Withings’ Wi-Fi Weight Monitor Tips The ‘Coolness’ Scales

12:55 pm, October 2nd, 2009, Ed Sutherland

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Almost everyone has a love-hate relationship with their bathroom scales. We worry about that extra slice of cake adding on the pounds, but dread the confirmation coming from the hulking scales with the dial which spins like some one-arm bandit. If only there was a kinder way to keep tabs on our weight; a more iPhone-like method. Well, Withings’ Wi-Fi Body scale comes pretty close.

Let’s start with the design. At just 0.9 inches high and with that brushed metal and sleek glass look, the Wi-Fi Body Scale complements your iPhone. Along with 802.11g connectivity, the scale includes a free iPhone app allowing you to track your weight and BMI.

The scale comes to life when you step on board. The unit can handle people weighing up to 396 pounds with an accuracy within 0.22 lbs, according to the company. The scale measures your fat mass, lean mass and body mass index.

Naturally, what’s a health device without loads of personalization. Like the Fitbit, which monitors your physical activity, the Wi-Fi Body Scale provides both an iPhone app and a private Web site to display your weight changes, as well as a graph of your fat mass.

Personalization also weighs heavily in the wireless scales. The device automatically recognizes each user and compares your weight against physician recommendations.

The Withings Wi-Fi Body Scale costs $159.

[Via Withings and Gizmodo]

Posted by Ed Sutherland in News | Comment on this article

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Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

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2 comments

I like my iPhone, but I don’t know how I’d feel about it if it kept telling me, “You’re fat.”

JAYnLA, on October 2nd, 2009 at 4:30 pm

I had a looooooot of trouble setting up the scale. the documentation isnt really comprehensive and it did not really work intuitively. after a few weeks, my scale wouldn display the fat anymore, so I had to return it and get it repaired back (they forgot to include the batteries, however, which i left in my scale).

It works nice so far, but the setup was a pain. i do not trust the fat-measurements. i understand, 5kg fat on 88kg body weight is pretty unlikely.

Alexander, on October 2nd, 2009 at 6:52 pm