Yesterday I caught up with the folks at Withings, the manufacturer behind the excellent Smart Body Analyzer scales that I reviewed recently. The Withings team was in London to launch the latest addition to its ever-growing ecosystem of health and fitness tech – the Pulse.
The Pulse is an activity tracker in a similar vein to the Fitbit range or the Nike+ FuelBand. You could argue that Withings is late to the game with the Pulse, but it’s clear that the company has bided its time and made sure it brought something comprehensive to the party.
At its heart, the Pulse is a pedometer, much like every other activity tracker on the market. It will measure your footsteps and equate that to calories burned and distance travelled, but the Pulse has a few tricks up its sleeve.
As the name suggests, the Pulse can also measure your heart rate – only a spot measurement rather than a continuous one, but it’s still useful. On top of that, the Pulse will also measure and analyse your sleep patterns, much like the Fitbit One.
But where the Pulse really sets itself apart is how it addresses an annoyance I have with every other activity tracker – the ability to discern between walking and running. Most trackers just count steps and make no differentiation as to whether you’re strolling along or sprinting at full speed, but the Pulse can tell whether you’re running or walking and adjust your calorie burning accordingly.
The Pulse will hit the market on 27 June, but I was given an early sample yesterday. I’ll be testing the Pulse over the next couple of weeks, so check back for the full review soon.
Read the full Withings Pulse Review to find out what we think of this new activity tracker.