Withings today announces another in its range of class-leading smart scales, Body Comp. The device bills itself as a “whole body assessment scale” that can look at the kinds of facets of our bodies that are normally reserved for clinical settings. That includes weight, muscle mass, fat mass, water percentage, bone mass, BMI, and visceral fat count. You will also get information about your permanent heart rate and vascular health (based on pulse wave speed), in addition to analyzing the health of your nerves. And, of course, it’s the first Withings product to be sold to support Health+, the company’s other new announcement.
Health+ is Withings’ new subscription platform, as recurring revenue is now the only way most hardware companies make money these days. It promises to “unlock additional features in the Health Mate app”, offering insights on how to strive for a better body. These include six-week habit-building modules, all of which are contextualized with the data your Withings devices offer. They will also be offered suggested meal plans and exercises to help them reach their goals faster. (Health+ will set you back $79.95 after the first year of use, and is only compatible with this and any future Withings products so far.)
Now this is actually a different product than body scan, the scale Withings announced in January that came with its own electrode handle. That, like other high-end body composition scales, asks you to hold the handle at waist height to better read his vital stats. Armed with the data, he will tell you the proportions of fat and water in his arms, legs, and torso, as well as monitor his nerve activity. That product hasn’t hit stores yet, but it’s already clear that the Body Comp will offer most of the same features with a little less detailed data.
There are now a significant number of devices that have Withings and Body in the name and you’d be forgiven for struggling to keep them straight in your head. The existing flagship is the Body Cardio, which has all the current bells and whistles, including weight, BMI, body composition, heart rate, and vascular age. Below that, the Body+ offers weight, BMI, and body composition, while the Vanilla Body only offers weight and BMI.
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