Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Twitch
    Game on Aus
    • News
      Revive, a new Australian Government arts policy

      Australian Government To Revive Interactive Games Fund

      January 30, 2023

      The Government announced the return of the Australian Interactive Games Fund as part of a new national cultural policy, Revive.

      James Bond spy running from fire

      Golden Eye comes to Game Pass in February 2023

      January 26, 2023

      Exciting times ahead, as Microsoft announced the next wave of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass for Console, Cloud and…

      Developer_Direct presented by Xbox & Bethesda

      Developer_Direct presented by Xbox & Bethesda

      January 26, 2023

      Today, Xbox and Bethesda presented the first ever Developer_Direct, which provided an inside look at some of the biggest games…

      The Kid Laroi x Fornite - Wild Dreams

      The Kid Laroi’s Wild Dreams – New Interactive Fortnite Experience starting 28 Jan

      January 24, 2023

      [This media release has been provided by Double Jump and is presented by the GOA team for your information] Australian…

      2K Game announce WWE2K23 Cover Athlete

      2K Game announce WWE2K23 Cover Athlete

      January 23, 2023

      [This media release has been provided by 2K Games and is presented by the GOA team for your information] The…

      View All
    • Reviews
      front view of white elgato microphone

      The Elgato Wave 3

      January 28, 2023

      THE Elgato Wave 3 is an excellent microphone for streaming and podcasting. The built-in audio interface makes it easy to…

      Dead Space review – Return to the dark

      Dead Space review – Return to the dark

      January 27, 2023

      DEAD SPACE has long been a highly regarded franchise in the horror community. Ever since its original release back in…

      Fire Emblem Engage – Review

      Fire Emblem Engage – Review

      January 24, 2023

      THE Fire Emblem series remains more popular than ever and several of the games, including the latest one, Fire Emblem Engage,…

      One Piece Odyssey – Review

      One Piece Odyssey – Review

      January 18, 2023

      CONFESSION time: I’ve never watched any of the One Piece anime shows – or any anime, to be honest -…

      Samurai Maiden Review – You talk too much

      Samurai Maiden Review – You talk too much

      December 21, 2022

      SAMURAI Maiden has finally released after some time in early access on Steam on PlayStation 4, 5, Nintendo Switch and…

      View All
    • Podcasts
      Nuts & Bolts Hero Card Ep 71

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 71: 2023 Starts With A BANG!

      January 28, 2023

      Natty and Jim have their work cut out for them catching up on all the esports news! From ESL launching…

      The Weekly Show Ep 268 Hero Card

      The Weekly Show Ep 268: Out With The Old, In With The New…Year

      December 16, 2022

      Doomcutie joins Stormie and Jim as they talk through mods, leaks and so much more! Plus our Bloody Good Game Of The Week thanks to Aussie Broadband.

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 70 Hero Card

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 70: Farewell 2022

      December 10, 2022

      In their last show for 2022 Jim gets fired up about an incident in Argentinian Valorant, Natty laments the end…

      The Weekly Show Ep 267 Hero Card

      The Weekly Show Ep 267: Consulting The Crystal Ball For The Game Awards

      December 9, 2022

      Doomcutie joins Stormie and Jim as they talk through mods, leaks and so much more! Plus our Bloody Good Game Of The Week thanks to Aussie Broadband.

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 69 Hero Card

      Nuts & Bolts Ep 69: Noice

      December 3, 2022

      Jim flies solo as he recaps the ANZPL Grand Final. He talks League of Legends player movements, an OWL team…

      View All
    • Categories
      • BY PLATFORM
        • Playstation
        • Xbox
        • Nintendo
        • PC
        • Mobile
        • VR
        • Retro
      • BY GENRE
        • Action
        • Action-Adventure
        • Battle Royale
        • Fighting
        • FPS
        • Horror Games
        • RPG
        • Simulation
        • Sports
        • MMORPG
        • MOBA
        • Platformer
        • Strategy
        • Survival
        • Indie
      • GOA ESSENTIALS
        • Esports
        • Conventions
        • Tabletop
        • Hardware
        • Funny
        • Streaming
        • Win
        • Podcast
        • Video
    • More
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
    Game on Aus
    Home » Withings ScanWatch Horizon: An outstanding hybrid smartwatch
    Withings ScanWatch Horizon: An outstanding hybrid smartwatch
    GAMING REVIEWS

    Withings ScanWatch Horizon: An outstanding hybrid smartwatch

    The Withings ScanWatch Horizon is a noteworthy upgrade on its predecessor and is easily one of the best hybrid smartwatches on the market now.
    Royce WilsonBy Royce WilsonJuly 11, 2022
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    SMARTWATCHES come in a wide range of types and designs, from the popular Apple Watch to the iconic FitBit to countless others – there’s a huge range on the market nowadays.

