Withings Smart Body Analyzer
So, I have been checking out a plethora of apps and gadgets lately. Don’t fret, as I’m going to cover them all. Since I develop apps for a living, I believe it gives me an interesting perspective on design and functionality as I continue on my weight loss journey.
I’m going to start with the bathroom. Well, not the bathroom but the square thing that we dread standing on in the buff. Yes, the scale. Most people don’t care about this as a gadget, but I do as I’m always looking for a way to track my progress. So, enter the Withings Smart Body Analyzer. A really fancy way to say “one awesome scale”.
At $150 you would hope this thing would tuck you in bed at night, but the cost is justified. It locks into your WIFI and pushes your weight, BMI, and heart rate into your account on Withings.com. This also syncs with the Withings Health Mate App on your smart device.
So, does it work? Yes and very well after the initial setup. I’m a rather large fellow and I am able to get pretty accurate plus 300 lbs readings. I have realized that the surface you sit the device on does matter so be mindful of where it sits. It communicates pretty rapidly to the server and you no longer have to enter your weight manually into the boring spreadsheet! Woohoo! The data gets potted onto a graph and you can even see where you took that trip to the islands and ate everything in sight. Tee hee! But on the positive side, it also shows your progression over time.
Since my wife is also taking a journey, I was able to add her profile to the scale easily. This is great for those couples who like to share in their fitness or are even competitive. It’s a great way to compare notes. I’ve also found that it keeps us both more accountable for our progression to great health. There’s nothing better than feeling like your significant other cares about you and themselves equally.
The negatives are that this scale is proprietary to the Withings app, so it must be installed for it to sync into your mobile ecosystem. While this may not be a big deal for some, its just another app to have on your device. I personally don’t mind it, but I thought I’d mention it. It would be awesome if other apps could plug right into the Smart Body Analyzers data.
Another con is the battery life. I so wish it lasted longer. I have some batteries on hand just in case I need my reading for the day or week sent up to the server in a pinch. Also its WIFI reliant so in the event your Web is down due to your local service providers #$%@!, you wont get that reading up there. It doesnt seem to have any onboard memory for that type of functionality. Maybe 2.0 will handle it.
So, all in all, I love the bloody thing. It keeps me aware of my health trends and also keeps me tied into the world of personal body tracking. Tracking your food by journal would likely be next step, so later on that topic. There aren’t too many others who provide this service so I highly recommend this device. Thumbs up Withings!