Withings has a knack for showing up at CES, unveiling a gizmo that gets a lot of attention in the health tech world. This year, at CES 2024, the company showed off a product called BeamO, an all-in-one diagnostic tool modeled after existing non-contact thermometers. The $250 device is billed as a “multifunction display” that can tell you how hot (or not) you feel, measure blood oxygen, run a single-lead electrocardiogram, and even act as a digital stethoscope. By placing it on your chest, you can listen to the sounds your chest makes or send the files to your doctor for further analysis.
In the hand, the candybar-shaped BeamO is almost unnervingly light, but while the medical technology feels heavy, it doesn’t really need to be. You can use the joystick controller to cycle through its features, choosing between ECG/SpO2, stethoscope, and wireless temperature sensor. Despite the separate display, you’ll still need to use the companion app to guide you in using the stethoscope, as it’s difficult to provide guidance when holding it against your chest. And you don’t have to worry about battery life, either, as the company says the BeamO can last for months on a single charge.
While Withings is marketing its product to worried people, the company says it could have some real impact on the telemedicine world. After all, these basic tests are what you’ll go through most of the time when you see a doctor, but they’re not that easy to do online. (Especially given the dangers of self-reporting, the ability of professionals to hear what’s going on inside the chest seems critical.) The company added that BeamO will also be able to detect atrial fibrillation amid the FDA’s long delays.
Health Mate has also undergone a considerable overhaul to help enhance BeamO’s feature set. Now, up to eight users will be able to track their medication intake and even record the symptoms that prompted them to take a reading. This data can then be exported to anyone you wish to share it with, including sharing live audio from your stethoscope.
It will be interesting to see if BeamO (silly name aside) will be seen as valuable by telemedicine professionals once it wins numerous approvals. Of course, paired with its leading Health Mate app, it will provide users with an easy way to view all this data. We’ll just have to see if this helps doctors feel the same way, or if they’ll roll their eyes and stick with what they know. If nothing else, this is one way to help reduce the number of health devices you need in your home. But we’ll be testing the device when it starts shipping in June.
We will provide live coverage of CES 2024, which will be held in Las Vegas from January 6th to 12th.Get all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-withings-beamo-is-an-all-in-one-thermometer-ecg-and-stethscope-010017439.html?src=rss
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