Withings teased yesterday that they were almost back, following their separation from Nokia earlier this year. Earlier today, as promised, the French-based connected health company announced their newest product, and as we expected it was a smartwatch — the Steel HR Sport.
The Steel HR Sport continues on Withings previous Steel line of Hybrid Smartwatches and adds in a few new features. The HR Sport features GPS location (via your connected smartphone), heart rate tracking, VO2 max, smart notification including calls, messages and calendar integration, water resistance up to 50 metres, sleep tracking and 25 days battery life off a single charge.
The US$199 device features traditional analogue watch hands with either a black or white OLED screen that displays all of the ‘smart’ information and a single button for interaction. The watch pairs via the Withings Health Mate app to sync all of your data.
The Steel HR Sport is very much a fitness-focused device, and while untethered GPS would undoubtedly be something many would want that’s probably not likely with a 25 days battery life. With Wear OS and WatchOS both moving more towards a fitness focus it’s not surprising to find that the hybrid smartwatch makers are also following the same trend.
Both the original iteration of Withings and then Nokia have had a good track record of retailing their products in Australia, including distribution in large bricks and mortar stores. Currently, there hasn’t been any announcements on Australian availability but if it does come here we’d expect it to start near AU$270.
