GROUP TEST SMARTWATCHESWhat’s the story?
With the emphasis on health
and wellbeing rather than
sporty antics, the ScanWatch
is Withings’ priciest piece
of wristwear. It’ll record
medical-grade ECG scans,
detect blood oxygen levels
(SpO2) in 30 seconds and offer
24/7 heart scanning.
Promising well over three
weeks’ battery life, it needn’t
leave your wrist, especially
not for snoozing as it’ll plough
on analysing what happens
after the lights go out to build
a sleep score via the Health
Mate phone app. And all thismedical wizardry is hidden in
a swish stainless-steel case
with sapphire glass that could
pass as a dress watch.Is it any good?
The best kind of wearables
are the ones that blend in,
don’t require too much upkeep
and look half-decent. The
Withings ScanWatch bosses
all that – and even though the
30-day quoted battery life is
really more like 20, that still
soundly beats most of the
competition.
Waterproof to 50m, this
watch will detect most sportsautomatically... although ours
did once mistake kneading
dough for a 10-minute bike
ride. The sleep tracking is
excellent, detailing full cycles
and noting any interruptions.
There’s a wealth of extra
information available via that
Health Mate app too – it’ll
even show your fitness levels
compared to those in the
same demographic.
It’s stylish, it’s robust, it’ll do
all the basics, and it performs
potentially useful medical
readings. The drawbacks
are no NFC for contactless
payments, no on-board GPS,and no integrated third-party
apps – this is a watch without
an OS, after all – meaning
you can’t get snippets of
WhatsApp conversations
on your wrist.
But for discreet fitness
tracking, medical prowess,
natty style and the fact that
it’s so simple to use, it might
just be worth that sacrifice.Price £250 / stuff.tv/ScanW
O Analogue watch face with
inset 0.7in 116x80 PMOLED
O[no OS] O Bluetooth LE
O 50m O Up to 30 days
O 58g (38mm) or 83g (42mm)Withings ScanWatch
STATTY DREAD
Check into the app
every morning to
see steps, sleep,
average heart rate,
oxygen saturation
and lots more.
VEIN GLORIOUS
SpO2 oxygen
assessment works
by measuring light
waves passing
through your
bloodvessels. Urgh.STUFF SAYS Feature-light, but you won’t find a prettier watch with so much medical acumen ++++,
CROWN DUALS
To light up the small
PMOLED screen
on the face, press
the crown... then
twizzle through all
the features.