was minimal, pocketable, and intuitive. The thumb placement forced a gesture that made it easier to remember the positions
Designed protruding electrodes for torso placement and flat finger electrodes with dimples for natural grip and repeatable measurement.
Eliminated side shutlines—creating a seamless, Apple-like aesthetic, to improve trust and reliability
Developed a unibody chassis that could be partially assembled and tested at factory level, then finished for shipping—driving efficiency and quality. We also thermally isolated the Blood Glucose sensor to improve accuracy.

A single device delivers insights across ECG, blood glucose, and activity tracking.

THE OUTCOME

A New Standard for Wearable Wellness

This device laid the groundwork for the modern mHealth revolution. The LifePhone Plus became the first multi-parameter mHealth product in the world, combining ECG, Blood Glucose, Activity Monitoring, Blood Pressure (later software integrations).


Launched by BPL—India’s largest medical device brand—the product not only reached domestic consumers but was also exported overseas. It quickly became BPL’s most successful portable, personal ECG device.

 

  • Beat global X-Prize and Tricorder contenders like Scanadu Scout to market.
  • Validated Intel’s vision for mobile healthcare.
  • Set a benchmark for seamless integration of hardware, software, and medical-grade usability in a consumer-friendly form.
  • Stayed in market until 2019, when Apple acquired Intel’s smartphone communications business.

See all plans

Get in touch with us

By registering, you confirm that you agree to the processing of personal data by BangDesign as described in our privacy policy

Book Your Free Roadmap Call

or email us at