Withings Beamo, this new intelligent thermometer promises complete follow -up at home, but questions professionals

It took more than a year to arrive in France. Defined by many as an intelligent thermometer, the Beamo of Withings goes further. The device is actually able to take the temperature, but also to raise the oxygen level in the blood, to perform an electrocardiogram and to listen to the heartbeat. 4-in-1 device, he then presents himself as the health apparatus to have at home. What about?

Easy and quick handling

Described as a multisCan by Withings, the Beamo is a healthy health device. If it brings together several features, it chooses a compact format, easy to store at home.

A discreet health tool

The Beamo of Withings adopts a discreet silhouette, which is similar to a small remote control. With 13.6 x 3.7 x 1.9 cm of size and 80 g on the scale, the Beamo slips very easily into a pharmacy cabinet. A small pocket is also supplied with the device to better protect it.

A screen takes place on the front of the withings. Non-tactile, it only serves to display the Beamo interface. On the other hand, as we can see in the photos, it is very little bright and is difficult to read in certain conditions. To navigate between the different features, a central button and four directional buttons are placed at the base of the multi -member. It allows you to choose the user profile and the desired functionality.

A USB-C port allows you to connect headphones to listen to heart and pulmonary noises, but also to recharge the device. In all, eight months of autonomy are announced by Withings.

An intuitive application

Like any connected device, the Beamo requires the installation of a mobile application. After downloading the APP Withings, the user easily appears to the Beamo and creates an account, with which he can associate health data stored by the phone, such as the Health App.

Once done, the application is divided into four tabs. The first is customizable by the user, who chooses the data displayed himself. The second tab lists the latest health measures made with the Beamo, the user data – such as size and weight -, steps taken during the day. Withings then offers nutrition or sport support, via Withings+. Paid, he notably unlocks training programs. Finally, the last tab is used to share its file, and therefore its latest health surveys, its contacts or your doctor.

Righteous constants overall

Thanks to an armada of sensors, which we will detail in each part, the Beamo ensures to obtain results of “clinical quality”. We therefore requested the advice of health professionals on the constants noted by the “Health Check-Up” of Withings.

Temperature

The most obvious functionality of the Beamo is the temperature taking. It is the most obvious, because it is a functionality already proposed by Withings, in particular with the Thermo. The Beamo is equipped with a second generation optical sensor, therefore contactless. The device then detects the temporal artery, “the warmest point of the forehead”, when placed in front of the patient. You have to start the measurement in the middle of the forehead and sweep towards the temple for at least 3 sec.

We asked Laurence Palissot, a nurse in a row and rehabilitation, to take our temperature with its atrial thermometer. If the results are similar to those of the Beamo for the first time, the next surveys differ, up to 0.8 ° C difference. This gap can also be due to the handling of the device, which can be risky compared to a traditional thermometer, which is left in place.

Oxygen saturation

Place at the oxygen saturation statement in the blood (SPO2). Usually, it takes itself with an oximeter of pulse, which is plumped at the finger. The Beamo counts on its photopleyysmography sensor which “absorbs light waves through the blood vessels to estimate the percentage of oxygenated hemoglobin in the bloodstream”, explains Withings. Overall, it is the techno used by connected watches, materialized by green light at the back of the dial.

The nurse then places his right index on the sensor dedicated to the SPO2 statement and also pinch the other indexes with his professional sensor. It is undeniable, the results of the Beamo are excellent and identical to those of the oximeter (97%). On the other hand, the heart rate differs somewhat: 89 FC for the Beamo, against 102 FC for professional equipment.
We double these results with other tests, carried out in the emergency room with Doctor Gérald Kierzek. This time, the results are excellent and an error margin of only 2 points is noted.

Again, the manipulation of the Beamo can influence the results that we obtain. To take saturation, the user must place his finger on a sensor, but above all he must exert just pressure on the last. A gauge appears on the screen, with a point to keep in the green zone: it is excluded if the user presses too much or not strong enough. Damage.

Electrocardiogram

Withings talks about electrocardiogram (ECG). However, he has only the name, warns us Gérald Kierzek. “The Beamo records only one derivation of the heart, it would take 12 to make a complete diagnosis. In this configuration, no chance of detecting a infarction, for example, only a heart rate disorder can be identified – in other words, atrial fibrillation”, assures the doctor.

That said, it should also be noted that this feature is not new: the Apple Watch is already able to perform an ECG. Raised on the wrist, it does not oblige the user to equip themselves with an additional device.

Either. To make the measurement, the user must place his indexes on the two Beamo sensors. It seems correct, but is therefore very ultimately limited.

Stethoscope

Beamo capable of capturing the patient’s pulmonary and cardiac sounds. “This is the real novelty for a connected health tool,” says Gérald Kierzek. When the user launches the measurement, the Beamo indicates different areas on which the device must be placed to listen to heartbeat or breathing. It is possible to listen to live sounds by connecting a pair of headphones or transmitting them to your doctor via the application. The sounds are indeed automatically recorded on the latter.

On the other hand, another limit is opposed to the exploitation of these sounds: their quality. Indeed, the sensors are hypersensitive and listening to heart and pulmonary noises is very difficult for a doctor at a distance, especially because of parasitic noise due to the friction of the Beamo on the skin.

Gérald Kierzek then expresses a doubt about the real usefulness of this functionality. “We can perhaps hear a difference between the two lungs and suspect a pneumothorax or pneumonia, but that does not replace a real clinical examination in the stethoscope.” Less important pathologies can then pass through the meshes of the net because of the poor quality of the sounds recorded.

A reduced public health apparatus

With the Beam, Withings wishes to democratize health tools by offering a 4-in-1 simple to handle for the general public. “The follow -up offered by the application can be useful when the patient is asked to take his constants over several days, specifies Laurence Palissot. They are automatically recorded and easily accessible by a doctor or a nurse at home. There is no risk of losing paper or making a mistake”. It is still necessary that the Beamo measures are correct. Faced with patients little comfortable with new technologies, manipulations can be doubtful and poorly done; which can provide truncated results.

It is therefore to be fooled that to think that the Beamo is sufficient for a complete health followed. If the temperature and saturation in the blood are relevant, the ECG and the stethoscope have almost paralyzing limits. Do not be able to take your tension as cruelly lacks the Beamo, essential for good health follow -up.

To this must be added the difficulties of interpretation by the general public, unqualified. All these data, and especially pulmonary and cardiac sounds, are difficult to understand by the general public. It must then be done in the presence of a doctor or at least send him the sounds. In this configuration, the Beamo aims to improve teleconsultation sessions, for example, but no more. “Even at home, the doctor will use his stethoscope,” says Gérald Kierzek.

To provide a solution to users, the French manufacturer gives access to a network of cardiologists and IA content, including health routines, via the paid formula.

The fact remains that the Beamo fails to position itself. Between the professional equipped with his own equipment and the general public who are too low -skilled to use all the functionality of the device: the Beamo is either little or too much evolved. There is nonetheless a reliable device, launched at 250 €…