The diver style of smartwatch is back as Withings turns its upcoming ScanWatch 2 into a more premium design.
Wearables may well be a hot topic at the moment, thanks in part to how helpful they can be at kickstarting your health kick, but some aren’t even here yet. We’ve been given a taste of what’s coming in the new year with at least one from Withings, but Aussies won’t get to see it until next year.
We’re talking specifically about the Withings ScanWatch 2, the sequel to the first ScanWatch and the first smartwatch with a locally approved electrocardiograph (ECG) function in Australia.
Shortly after, every other wearable maker with an ECG inside switched on the tech locally, but Withings was the first, and it delivered a genuinely excellent wearable, offering heaps of battery life and plenty of health features in a device that actually looked like a way.
With 2024 only weeks away, the follow-up to that device isn’t far behind, but just in case you weren’t sure about the look, hold up, because there’s a premium take on the way, too.
It’s a little like the premium ScanWatch we saw last year in the ScanWatch Horizon, only that the upcoming Withings ScanWatch Nova will basically be a more premium version of the upcoming ScanWatch 2. Nevermind that the names are different, because the fitness tech will largely be the same inside a design made to be more luxurious and definitely more premium.
The ScanWatch Nova will use a diver-style design with rotating bezel in a stainless steel and ceramic design, with the analogue style watch face sitting below sapphire glass covered in an anti-reflection coating.
The technology on that face uses largely the same as the Horizon, with a circular OLED screen showing your notifications and health features in greyscale, which covers pretty much the same health tech as the upcoming ScanWatch 2. That means you’ll get a heart rate, ECG, SpO2 blood oxygen, sleep analysis, and new temperature tracking, which is the main new feature of the ScanWatch 2 devices.
Like all other Withings devices including the Body Comp scale and Sleep Analyser, the metrics will come together in the Withings app, but they should also sync with the health features found directly in your phone.
Pricing in Australia will see the ScanWatch Nova priced a little higher than the regular ScanWatch 2, with the regular model priced at $699, while the ScanWatch Nova will cost $799 in Australia with both a metal and fluoro rubber material.
You can expect both to launch early in 2024, handy if you’re thinking of a new year health kick, with the ScanWatch 2 first from January 8 and the ScanWatch Nova from late January.
