Withings has had a tumultuous couple of years. The company was bought by Nokia only to be re-acquired by its original owner Éric Carreel last May. While it sells smart scales, thermometers, and other health electronics, the French company has an uphill battle ahead of it in the wearable space thanks to an oversaturated market. But it’s aiming high with its newest device: the $ 129 Withings Move ECG targets those who want a more affordable device to measure electrocardiograms at home than the $ 350 Apple Watch.
Like Withings wearables of yesteryear, the Move ECG has an analog face but includes most of the smart technology inside that you’d expect from a modern wearable. The kickers are its three electrodes that measure electrocardiograms, two of which are embedded into the body of the watch while the third sits in the watch’s bezel. To take a reading, users need to touch both sides of the bezel at the same time while wearing the watch and wait about 30 seconds for it to take a measurement.
The process sounds nearly identical to that of the Apple Watch Series 4, which has one circular electrode on its underside and one smaller electrode on its Digital Crown. The Move ECG sends that data to Withings’ Health Mate mobile app so you can see if your heart beat was normal or if any signs of atrial fibrillation were detected. Data accumulated over time can be seen in larger charts and graphs in the app, and that data can be exported so users can easily share it with their doctors. As of today’s announcement, the Move ECG is currently under review for FDA clearance (the Apple Watch Series 4’s ECG app and its irregular rhythm notification have FDA clearance in the US).
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