Withings ScanWatch review: The $479 smart watch that measures your medical vital signs
Health is at the centre of every smartwatch on the market in 2020 but none have had medical certification until now.
Apple has trials underway but has been beaten to the punch by Withings.
The smart health company's new ScanWatch releases in Australia today from $479.
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There's no changing faces or customisation, in favour of a sleek traditional watch design. Supplied
Critically it's the only watch in Australia that's been clinically validated and TGA certified to measure blood oxygen saturation and irregularities in heartbeats as an electrocardiogram.
Both tests take 30 seconds and can be a little temperamental if you don't have a flush connection between the back of the watch and your wrist.
You get the result instantly on the watch's tiny, circular LED screen which then syncs up to Withings' Health Mate smartphone app to track changes over time.
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The ScanWatch is the only watch in Australia that's been clinically validated and TGA certified to measure blood oxygen saturation and irregularities in heart beats as an electrocardiogram. Supplied
Despite being clinically certified, Withings agrees its ScanWatch can never replace a trip to the doctor and the watch will prompt you to see a GP if it detects anything of concern.
Unlike the Apple Watch 6 or Samsung's Galaxy Watch, the ScanWatch is primarily analogue.
There's no changing faces or customisation, in favour of a sleek traditional watch design.
It looks great on the wrist and its band does a good enough job passing for leather while being sweat and water-resistant (up to 50m).
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Unlike the Apple Watch 6 or Samsung's Galaxy Watch, the ScanWatch is primarily analogue. Supplied
The only button sits on the ScanWatch's right side and looks like the wheel you'd use to set the time on a traditional analogue watch. There's no need for that here as the time syncs with your phone. Instead, it's used to scroll through features.
Your notifications, heart rate, daily steps and distance walked are all there, along with prompts to begin an ECG or Blood Oxygen reading.
One of the greatest benefits of this simplistic design is battery life.
According to Withings, you can get up to 30 days use on a single charge. That decreases if you run more tests than the average user, but I can report that I haven't had to charge the watch since taking it out of the box and I've been using it for almost a week.
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The ScanWatch may take sales away from the market leader in Apple's Scanwatch. AP
When you do need to charge it, you'll get 80 per cent battery in one hour.
What that battery life allows is better, routine sleep tracking.
Withings has not yet achieved medical certification for helping detecting sleep apnea on its ScanWatch: it has a Sleep Analyser for that.
The watch will still track "overnight breathing disturbances" as well as your overnight heart rate to produce a sleep score.
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I haven't had any issues myself so it's hard to say how well this works as part of the review.
Overall, Withings has delivered a first for Australia - a medically focused and certified smart watch.
It may not have all the bells and whistles of top of the line smart watches, but there's beauty to be found in the simplicity of its hybrid analogue design which is available in two sizes: 38 and 42mm.
ScanWatch is available with either a black or white watch face, and will be sold at retailers like JB-Hifi starting Monday, November 9.
Withings provided a ScanWatch to the journalist for review purposes.
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