A new gadget is on the way to get to know more of you, as Withings finds a way to get scales to size you up inside out.
The humble scale might be used begrudgingly at times, looking down to see how much we’ve gained or *gasp* the little weight we’ve managed to shed, but it can be used for so much more.
That’s what French health tech brand Withings is talking about this week at IFA, as it launches a new generation of the scale that doesn’t just offer weight, but tracks more of your health, as well.
It’ll arrive likely later in the year in a gadget called the Body Comp, a new generation of the scales Withings has released previously that will use a combination of sensors and algorithms in an attempt to understand more of the body, covering cardiovascular issues, nerve health, and your body’s composition, the latter of which divides weight into muscle mass, fat mass, water, bone mass, BMI, and visceral fat.
In contrast, Withings’ nerve health assessment will use small electrodes to respond to the skin on your feet to analyse the health of the nerves in your feet, while its cardiovascular assessment builds on technology the company has shown before looking at heart rate and vascular age.
The combination of metrics may be dizzying, but the combination of these as well as addition of visceral fat means the the Withings Body Comp scale should be able to provide a look at the fat hidden around your organs, and use that to help understand if you’re at risk for cardiovascular conditions, ideally to put you in front of a doctor and essentially on the right track to better health.
Alongside that new scale, Withings is also talking up a service designed to work with the scale, and indeed its other devices, such as its ECG-equipped watches such as the ScanWatch and ScanWatch Horizon.
Called “Health+”, it will reportedly provide extra details and metrics to help with health goals, though the company hasn’t yet said if the service will be required to get the most out of its new scale. It has said Health+ will provide suggested recipes and workouts to help, and offer reports on how someone is progressing, however, adding to the many health services we’re all seeing more of lately.
However, there’s no word on pricing or availability for either the Body Comp scale or the Health+ service in Australia, with Withings’ local representatives merely noting that pricing and stock availability will be announced closer to launch. Our guess is that will be later in the year, though we’ll let you know when we know.
