New Withings fitness watch adds heart rate sensor and notifications

BERLIN -- Withings has carved out a nice little niche in the wearable space with its semi-smart Activité watches that blend clean analog watch design with just enough fitness-tracking sensors to keep things fashionable.

At IFA 2016, the Nokia-owned company announced the Steel HR, its newest "connected health watch" which adds heart rate monitoring and a new digital screen embedded into the watch face for displaying health data and smartphone notifications.

SEE ALSO: Withings Activité Pop: Finally, a fitness tracker you'll proudly wear

The Steel HR comes in two sizes: 36mm and 40mm. The 36mm case sports an 18mm strap and will be available in black and white, and the 40mm case has a 20mm strap and will come in black. Both watches come with a silicone strap.

The watches connect to your iPhone or Android device via Bluetooth through the Health Mate app.

Up until now, Withings' Activité watches only tracked activity goals via steps counted. I reviewed the Activité Pop last year and liked its simplicity.

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The Withings Steel HR comes in two sizes: 36mm and 40mm. Credit: withings

With the Steel HR, Withings is now adding heart rate monitoring into the mix. The watch uses photoplethysmography technology, which uses green LEDs lights to "see" through your skin and detect variations in your blood level. Both the Apple Watch and LG's G Watch R use the same heart rate monitoring technology.

This advanced tech can let users continuously track their heart rates while running and monitor it in real-time throughout the day and even during sleep.

The Steel HR can monitor your heart rate for up to 25 days on a single charge.

Continuous heart rate monitoring would normally be a battery suck, but Withings says it's figured out how to make the Steel HR last up to 25 days on a single charge. After 25 days of tracking your pulse, the watch switches to "power save mode" for an additional 20 days of battery life, which is quite impressive.

The other new hallmark feature is the small digital display. The E Ink display can show various health data and smartphone notifications. A button located on the side of the Steel HR is used to switch between notifications.

The Steel HR will be available on Withings.com in early October starting at $179.95 for the 36mm design and $199.95 for the 40mm. Retailers will stock the watches at the end of October. It joins the $130 Activité Pop, $150 Activité Steel and $450 Activité Steel; none of these watches, however, come with heart rate monitors or a notification display.