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Withings launches its first watch with heart rate monitoring
Much like it was mandatory to wear Loom Bands in 2014, if a fitness wearable can't track your heart rate then it's dead... dead, ya hear? Withings doesn't make fitness wearables so much as timepieces that just happen to track your activity, which justifies its decision to drag its feet on the heart rate sensor issue until now. That's now set to change with the Withings Steel HR, a follow-on to the Activité analog watch that gains an optical HR sensor and a new digital sub-display for smartphone notifications.
Withings Body Cardio: A stylish scale for fussy health nuts
A scale is an odd thing to review. For one thing, it's one of the few gadgets you have to be completely naked to test. It also sends you down a rabbit hole of fitness tech, with too many apps and too many connected devices that do too many things. The Withings Body Cardio scale is emblematic of that, giving you your heart rate, body-fat ratio, bone mass, water mass, the weather (!) and something you never knew you needed called the "pulse wave velocity." Oh, and your weight.
Withings' latest scale can gauge your cardiovascular health
Nokia recently bought Withings for $191 million and immediately put it in charge of its entire digital health business. The Finnish company may have been persuaded in part by the Body Cardio, Withings' new flagship scale that launched today. On top of measuring your body mass index (BMI) and composition, it can judge your cardiovascular health by measuring how quickly blood pumps through your body. "It's the most advanced product we've ever made and the product that most represents Withings' DNA," co-founder Eric Carreel tells Engadget.
Nokia bought Withings to take on Apple's HealthKit
Nokia just reentered the consumer market by acquiring well-regarded fitness tracker manufacturer Withings for $191 million. But why now, and why wearables? Nokia President Ramzi Haidamus explains that Nokia has been developing a digital health strategy called WellCare, something that sounds similar to Apple's HealthKit. He says that the acquisition of Withings -- which makes not only wearables but also scales, blood pressure monitors and other medical devices -- will accelerate its plans.
Nokia will buy Withings for $191 million
Nokia has announced that it's going to buy Withings for €170 million ($191 million). The French health and wearables company will become a division of Nokia Technologies, home to the Ozo Camera and N1 Tablet. It's another step towards Nokia's re-emergence as a consumer brand after Microsoft bought its phone division in 2013. In a statement, Nokia's Ramzi Haidamus said that his company is now uniquely positioned "to lead the next wave of innovation in digital health." Withings CEO Cedric Hutchings agrees, saying that he was "excited to join Nokia to help bring our vision of connected health to more people around the world."
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Withings Hy-result analyzes your blood pressure
Next time you open the Withings Health Mate app on iOS, you'll find an option named "HyResult" when you click the + button in your timeline. It's a new add-on that can analyze your blood pressure if you want to monitor it closely, developed by hypertension specialists from Hospital Georges Pompidou in Paris. If you decide to get it -- note that it'll cost you $5 -- the feature will prompt you to answer a list of questions about your health, lifestyle and physical stats.
Your fitness tracker probably has security issues
Ever wondered how secure you are with a fitness tracker on your wrist? The researchers at Open Effect have... and their answer is "not as much as you'd probably like." In their analysis, several common trackers have flaws that theoretically let attackers follow you or intercept data. Seven out of eight used static hardware identifiers that could allow location tracking over Bluetooth, for a start. Also, the companion apps from Garmin, Jawbone, Withings and Xiaomi have holes that not only expose data, but let evildoers fake fitness info -- a problem in lawsuits where that data could be crucial evidence.
Withings intros a fitness wearable with an E Ink display
Withings has spent the last eighteen months courting wealthy fitness nerds with its high-end range of Activite watches. 2016 sees the firm turn its attention towards the low-end crowd, putting the French firm in a straight-up fight with budget champions like Misfit and Xiaomi. The Withings Go is a clip-on wearable that, unlike its rivals, comes with an E-Ink display that'll keep you informed of your progress as you go about your day. The device goes on sale at some point before March, and will set you back $70.
Withings' third analog fitness tracker is the $170 Activite Steel
Last year, French hardware maker Withings debuted the Activité, a $450 Swiss-made watch that also functioned as a fitness tracker. It then followed that up with the Activité Pop, a much lower-end version that cost only $150. Now Withings has come out with a wearable that sits somewhere in the middle: The $170 Withings Activité Steel. It isn't quite as luxurious as the Activité -- it has silicone straps instead of leather -- but it's certainly a lot classier than the Pop thanks to its stainless steel housing and chrome hands. The Steel also has a distinctive style all its own, opting for a white hand in the sub-dial instead of orange.
