If your doctor has asked you to track your blood pressure every day, or even many times a day, here's an enjoyable way to go about it: Withings, the French consumer electronics firm, has just brought a collection of connected personal healthcare products into India. These are undoubtedly expensive, but superbly designed, durable and great for at-home use, needing no medical expertise.
The Withings Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor is a silky-smooth metal cylinder with a firmly curled cuff attached to it. A broad Welcro band wraps the cuff around your left upper arm, where you must take care to place it level with your heart.
But before you test, download the Withings Health Mate app on either a iOS or Android and Bluetooth-pair your smartphone or tablet by following the instructions the app gives you. Connecting the phone and monitor happens in a snap when you press the single button on the monitor. There are no other controls to complicate matters.
The companion app then walks you through how you are to sit and position your arm for perfect measurement. You can opt to take three spaced readings and get an average result, or a take single quick reading. Three readings is more scientific, of course, and closer to the way the doctors do it. Stay calm and quiet as the monitor vibrates and clutches your arm nice and tight. And don't panic because the machine will soon relax its hold and let you go.
The monitor looks at your blood pressure and heartbeat for the test, giving you the result on your screen. You can also save the readings to track changes over time and share with your doctor.
The one thing this device doesn't like is getting into a less-than-ideal position or being overly active while the measurement is on. Error messages informing you that something went wrong are frequent, with no real feedback on how to correct. All you can do it reinstate the test. Users are unlikely to mind, outside of an emergency situation, because self-quantification is rather addictive, as is using this expensive ₹11,999 device.
Other Withings products such as the weighing scale, talk to the same app, Health Mate, making it a good place to record several health parameters for a comprehensive look.
Love: Ease of use, great looks, fantastic app
Hate: High price, fussiness with posture
(The article first appeared in BusinessLine's Technophile)