Is withings a good brand?Is withings owned by Nokia?What about the quality of withings?Read our Withings review to discover more.
What you will learn
Who makes withings?
Withings was founded in 2008 by three French people from the technology and telecoms industry: Éric Carreel, co-founder of Inventel, (sold to Technicolor in 2005), of Sculpteo and Invoxia, Fred Porteur, co-founder of Cirpack, also acquired by Technicolor (the latter left Withings in 2011), and finally Cédric Hutchings. The company’s first product is a connected scale officially launched in 2009. In September 2010, Whithings carried out its first fundraising and received 3.8 million euros from Ventech to finance the development of the company’s next two products. A year later, Whithings announced that their second product would be a blood pressure monitor that could connect to the iPhone. The company then carried out a second fundraising and received funding amounting to 30 million euros, half of which came from Bpi France. Subsequently, the company continued to grow as it joined the Apple’s HealthKit platform in 2014, and in 2015, it announced a partnership with MyFitnessPal to combine the Whithings app with nutrition data from MyFitnessPal to let users know if they are getting enough exercise in proportion to their diet.
How do you use a Withings watch?
Since then, the brand’s products have evolved a lot, many products combining design and technology have been developed which have won it numerous awards worldwide. The brand develops connected objects and applications that allow everyone to measure, monitor what is important for their health and make the right decisions to achieve their goals: track their weight, be more active, sleep better, monitor their blood pressure. blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Their medium-term objective would be to enable the prevention, detection and support of a certain number of chronic diseases through innovative products and services, in order to revolutionize the way we take care of our health.
WITHINGS STEEL HR WATCH: REVIEW & OPINION
Among the range of brands offering products in a specific category of connected watch such as the activity tracker, one of them stands out for its different positioning. This is Withings, which very quickly understood the desire of its users to have a watch with a design close to the ones they are used to wearing. Its success, the brand owes it above all to its complete products, watches with classic appearances hiding a lot of features for monitoring daily activity. We invite you today to deepen this concept through the test of their newness, the Steel HR watch.
The brand
The brandWithings is the initiative of two friends with a busy resume: Cédric Hutchings, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Ecole Centrale Paris and Eric Carreel, from the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la city of Paris (ESPCI) and Paris VI University. Experienced, complementary, they decided to launch a brand of connected objects in 2009, with health and fitness at the center of its purpose. Very quickly, they reach a compromise between design and technology to make their products accessible to the greatest number. The sauce sets quickly and Withings becomes a leader in its field, that of activity monitoring, sleep, heart, weight, earning it numerous awards for its innovations.
Technical sheet
The Withings range of connected watches was enriched in 2017 with a new jewel: the Steel HR. Like its predecessor Activity Steel, this watch has a very elegant design. This time, the case has a more masculine size of 40mm (against 36mm). It is made of stainless steel with a shiny polished finish. The bezel is fixed, but is decorated with the minute marking in staggered numbers of 5 by 5 to leave more room for the dial. Indeed, it was intended as minimalist as possible to allow the brand to insert a new digital dial positioned at noon. In symmetry, we find in a “small second” format the now traditional step counter revised in a more classic form. Finally, the brand wanted to place landmarks in tone on tone, as if to better highlight its flagship novelty.
More than a simple new digital dial, Withings seemed to want to meet a fundamental need: the battery by providing its watch with a capacity of up to 25 days of autonomy with a charging system on a base. In terms of functionality, most of what is expected of the brand is present: activity companion and sports tracker, sleep monitoring with calculation of calories, steps, etc. But where her big sister only calculated the heart rate via her smartphone application, the Steel HR uses a real sensor placed behind the case to offer a very precise measurement.
Finally, for this model, the brand has taken the step out of its usual expertise and now offers a more intimate link with its smartphone. Unheard of thing at Withings, we can now have access to a few notifications concerning its calls, its messages and consult on this new dial the statistics of its activity in real time.
Test
Impossible before this test, not to compare the Steel HR with the Steel Activity watch previously released by Withings. On paper, it seems to fill all the gaps left by the previous model and is armed with new features to enrich the user experience. So this is a real development and we will judge it as such during our test. Upon receipt, we find the classic Withings packaging, this white cardboard box containing the watch, its booklets and its only accessory: the charging base and its cable. What we always appreciate with the brand is the effort made to offer a real watch, which very often in competition, does not look like a gadget. This is noticeable at first glance and one can only be seduced by this case of a size this time acceptable for the wrist of a man. Indeed, a diameter of 36mm was far too narrow and Withings was able to correct this point, we can only congratulate the initiative. The watch remains available in its smaller version, however.
Once again, this brilliantly finished case deserves a closer look, surmounted by this engraved non-rotating bezel that looks very masculine. Minimalist and sophisticated, it reveals the general state of mind of the brand. Inside, the dial is discreet with its fine silver hands and tone-on-tone markers. Its color is rather atypical and seems like a faux-noir, as if to leave room for the essentials: the step counter, the time and the activity dial.
Also, the brand chose for its watch a nice curved glass which we have no details on its nature. But it’s a safe bet that it is in sapphire with all that that implies in terms of its solidity. It creates reflections that do not interfere with the readability at all and gives relief to the whole. In any case, this watch is worthy of a beautiful chronograph and we note the particular attention paid to the presentation of a high-end product.
