I beloved the authentic Withings ScanWatch (8/10, WIRED recommends). It was a refined, elegant, health- and fitness-focused hybrid smartwatch with spectacular stamina. The ScanWatch 2 retains all the things that made the unique so compelling and provides some refined enhancements, most notably temperature monitoring, however this comes with an unpalatable value hike.

Unlike your common smartwatch, the Withings ScanWatch 2 makes do with a tiny display screen; provides restricted notifications; and quietly tracks your exercise, well being, and sleep. It can cross for a daily watch, with actual fingers, and it lasts as much as a month between expenses. It has been a simple and cozy companion for the previous couple of months.

Withings has added worth with the temperature monitoring and a redesigned charger, however the promised in a single day coronary heart price variability (HRV) monitoring just isn’t accessible but, and I can’t take a look at the brand new menstrual cycle monitoring. The companion Health Mate app has gone by way of a number of adjustments not too long ago, largely to accommodate an elective subscription, however I don’t suppose it’s value your time.

Timeless Classic

The elegant design of the Withings ScanWatch 2 is one among its fundamental promoting factors. This hybrid smartwatch combines bodily fingers and a conventional watch face with chiseled or beveled lugs. The single rotating crown doubles as a button to deliver the tiny OLED display screen to life. Sapphire glass and stainless-steel guarantee sturdiness, and the water resistance is 5ATM, so you possibly can put on the ScanWatch 2 within the bathe or pool.

I examined the bigger 42-mm model with the black face and a black fluoroelastomer wrist band. You can go for a white face and leather-based or steel hyperlink band, when you choose. The smaller 38-mm mannequin is available in extra varieties, together with darkish blue or beige with a gold-tinted casing. The fluoroelastomer band could be very snug, and the ScanWatch 2 is lighter than the unique, so I’ve been sporting it 24/7. It took me a few days to get used to sporting it in a single day.

The circle on the highest half of the watch face homes the tiny grayscale OLED show, which is simply over half an inch and all the time seems sharp and legible. You can flip it on by urgent the crown or toggle the raise-to-wake setting within the companion app. It shows the time and date by default, however you possibly can flip the crown to cycle by way of coronary heart price, pores and skin temperature, steps taken, and distance lined, or to report exercises, take an ECG or SpO2 measurement, set off a respiratory train, or dip into settings.

When you get notifications out of your telephone, they arrive by way of ticker tape fashion, so it may possibly take fairly some time to learn an extended message, but it surely is sufficient to determine whether or not it’s worthwhile to slip the telephone out of your pocket. There is not any assist for apps, funds, calls, music controls, or another options you’ll sometimes discover in smartwatches.

Turning It Up

The new headline characteristic is the TempTech24/7 module. It can monitor your baseline physique temperature and provide you with a warning to adjustments. Unusual spikes in temperature may point out impending sickness, and warnings about your temperature getting too excessive may also help you keep away from warmth exhaustion when you dwell in a warmer local weather. Temperature variation may doubtlessly improve the accuracy of sleep and exercise monitoring too.

I used to be excited to strive the temperature monitoring and notably within the thought of preemptive warnings about sickness. It has warned me about elevated temperature twice and prompt I test for signs, however each occasions I used to be already feeling unwell. Once you have got been sporting it for some time, the ScanWatch 2 establishes your baseline, and you’ll see your temperature variance above and under on a chart. Compared with the Ultrahuman Ring Air (7/10, WIRED Recommends), the ScanWatch 2 persistently measures my temperature as barely greater.