Scanwatch Nova Review: Not very Smart but Caters to Fitness Buffs

Price & availability

Patch off: The Scanwatch Nova costs $599.95 a pop. When selecting one, you can choose from five color variants: black, green, gold, white, and blue. We received the black color variant for our review unit. Withings included a metal strap and a fluoroelastomer strap as standard. To access the full range of functions, you will need to pay an additional $9.95 per month or $99.50 annually. If you want to get started, you can use the following link:

Dive watch design with top workmanship

The Scanwatch Nova is a hybrid smartwatch — it combines an analog dial with a small display that shows notifications or your heart rate, for instance. Withings also based the design of the Nova on analog dive watches. The manufacturer adopted the following design elements from classic analog watches, as you'll read below.

The bezel can be rotated on one side with a screw-down crown, which in this case is used to control the smartwatch. We can choose between a water-resistant metal strap and a fluoroelastomer strap in the packaging, while the watch's hands and indexes do glow in the dark. However, armed with a water resistance of 10 ATM, the watch is not the most water-resistant watch in comparison with other models in the market. The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is suitable for diving depths of up to 200 meters.

Despite all the above, the design of the Scanwatch Nova exudes a different quality to that of many other smartwatches. With a weight of 132 g when worn on the wrist, it is also clearly noticeable with a metal strap. The case is made entirely of stainless steel and the top is almost entirely made of anti-reflective sapphire crystal. This particularly robust glass is surrounded by a rotating bezel made of ceramic and stainless steel, which satisfactorily clicks to denote a very high-quality build. Another control element on the right side of the watch is a stainless steel crown that was discreetly integrated into the case.

However, the design of the Scanwatch Nova does not come without compromises or problems in everyday use. After about a week of use, I switched to a fabric strap because I couldn't get the metal strap to fit my wrist properly after several attempts. Withings does include the necessary tools — a hammer, chisel, and holder — as well as enough extension links. However, as the extension links are of the same width (approx. 12 mm), so you have to be a little lucky to find the right diameter for your wrist.

As for me, however, the strap was always too narrow or too wide. Neither of these are good options with the Scanwatch Nova. It either pinches the skin on the wrist or it is too loose for accurate health tracking. However, the selection of wristbands in the Withings online store is varied and large. However, with costs ranging from $35.95 to $89.95, they can also get rather expensive.

The second drawback of the watch's design concerns the stainless steel crown, which is the only operating element on the watch itself. It would be practical if it were slightly offset towards the watch glass to ensure better control. This is because you have to push it a little towards your arm, which then blocks it.

Overall, however, I found the design of the Scanwatch Nova extremely attractive. If you find the look too robust, you can also opt for the Scanwatch Nova Brilliant. According to the Withings contact, the manufacturer caters to smaller wrists with this timepiece.

A tiny OLED: The display of the Scanwatch Nova

Withings describes the display of the Scanwatch Nova as a "high-resolution grayscale OLED display" and specifies the exact number of pixels on the display as 14,504 px. And yes, the pixel density of 292 ppi is decent, but given the display size of 0.63", it is not difficult to achieve. The display of the Scanwatch Nova is very much in the background, and yet I still like three things about the display:

Firstly, Withings integrated an ambient light sensor into the watch, despite the small display. This adjusts the display's brightness slightly when you step out of the sun into a room. Secondly, both the selection and the order of the displayed menus can be adjusted. As a third advantage, the hands automatically jump to the side when we activate the display using the crown. However, this function can also be disabled if it bothers you.

The Scanwatch Nova also offers a rise-to-wake function, which means that the display is activated when the wrist is raised. I actually found this feature to be very practical, as it became easier to read digital displays. However, the display also activates at night, which is annoying despite the brightness sensor. I would like Withings to integrate a timer function for Rise-to-Wake in the future.

Compromises, especially when it comes to smart functions

Anyone who buys a hybrid smartwatch is deliberately foregoing the many functions of a smartwatch. I, for instance, find it rather annoying to wear a large color display on my wrist. That's why I prefer discreet solutions, such as the Whoop wristband (read our review) or hybrid models like the Scanwatch Nova. If you prefer, you can still be informed about some events on your smartphone on your wrist.

This is because the Scanwatch Nova can display notifications on request, which run from right to left across the small OLED display after a brief and clearly noticeable vibration. However, there are no options to react accordingly to the notifications.

In addition to notifications, the Scanwatch Nova also displays calls, which we must accept through our smartphone. The smartwatch also offers a smart alarm clock, which can wake us up earlier if required, if it is more suitable for our sleep phase. There is also a timer and a stopwatch. That's all,  let's move on!

Extensive fitness tracking by the Nova

At the bottom of the Scanwatch lies a combined health tracker. This combines a TempTech24/7 module for all-day body temperature monitoring. There is also a multi-wavelength PPG with 16 channels that can measure both pulse and blood oxygen levels. The Nova's case and crown are made of stainless steel for a reason. Withings thus offers the option of performing an ECG with VHF detection directly on the wrist.

