Another area that could do with some tweaking is the sleep portion.
We must admit, we’re kind of surprised that a wristband that can apparently monitor muscle movement when you’re sleeping to determine the difference between light sleep and deep sleep can’t actually work out that if you haven’t moved for a long period of time and it’s late, as well as how your body is positioned, that it should automatically switch into sleep mode.
It’s not a huge issue to get around: you simple hold down the one button on the Up for a second and let it tell you it’s now in sleep mode, the motor vibrating and a moon lighting up on the band.
Still, if this wristband can determine what you’re doing when you’re sleeping, why doesn’t it have the logic to work out when you’ve fallen asleep and haven’t pushed the button to switch over into sleeping mode?
It’s a fair question we think, as is why is the Up measuring extra footsteps?
We were a little concerned when after a fairly average day at the office with what we could assume would be 3,000 (ish) footsteps, our Up told us we had almost magically hit 5,000.
That seemed a little high, so we tested something, measuring with 20 footsteps. While we had counted 20, the Up measured it as 22 on the arm that wasn’t dominant (the right for this reviewer), while the left arm, the dominant one, showed up as 24 steps.
As a second test, we grabbed a Fitbit Ultra and took it for a spin around the office at the same time as the Up, and found that there was a discrepancy of about 10-20 between them per 100 footsteps, suggesting that the Up might be a little generous in how it calculates footsteps.
It’s not a massive problem, but once you start pushing into the thousands of footsteps, it’s possible that the number is artificially higher based on how the band is working the maths out and not relying on actual hip or leg movement altogether.
One other thing: we’d love to have a clock on the wrist band, because if you’re already wearing a watch, keeping an extra band on your wrist is like wearing two watches, which feels like overkill, even if they perform two different functions.
Conclusion
Jawbone’s Up is certainly an interesting interpretation of how a fitness monitoring band should work, and the company has really pulled some neat ideas together in this gadget, but it won’t be for everyone.
We’re big fans of the sleep functionality, and the silent alarm clock is a really great way to wake up in the morning, especially if you don’t want to wake someone else in the same room.
That said, it would be good to see Jawbone fix some of the issues, like the over-counting of footsteps, and the lack of software from a computer point of view. Still, if you’re keen to see how you’re going, and are looking for some inspiration to get off that seat, Jawbone’s Up is certainly worth taking a look at.
Looks like it’s finally available: http://store.apple.com/au/product/HA626X/A/up-wristband-by-jawbone
Great review, Leigh. Can’t wait for my review sample to arrive and test it out myself. I wonder how the silent alarm feels.. it must be weird at first, thinking someone is poking your wrist to wake you up – but there is no one there 🙂
Not really a poke… more like a phone vibrating against your wrist. Weird at first, but you can’t seem to shake the feeling unless you’re exhausted. I slept through the alarm a few times after getting used to it 🙂
We’ve had two bands for about 9 months now and both are failing to hold charge. One has already been replaced by the retailer when it stopped holding charge ( lasted about three hours) 5 weeks after being purchased. Great idea, poorly executed. Jawbone don’t seem to keen on assisting with the issue after their last email.
If they could fix these issues, it would be a great product. Unfortunately the forums abound with issues.