    A few of them combine the features of a regular watch and a smartwatch into one design, known as a hybrid smartwatch, and the latest addition to that genre represents one of its best implementations yet.

    The Withings ScanWatch Horizon is an update of the earlier Withings ScanWatch (which I reviewed back in 2020) and the majority of what I said then remains true, with the few changes being improvements to the offering.

    Aesthetically and from an overall design perspective, the ScanWatch Horizon is a significant improvement on its predecessor. It looks and feels like a proper dive watch, right down to the brushed metal case, the rotating bezel, and general style.

    It features a 43mm case and is rated for 10 Atmospheres (100m) water resistance, which means you can wear it swimming or snorkelling, but despite appearances it’s not suitable for actual diving. This isn’t an uncommon thing with many diver-inspired watches, however, so it’s not a criticism.

     

    Withings ScanWatch Horizon: An outstanding hybrid smartwatch
    The ScanWatch Horizon compares very favourably in aesthetic, design, and wearability to an actual diving watch – such as the Vostok Amphibia pictured here.

    Overall, in style and wearability, it compares favourably to actual diving watches, which adds to the appeal given the design’s continued popularity even among people who don’t take them anywhere near water (known as “Desk Divers” in the watch collecting community).

    The ScanWatch Horizon uses standard 20mm watch straps and one of the neat features is the box comes with a small toolkit for adjusting the band link lengths or swapping it out completely for a different kind of strap (there’s even a silicone one included).

    One of the big improvements is the ScanWatch Horizon has GPS tracking (a feature missing from the earlier iteration of the watch), meaning it provides detailed information on workouts and routes taken. Besides the design, this is probably the most significant upgrade on the watch and it’s a very welcome one.

    I was also really pleased to see one of the specific activities it monitors is gaming – really useful to see how your heart rate and oxygen levels perform during intense matches. The sleep monitoring is also helpful for understanding the after effects of staying up until 3am to finish that raid when you’ve got work the next morning.

    Withings ScanWatch Horizon: An outstanding hybrid smartwatch
    Gaming is explicitly included as one of the workout monitoring categories in the ScanWatch Horizon.

    The battery lasts for about 30 days (with another 20 up its sleeve purely as a watch) and recharges via a proprietary (and included) cable with attachment. I’d really like to have seen MagSafe/Qi-compatible charging as an option, given the pricepoint, so was somewhat disappoint that it wasn’t there and I now have yet another proprietary USB cable to go into my collection of USB cables for charging things.

    From a wearability perspective, I’ve found the ScanWatch Horizon extremely comfortable. It fits nicely on my wrist and has just enough heft to feel like a quality watch, but not so much that it’s obtrusive. The dial is easy to read – helped by see-through hands accentuated by lume – and the controls are handled by rotating the crown, which also has a push-button for input. There’s no touchscreen, and you only get a single line display of e-mails or text messages – better than nothing, but not as useful as touchscreen smartwatches were you can often see the whole SMS in one glance.

    I would have liked a way to increase or customise the vibration intensity/pattern too but it’s a minor issue with what is otherwise an excellent smartwatch.

    Withings ScanWatch Horizon: An outstanding hybrid smartwatch
    The ScanWatch Horizon now includes GPS tracking – a significant upgrade from its predecessor.

    Setup and connection were straightforward and I haven’t had any issues with the watch disconnecting from my phone or not receiving notifications in a timely manner; the integration with the Health Mate app is effective and provides useful and easy to understand information, and everything just worked exactly as I expected it to.

