Philips is no stranger to health. In fact, Philips Healthcare (nee Philips Medical Systems) comprises a big chunk of the multinational corporation, providing some serious industrial equipment for hospitals, from CT scanners to defibrillators. It’s no surprise, then, that the company’s been angling to make progress in the booming consumer wearable space – or that it’s looking to do so in a big way.
Today, Philips launched not just a wearable, but a connected ecosystem – not entirely unlike what Withings has created, albeit in one fell swoop. The Personal Health Program features a number of different smart devices, including a scale, thermometer, two blood pressure monitors (upper arm and wrist) and a health watch that serves as the hub, along with the HealthSuite Health app for iOs and Android.
I’ve been wearing the watch for a couple of days – too soon to offer any sort of profound impressions, though I will say that the device is, unsurprisingly, devoid of the shiny glitz we’ve come to expect from a wearable space dominated by the likes of Apple and Samsung.
And while the fitness devices are designed to help wearers institute some key life and health changes like their more mainstream counterparts, Philips’ products are aimed at a decidedly older demographic, designed to offer a fuller and more actionable health picture.
In the case of the $250 Health Watch, that means no color touchscreen and (for now), no notifications, in spite of a price point that puts it somewhere been a fitness band and smartwatch. What it does offer, however, is a wide swatch of metrics, including heart rate, activity and sleep pattern, going beyond simple step counting and featuring what the company promises is a higher rate of tracking accuracy.
The scale, which appears fairly similar to Withings’ offering, runs $100 and includes BMI analysis and multiple profiles. The ear thermometer runs $60 and the blood pressure monitors cost $100 and $90 for the upper arm and wrist, respectively. All are available starting today.