For the rest, Withings provides its watch with a rubber strap and its classic buckle in the same finish as that of the case. It is also good for a product whose use is intended for everyday use, including sport. Obviously, it’s hard to imagine going for a jog with a leather strap. On the back, the heart rate sensor is finally revealed, inserted in the form of a chip. Finally, the charger operates like a base on which the watch is placed flat. In the idea, it is practical, except that the watch really keeps in balance and the slightest false movement dislodges it. A full charge and off we go for the fitting stage!
Fitting
As repeated in each watchmaking test, my wrist is more of a generic size and I usually wear watches oscillating between 40mm and 43mm. What I find unpleasant is wearing an undersized model, giving me the impression of a childish or feminine watch. On this point, I have nothing to complain about, especially since the first try, the watch is rather light and weighs 49g! The bracelet offers satisfactory comfort and presages the best for sports sessions: the watch will easily be forgotten.
The fitting with the smartphone is an essential step for the proper functioning of the product. Just download the Withings app, sign up and turn on your Bluetooth. The rest is done naturally and it’s easy to get started. From the start, we note the first calculations of not operating as well as the heart rate measurements which seem realistic. To tell the truth, there is not much to do at the start, or even for use if it is not to set your daily step goal and the notifications that you want to display. At Withings, you always have the option of tracking your weight and implementing a slimming program through another application (more effective when you have a brand balance).
Once launched, you always feel this little pressure to see its objective being fulfilled 100% daily. The sleep calculation appears very precise, even if for example when you hang out in bed on the weekend and you don’t move, it counts as light sleep. On this point, the “smart wake-up” function implemented by the brand is really a boon for those who wake up tired. It allows you to gently set a range during which you want to wake up and the watch automatically calculates the wake-up time according to the quality of sleep (deep or light). In fact, a discreet vibration is felt for a gentle awakening.
For sports sessions, it’s different, the watch starts an activity automatically when it feels that you are moving, but it can also be done manually, by pressing the crown. In the end, it is quite practical not to have to worry about it, only we would have liked it to use GPS tracking or that of the telephone to obtain more details on a race for example. Finally, the autonomy is perfect and lasted the month of my test between 15 and 20 days, the regular practice of sport making the watch consume more battery. To tell the truth, we only find this withing watch with slight faults, it’s great work.
Review
Withings displays a price of $189.95 for its Steel HR. To tell the truth, when you look among the products of the competition, it has no equal and you find either very connected products, or very sporty, but no watch with analog display so complete. Besides, creating hybrid products that can be worn in all situations without being off topic, focused on well-being and careful design, it is this niche that has made the brand a leader in its category. With the Steel HR, Withings erased all the faults of its previous watch without necessarily increasing its price. A flawless hybrid always pleasant to wear and with an evolution in terms of software. Above all, a watch that should not be recharged every day or every two days, but once or twice a month. The Steel HR has a bright future ahead of it!
Our Sapphire Signature collection raises the bar for the connected watch...
WITHINGS ACTIVITÉ STEEL Review
Today, the connected watch market has become so vast that we rarely know where to turn when it comes to choosing our future ally. When it comes to activity tracking with a view to well-being, there is generally no need to think long as Withings has proven itself in this area. Indeed, the brand’s products have acquired a solid reputation over time in terms of reliability, modern design and ease of use. So with the holidays approaching, we wanted to give you the benefit of what we consider to be a benchmark by putting 3 WITHINGS ACTIVITÉ STEEL watches into play. But above all, let’s present in detail this piece of technology:
Technical sheet
Withings has greatly expanded its range of connected watches since its inception. It is now divided into 4: Activity, Go, Pulse Ox, Steel HR, the first being the one on which our competition of the day will focus. Last year, we tested the Withings Activity model, a watch capable of tracking the number of steps taken during the day, the number of calories burned, the distances (walking, running, swimming), to analyze the sleep cycles and wake you up with a silent vibrating alarm. Today, here is her little sister named “Steel Activity” who follows in the footsteps of her older brother and is enriched with additional features.
It takes up the specificity of Withings products in terms of design, with the difference that the brand wanted for this line of watches that look like classic models. Cheaper, just as compact with its 36mm diameter, it is made in a stainless steel case with a silver finish, mounted on a rubber strap ending in a color recall loop and fitted with a curved glass. Two finishes of sound dials available (white and black) with a totally minimalist rendering for each. On the version we have available, there are gray stick markers, almost in tone on tone, two silver hands and of course the dial allowing you to follow your daily activity. Located on the lower right, it has been chosen white in order to stand out from the rest and affirm the brand’s desire to present a watch encouraging the user to “move his body”. In short, a real watch, very masculine, which hides a lot of features in its belly.
As always with connected products, you will have to pair the watch with your smartphone and wear it permanently in order to benefit from all the functions. And there are many: calculation of steps, distances, caloric expenditure, races, swimming sessions (waterproofing up to 50m), sleep (duration of falling asleep, sleep, cycles and micro-alarm clocks). Everything is then synchronized in real time via Bluetooth (connection low energy) to the Withings mobile app. Finally, the most brought by the watch is the calculation of the heart rate by simply placing your finger on the flash on your smartphone. In fact, the French brand could not have been easier to use: no button, just pair the two devices and follow its data.
Characteristics :
– 36.3 mm diameter stainless steel case
– Scratch-resistant curved glass
– Bluetooth Low Energy connection
– Compatible with iOS (iOS 7 and above) and Android (6 and above)
– A CR2032 button battery (up to 8 months of autonomy)
– Silicone strap
– Waterproof 50 meters
Functions:
– Number of steps taken during the day
– Number of calories burned
– Distance traveled (walking, running, swimming)
– Analysis of sleep cycles
– Wake-up by silent vibrating alarm
– Heart rate measurement
