The Withings Steel HR smartwatch was well-received by consumers since being rebranded as a Nokia product, Nokia’s CEO Rajeev Suri noted during the company’s Q1 2017 earnings call. Back at MWC 2017 in Barcelona, it was revealed that the health and fitness brand Withings will be retired this summer with all subsequent products adopting the name of its new owner – Nokia.
In June 2016, Nokia completed its €170 million ($185.86 million) acquisition of Withings, with the Steel HR being the first product affected by the merger. While Nokia did not share sales numbers for the Withings Steel HR, the figures revealed that Nokia Technologies, the business which includes products like the Steel HR, grew net sales by 25 percent year-on-year due to patent and brand licensing revenue, but also due to the Withings acquisition in Q2 2016. The French wearable maker has a reputation for making attractive activity trackers that look like stylish analog watches and the Steel HR is no exception to that rule. With the Steel HR, Withings managed to introduce a plethora of new functionalities while still maintaining the analog dial and stainless steel design. The wearable also sports a small digital screen that can be employed to display the number of steps taken, heart rate data, and a lot of other information.
Like most other contemporary smartwatches, the product can relay simple smartphone notifications, as well. While the Withings’ older Activité trackers used to employ the power of standard watch batteries, the Steel HR makes a transition to rechargeable cell units. Withings promises a battery life cycle of up to 25 days on a single charge for this particular product. The Steel HR also supports a low-power mode which disables its heart rate sensor, as well as the amount of data transmitted between the analog smartwatch and the smartphone it’s paired with in an effort to conserve more battery. With Mother’s Day just around the corner, Nokia recently unveiled a special edition of the Withings Steel HR which comes with an attractive gift box. The package includes the watch itself and an Italian hazelnut brown leather wristband, an alternative silicon wristband, and a charger, all of which is available for $229.95.