Jawbone UP: A Review

Just like quizzes and horoscopes, people are inevitably attracted to information that tells them more about themselves. And the Jawbone UP is one more piece of technology that does just that. In a world where personal data is becoming more and more easily available, the UP measures your activity – it not only tells you how far you’ve walked, but can also tell you how well you’ve slept. I’m also a fan of tracking how healthy I’m being, especially as I’m not allowed to do much exercise at the moment.

The UP is a bracelet that syncs to your iPhone. You wear it 24/7, even in the shower (I’m too much of a wimp to check this) and to sleep. At least twice a day, you sync it to your phone where it uploads and puts your information into friendly-looking graphs.

The Jawbone UP is officially my new companion. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a friend yet, however. Currently, I’m still a bit miffed with it for telling me I once consumed over 3000 calories in one day (Shannon, I’m sure that is all your fault – you and your pancake tempations). However, it is with me night and day and I strangely look forward to synching it up with my phone, especially when I know I’ve done well.

So far, I’ve set my goals at 7 hours of sleep a night and 10,000 steps a day. I’ll be keen to see how I get on with these over the upcoming weeks. I also have a sneaky suspicion that on the days when I work from home, I will hardly leave my seat. Sigh.

Favourite features of the Jawbone UP

• Idle Alert – you get buzzed if you’ve been inactive for a certain amount of time.
• Smart Sleep Alarms – set an alarm, e.g. 7am and by monitoring your sleep patterns it will wake you up to 20 minutes early at a moment which is best for you for energy and wakefulness.
• Battery life – compare it with an iPhone and this thing can run forever. Well, not quite. But a full battery will last approximately 7 days.
• It is so easy to set up. So easy. Even my cat could do it and she doesn’t even have opposable thumbs.
• The Sleep Monitor is pretty fascinating. For example, did you know that last night I fell asleep in 12 minutes? I also spent an hour of time in bed (8 hours, 8 minutes in total) awake.
• Jawbone’s customer service has been great so far. Hugely impressed.
• You get to name your Jawbone Up. Mine’s called ‘Pie’.

Disadvantages of the Jawbone UP

• Like most things, it only works the more you put into it. Therefore you need to remember to set it to Sleep Mode at night and input your meals if you want to track calories also.
• As of yet, I have no friends on this which means I’m pretty lonely. Having other people to ‘compete’ against would be fun…
• This isn’t a disadvantage yet, but a fear. I’m afraid that my lovely mint green band is going to get all grubby.

Admittedly, I’ve not tried the FitBit Flex or the Nike FuelBand, so I’ve not got anything to compare it with. I was put off the FitBit as it’s not available in bracelet form and knowing me, I’ll most likely lose it. The Nike FuelBand looks pretty cool, but doesn’t track sleep. I’m not sure how useful I’ll find the sleep monitor but it was something that swayed my decision.

Anyone keen to convince me that the FitBit or FuelBand is better? I’m especially keen for the FitBit Flex… having compared the two, I can’t see what the difference is. Oh, apart from the fact that the Jawbone UP is available now and FitBit is still to come… (Spring 2013 apparently…)

Jawbone UP Details
Price: £99.99
Buy it here: https://jawbone.com/up
Available Colours: Onyx, Light Grey, Mint Green, Blue