    The heartbeat and oxygen level monitors remain very cool and while not a lot of use for someone in good health beyond going “Hey, that’s neat”, it is of use to people with medical issues who need to keep an eye on them (although, of course, it’s not a substitute for proper monitoring by an actual doctor).

    One of the few missing features is the ability to control a music player or streaming service via the watch – which is surprising, because even something as simple as being able to play/pause or skip songs would be easy to implement with the available controls and add significantly to the watch’s utility for active users.

    Withings ScanWatch Horizon: An outstanding hybrid smartwatch
    The Withings ScanWatch Horizon packs the majority of practical smartwatch functions into an attractive analogue wristwatch design.

    The RRP is AUD$699, which is in the same range as a high quality quartz movement watch, and this one comes with the numerous medical tracking and smartwatch features as well, making the price seem fair to me.

    As long as you don’t mind the lack of music player control, this is a well made, useful, and stylish smartwatch which is well worth not only adding to your wristwear rotation, but seriously considering as a daily driver.

    The Withings ScanWatch Horizon sits nicely on the intersection between a traditional analogue watch and a modern smartwatch, and of the hybrid smartwatches I’ve encountered, this is easily the best and is highly recommended as a result.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleLogitech G815 or G915? Here’s what you need to know
    Next Article Game On for NSW in Nintendo trademark move

    Related Posts

    front view of white elgato microphone
    GAMING REVIEWS January 28, 2023

    The Elgato Wave 3

    THE Elgato Wave 3 is an excellent microphone for streaming and podcasting. The built-in audio interface makes it easy to…

    Dead Space review – Return to the dark
    ACTION-ADVENTURE January 27, 2023

    Dead Space review – Return to the dark

    DEAD SPACE has long been a highly regarded franchise in the horror community. Ever since its original release back in…

    Subscribe

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    Ads

    Categories
    • ACTION
    • ACTION-ADVENTURE
    • APPLE
    • BATTLE ROYALE
    • CLOUD GAMING
    • CONVENTIONS
    • ESPORTS
    • Events
    • FEATURE
    • FIGHTING
    • FPS
    • FUNNY
    • GAMING HARDWARE
    • GAMING NEWS
    • GAMING REVIEWS
    • GIFT GUIDE
    • GOA
    • GOA PODCAST
    • HORROR GAMES
    • INDIE GAMING
    • Industry
    • MMORPG
    • MOBA
    • MOBILE
    • NINTENDO
    • Open-World
    • OPINION
    • PC
    • PLATFORMER
    • PLAYSTATION
    • Press Release
    • PREVIEW
    • RACING
    • RETRO
    • RPG
    • SIMULATION
    • SPORTS
    • STRATEGY
    • STREAMING
    • SUBSCRIPTION GAMES SERVICE UPDATES
    • SURVIVAL
    • TABLETOP GAMING
    • TECH
    • VIDEO
    • VR
    • XBOX
    Related Article
    Revive, a new Australian Government arts policy
    GAMING NEWS

    Australian Government To Revive Interactive Games Fund

    January 30, 2023Darren 'Str8JaktJim' MacneallBy Darren 'Str8JaktJim' Macneall

    The Government announced the return of the Australian Interactive Games Fund as part of a new national cultural policy, Revive.

    front view of white elgato microphone
    GAMING REVIEWS

    The Elgato Wave 3

    January 28, 2023DoomcutieBy Doomcutie

    THE Elgato Wave 3 is an excellent microphone for streaming and podcasting. The built-in audio interface makes it easy to connect to your computer…

    Game on Australia’s Most Anticipated Video Game titles of 2023
    FEATURE

    Game on Australia’s Most Anticipated Video Game titles of 2023

    January 28, 2023Mikeey BarrowBy Mikeey Barrow

    WELL, a new year is upon us and with that, the future’s looking bright for another year of new release titles to come out.…

    Game on Australia Logo

    Game On Aus is an Australian games publication working across written, video and podcast, and supported by an ever-growing community of content creators and fans!

    Copyright GameOnAus 2023. Privacy Policy. Website by Digital Hitmen

    CONTENT
    • News
    • Gaming Reviews
    • Podcast
    • Tech
    • Indie
    ABOUT GOA
    • About Us
    • Contact

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.