Withings BeamO announced at CES2024
Last year, Withings surpassed our expectations for a new health sensor and announced an accessory that extracts health parameters from your urine. Not the cleanest gadget, by the way, and it still isn’t available in the US since it hasn’t been cleared by the FDA.
This year, Withings didn’t go full bizarre like last year but did announce a gadget that looks somewhat like one from Star Trek, at least one from Kelvin time.
BeamO is an at-home checkup device that can track heartbeats and measure ECG together with oxygen saturation. Since those parameters have been with us for a long time now, Withings also added the ability of a stethoscope to the device. BeamO can now listen to your heart and lungs, becoming the first digital stethoscope in the market.
The device uses photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors or the green and red light you see coming from under the smartwatch, electrodes similar to those of watches that measure ECG, a digital stethoscope which is a piezoelectric disc that picks up acoustic noise from your lungs and heart, and a new version of the infrared temperature sensor used in Thermo.
Interestingly, all the parameters are synced with the Withings app and can also be sent to your doctor with one click of a button. The doctor can then receive data from BeamO in real time, bringing augmented tele-visits one step closer.
The price and availability of BeamO are not known yet since this device also needs to be cleared by the FDA. All in all, the Withings BeamO sounds and looks like a nice health gadget.