In addition to the RRP of the watch, those who purchase the premium subscription from Withings can also display the VO2 max to calculate their fitness level. Withings also enables sleep and activity tracking via motion sensors. People with a menstrual cycle can also measure this, including cycle lengths, cycle phases, and a protocol for cycle symptoms.

What the Nova does not offer is integrated GPS and functions to measure your blood pressure. The lack of GPS was particularly annoying in the review if you like to go jogging without a smartphone or don't want the Withings app to permanently record your GPS. If you restrict this to "During use", you always have to launch the app once when you begin a workout. During some laps, the app also lost the connection to the smartwatch and showed gaps in the tracking. The practical auto-tracking function, which is actually very reliable, always worked without recording the route.

However, the accuracy of the sensors was impressive in the review. Compared to a chest strap, the average heart rate only deviated by one point:

The highest and lowest measured heart rates were also comparable. However, Withings categorizes the heart rate zones a bit strangely and deviates from the standard zones 1-5. As a result, the comparative values are a little off here. Which brings us to the preparation of the health data:

A major advantage of Withings products is that the manufacturer offers extremely diverse products. In the Withings app, we can combine data from the smartwatch, smart body scales, and even special products such as the BeamO body thermometer (read review). Withings presents the collected data in a playful and easy-to-understand manner.

The Withings Plus subscription includes a "health improvement score", for instance, which combines metrics from categories such as "activity", "body" and "heart" into one score. In greater detail, behaviors such as exercising more often or sleeping more regularly have a positive impact on the score. A lower heart rate variability or a higher resting heart rate during sleep has a negative effect. This allows you to quickly see which behavior you should change for a better health improvement score. Great idea, but terrible name!

In addition to this score, the Scanwatch Nova with the Plus subscription also displays the estimated VO2max. This is determined during workouts, so it changes slightly depending on the activity and is again put into a very clear ratio. This allows us to compare ourselves with other age groups or try to compare ourselves with a 26-year-old professional cyclist who is particularly athletic. To provide a little more motivation, the Withings app also tells us how much we can improve our VO2 max if we were to indulge in more sporting activities. What bothered me a little was how external factors, such as the weather, were not taken into account. A 10 km jog at a 5:34 pace, which is quite brisk by my standards, resulted in a pretty poor fitness level for me. The fact that the temperature was over 25 degrees naturally demanded more from my body than a similar performance in winter. So you shouldn't let the score demotivate you.

In addition to sports tracking, the Scanwatch Nova also measures other metrics of our everyday life. The sleep quality index combines measurements such as sleep duration, depth, regularity, and interruptions and also shows us our heart rate during sleep. The watch also displays our set step target, the achievement of which also affects our scores, on a small dial, motivated me to take several evening walks during the review duration. We could even use the oxygen saturation during sleep to find out whether we suffer from sleep apnoea. However, the watch does not measure this every night — if a night-time monitoring is due, it shows us this on the display.

In addition to a lack of oxygen during sleep, the Nova can also detect heart problems. To do this, Withings equipped it with an ECG measurement, which involves holding the crown and the watch case for 30 seconds. My heart health has no abnormalities — here, the Scanwatch agreed with a medical examination from last October. Out of interest, I also requested a cardio check-up, which Withings allows three times a year as part of the premium subscription. Allegedly, a doctor has now looked at my ECG and found no issues. If this is indeed the case, it's an interesting idea — another advantage for users, as the analyzed ECG provides even more precise information than standard ECG readings.

There's also a little too much information in this paragraph — but that's a good sign for the fitness functions of the Scanwatch Nova. While you have to cut back on the smart functions, the Nova, together with the Withings Plus subscription, delivers a really impressive fitness tracker that records an incredible amount of data and also puts it into the right context. If you're looking for a discreet fitness tracker that is cheaper than a Whoop in the (long) term, this is a great choice.

Scanwatch Nova with 30 days of battery life

Withings claims that the Scanwatch Nova has a battery life of up to 30 days. A charge takes two hours — admittedly, using the cheapest and most inconvenient charger I've ever seen for smartwatches. I don't understand Withing's strategy of supplying a premium smartwatch with high-quality tools for strap adjustment and then making the charger completely out of cheap plastic.

The long battery life has two advantages: On the one hand, I didn't have to worry about the smartwatch's battery at all for three weeks and was, therefore, able to wear it continuously both during sporting activities and at night. On the other hand, I didn't have to deal with the charger for three weeks. Unlike similarly priced smartwatches, the charger is also the only charging option for the Nova.

This is because the hybrid smartwatch does not offer wireless charging. The manufacturer does not specify whether a fast-charging function is available in the technical specifications, either. Another positive thing? The charger comes without an integrated cable but with a USB-C connection. This means we can use longer or shorter cables or replace them in the event of a defect.