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Withings takes on Apple with ECG-equipped smartwatch, blood pressure monitor

Withings Move
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Withings kicked off CES with a trio of new devices that will appeal to the health-conscious who want to monitor their heart health and overall fitness. One of those devices, the Withings Move smartwatch, is aimed squarely at those who want to track their health and fitness level with minimal fuss and the least amount of money. The other two devices on display at CES incorporate an ECG for measuring your cardiovascular health.

The Withings Move ECG smartwatch aims at the Apple Watch 4 with onboard ECG functionality, while the BPM Core is a three-in-one blood pressure monitor that will also take an electrocardiogram (ECG) and listen to your heart using a digital stethoscope. Withings is one among many companies unveiling new products this week at CES 2019. Check out our comprehensive coverage here.

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Move smartwatch

Inspired by the Activite, the Move merges fashion with technology. It is an affordable option that joins Withings growing portfolio of fitness watches. The Move is Withings most customizable device to date, allowing owners to choose from a variety of cases, wristband materials, watch face colors, and more. These customization options are available in Europe first, and will make their way to the U.S. later this year.

More CES 2019 coverage

The Move has a classic watch look with three dials — two to display the time and one to track the progress to your step count goal. Besides step counting, the Move will monitor your sleep at night and your heart rate throughout the day. It supports a variety of different sports activities including the automatic recognition of running, swimming, cycling, and walking.

It has connected GPS to track the distance on outdoor activities and uses that information to calculate pace which is displayed in the Health Mate app during the exercise. The fitness watch connects via Bluetooth to the Withings Health Mate app for full activity and sleep tracking analysis.

The Move offers water resistance down to 50 meters so you can run in the rain and swim without worrying about damaging the device. With 18-months of battery life, you never have to worry about running out of juice when you need it the most. The Withings Move is available first for pre-order with five color choices for $70. Shipping starts on February 5. New materials and color choices will continue to be added through 2019 with full customization, right down to the watch dials, available later in the year.

Move ECG

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Withings helped to kick off the connected health movement with its web-connected household scales, so it is not surprising to see the fitness company keeping up with the latest technology. This week at CES 2019, Withings took the wraps off the Move ECG, an analog watch with an on-demand electrocardiogram. The Move ECG continues Withings tradition of bringing health and fitness tracking to a classic watch design.

The hallmark feature of the Move ECG is the on-demand electrocardiogram which offers medical-grade heart monitoring technology. Owners can use the on-demand ECG to detect atrial fibrillation (AFib), one of the most common forms of heart arrhythmia. This irregular heart rhythm can cause fatigue and shortness of breath, and is a risk factor for stroke. It often goes undiagnosed as it can be challenging to detect AFib without regular and consistent heart rate monitoring. Similar to the Apple Watch 4, the Move ECG allows people to record heart activity whenever they feel unusual cardiac symptoms instead of having to wait until they make it to a doctor’s office or an emergency room.

Move ECG includes three electrodes to measure heart activity. Two of the electrodes are embedded into the main body of the watch, and the third electrode is in the stainless steel bezel. The user only needs to touch both sides of the bezel to start an ECG recording. Within 30 seconds, the watch will complete the reading and send the data to the companion Health Mate app where it is analyzed and can be shared with a medical professional.

Besides its medical monitoring, the Move ECG also is a capable fitness tracker with support for multiple sports, 24/7 heart rate monitoring, route mapping via connected GPS, and advanced sleep tracking. The hybrid smartwatch is water resistant up to 50 meters and lasts up to 12 months on the included battery.

The Move ECG will be available in the second quarter of 2019 for $130. Customers can choose between a black or white watch face and match it with a variety of wristband colors and material options for a personalized style.

BPM Core

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Withings is more than just a wearable company. It also is known for its connected devices, and at CES, the company unveiled the Withings BPM Core, a three-in-one medical monitoring device for at-home use. It combines a blood pressure monitor with an electrocardiogram and a digital stethoscope. The device provides a powerful trio of tools to measure your cardiovascular health.

Shaped like a traditional arm cuff, the BPM Core is packed full of sensors that can measure your blood pressure, take an ECG, and listen to your heart in under a minute. You can make all three health measurements at once or choose only one of the measurements as needed. All the data collected from the device can be synced to the Health Mate app via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for analysis and for sharing with a medical professional. The device can detect AFib and valvular heart disease.

Withings is still waiting for CE and FDA approval so it can begin selling the BPM Core. The device is expected to go on sale in the second quarter of 2019 with a price tag of $249. Stay tuned to Withing’s website or its social media channels for more details on the final release date.

Kelly Hodgkins
Kelly's been writing online for ten years, working at Gizmodo, TUAW, and BGR among others. Living near the White Mountains of…
I used a smart blood pressure monitor for the first time — and it blew me away
The Withings BPM Connect blood pressure monitor with the Health Mate app.

After getting a health check in April, I was told my blood pressure was slightly elevated and that I should get a monitor and keep a record of results for the next four weeks — after which time it would be assessed again and decided if I needed medication to control it. Not the best thing to hear, but not the worst either. Time to get the right equipment and get started.

I had access to a normal blood pressure cuff, but that was a bit, well, boring. Plus, the manual process of logging results and keeping records put me off. I'm used to health tech like the Apple Watch and the Oura Ring, where an app collates and presents the data, and everything is laid out for me. Could consumer tech come to my aid here and give my doctor all the required information after the month was up?
Step forward, Withings

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Garmin has announced a new ECG app for AFibVenu 2 Plus smartwatch users. This app is cleared by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and allows anyone with the Venu 2 Plus to record their heart rhythm and check for possible signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) — making it the first Garmin wearable capable of ECG and AFib tracking. With the ECG app, users can record a 30-second ECG and then view the results immediately on the watch itself or save it for later in the Garmin Connect app.

“The ECG App is Garmin’s first FDA-cleared smartwatch feature, and we are thrilled to offer this revolutionary tool to our customers as another way to stay on top of their health,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “During the early stages of AFib, it’s common for symptoms to be infrequent, making it difficult to detect in a clinical setting. With the new ECG App, Venu 2 Plus customers can conveniently take an ECG recording anytime and optionally create a report of their results to share with their doctor later.”

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Valencell Blood Pressure monitoring.

“We think blood pressure monitoring will change more in the next five years than it has in the last one hundred years,” Ryan Kraudel, Vice President of Marketing at biometric sensor maker Valencell, said as we talked about the company’s innovation in blood pressure monitoring over Zoom for CES 2022.

Such a bold statement could often be glossed over as hyperbole, but the thing is, after hearing what Valencell is working on, his prediction doesn’t sound farfetched at all. Its cuff-less, calibration-free blood pressure monitor could make taking your blood pressure as simple as measuring your heart rate is with a smartwatch today.
What is Valencell working on?
When you want to measure blood pressure, you use either one of those familiar cuffs or a slightly higher-tech cuff-less product to do so. Both are clearly medical devices, though, they are rarely particularly portable and certainly not friendly to use in that they’re noisy and somewhat intrusive. The cuff-less versions are better, but still regularly need to be paired with a cuffed version to make sure they remain accurate. Valencell’s innovative new technology is very different.

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