Nokia Steel HR offers 25 days of pulse monitoring and step counting, now comes in rose gold

The watch formerly known as the Withings Steel HR rides again (again)

Nokia Steel HR rose gold
Duncan Bell
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Nokia's Steel HR is, it says, "the first activity tracker with heart rate monitoring to offer a long-lasting battery life of 25 days, all housed in a classic watch style perfect for transitioning from the gym to the office, to a night out." And now it's available in rose gold as well.

Of course, the keen-eyed among you will have noticed it's very similar to the Withings Steel HR, which came out last year, but then vanished after Nokia bought the brand out. But now… it's back!

There was quite a long gap between the Withings version being pulled and the Nokia reincarnation appearing. Possibly that was just a routine rebranding thing, or maybe there were 'issues' with the device (Amazon reviews include some from rather unhappy punters, but then don't they always?)

What's not up for debate is that since relaunching late last year, the Steel HR has now been joined by the Steel HR rose gold edition. 

The Steel HR, in any colour, takes the successful template of the Nokia Steel, by counting steps and laps of the pool, estimating distances travelled and calories burned, and also tracking sleep. The steps are shown on the smaller sub-dial at the bottom of the watch.

What the Steel HR adds is, obviously, human resources. No, I mean heart-rate tracking, during workouts, showing how fast your heart is racing on the circular, digital display at the top. It'll also track average and resting heart rate when you're not frantically 'crushing your goals'. 

This data then syncs to Nokia's Health Mate app, where it can be added to stats from your Nokia smart scales, and more. You can set step goals, view trends and, as Nokia puts it, "find expert coaching every step of the way," though I think it's slightly pushing it to call the tips it gives 'expert coaching', personally. 

There are many many devices that track your pulse from your wrist, but perhaps the real killer selling points of the Steel HR are that it lasts for up to 25 days between charges – although clearly it will last somewhat less than that if you are using it to track workouts daily – and that it actually looks really pleasant, and like a 'proper' watch. The new rose gold edition is equally cool.

• Nokia Steel costs from £169

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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