Withings tracks your nutrition thanks to MyFitnessPal
Withings has a connected scale that tracks your weight and activity trackers that help you lose weight, but it doesn't have anything to measure the food contributing to that weight. However, the company just forged a partnership with MyFitnessPal that should fill in this gap. Withings' Health Mate app can now use MyFitnessPal's nutrition data, letting you know whether or not you're exercising enough in relation to your diet. If you lose a few pounds, it'll be clear just how much your meal choices played a part. The collaboration is a bit ironic for Withings given that it's effectively working with Under Armour (which has its own fitness gear), but it's hard to object if it gives you a better sense of your overall health.
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Runtastic takes on Withings with 'Moment' analog fitness watch
Runtastic may have started as a training log app, but it soon progressed to putting its badge on running watches and accessories. The Orbit was possibly the company's most confident step into the world of wearables, and today it's making another with the "proper watch" Moment activity tracker. The Moment logs all the basics you'd expect from a fitness tracker: steps, distance, time active, calories burned and sleep patterns, along with a dial on the watch face showing progress towards your goal. Like Withings' Activité and Pop devices, the Moment's analog styling extends to running on a regular watch battery, so it won't need daily/weekly charging. This means no annoying ports, too, which helps keep things nice and sealed -- waterproof to 300 feet by Runtastic's reckoning.
Withings unveils a sleep-savvy clock and more Android support
Like the idea of Withings' Aura improving your sleep cycles, but don't need a $300 gadget tracking every last nuance of your slumber? You're in luck. Withings is rolling out a lower-cost device, the $190 Connected Alarm Clock, that keeps the sleep-regulating light and sound patterns while ditching the biometric sensor. And speaking of audio, both the clock and the Sleep System are getting a Spotify tie-in -- you can now use the streaming service's music catalog to fall asleep or wake up, complete with suggested playlists based on both their effectiveness and your genre tastes.
Withings' fitness watches automatically track your swimming
Most activity trackers and smartwatches won't monitor your swimming, and those that do usually require that you kick in a swimming mode before you dive in. Withings doesn't think you should have to switch things up just because you've left dry land, though. The health tech firm has added automatic swim detection to its Activité and Activité Pop watches, so you only need to start that breast stroke for it to register as a workout. You probably won't want to take your tracker on a deep scuba dive (both wearables are resistant down to 164 feet), but this could be very helpful if you'd rather hit the beach this summer than roast during a run.
Withings' sleep helper now uses Nest's thermostat to keep you cool
Withings' Aura sleep system can only do so much to help you rest by itself. Wouldn't it be nice if it could keep the climate just right, too? It can now -- the Aura just got support for Nest's learning thermostat. When they're linked up, the Nest will maintain an ideal temperature for sleep (around 64F to 68F, or 18C to 20C) once you're unconscious, and revert back to its earlier settings once you've woken up. It's a simple addition, and it won't be cheap at about $550 for the pair. Still, that cost might be justified if you frequently jolt awake because you're freezing or roasting.
Withings' Activité fitness watches now talk to your Android phone
If you've been aching to try Withings' Activité fitness watches but couldn't because you don't carry an iPhone, you can relax. The company has announced that both the original Activité and the Pop will support Android as of March 2nd. While the Health Mate app will largely go unchanged, you'll be glad to hear that Withings' data will plug into Google Fit so that you can easily share it between devices. Given that the Pop hasn't reached US stores yet, this is good timing -- you can pick up the new wristwear knowing that it will likely work with your handset of choice. Don't miss out on all the latest news, photos and liveblogs from MWC 2015. Follow along at our events page.
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Withings Activité activity trackers are beautiful, but limited
Forget notifications, forget apps, forget all of the noisy little distractions masquerading as help -- sometimes a wearable is at its best when it stays out of your way. As it turns out, that's just what French hardware house Withings had in mind when it built the Activité ($450) and Activité Pop ($150). In addition to that, though, these fitness bands have something perhaps even more important going for them: With their round faces and classic dials, they don't actually look like activity trackers. Indeed, they're not quite traditional fitness devices, nor are they full-on smartwatches, and I sort of love them for it. Just know that one of them probably isn't for you.
