When it comes to fitness trackers, there’s one name that mostly everyone has heard of; Jawbone. Now, they’re back with the UP3, which is a whole new beast compared to the UP24 and it now features a lot of additions that competitors have been adding into their hardware for some time now. There’s a new design that still keeps some of what made the Jawbone UP so popular and there are smarter sensors at work here, and more of them. With technology coming from the company’s purchase of BodyMedia last year, this is Jawbone’s smartest fitness tracker yet, but at $180, just how smart is ‘smart’?
Sensors that detect movement and such are what make these trackers possible, and the UP3 is packed with smarter sensors that collect new types of data. There’s a tri-axis accelerometer to track your movement while exercising (like going for a run), an ambient temperature sensor, skin sensors, a bioimpedance sensor and one thing a lot of people have been waiting for; a heart rate monitor. All of these new sensors allow the UP3 to track more of your activities and give you more accurate data, it’ll now break your sleep into deep sleep or light sleep for instance, and it can now figure out which activity you’re doing automatically. If you go out for a run, the UP3 will know you’re running and start automatically collecting data, without any need to prompt it.
Design wise, the UP3 has been designed by Yves Behar once again, and as you can see from the image above, it’s clear that Jawbone is still pushing as this as something that can fit into your wardrobe first and there will be a whole range of colors and designs on sale starting next year. As of right now, the black version is pegged for release before 2014 draws to a close and it’ll retail for $180 in the US. Jawbone know that people look to the UP for a good-looking fitness tracker, so they’ve prepared a nice animation below showing you just what you can expect from the full range.
While the UP3 isn’t a blend of smartwatch and fitness tracker like Samsung’s Gear Fit or Sony’s SmartBand Talk, the top of the UP3 is touch sensitive and we’re assuming there’ll be ways of controlling your phone while on the move with this. While that’s not a deal breaker, it would have been nice to see some sort of display to provide feedback on the move, especially your heart rate. Still, the UP3 is an improvement in every way and Jawbone have made this a one size fits all device, with a clasp that can adjust to many different wrist sizes, so there’s no need to become confused over which size you need in the first place.
There’s a lot more to the UP3, and we’ll find out more when it goes on sale later this year, but in the meantime those interested can take a look at the video below and start thinking about whether $180 is a fair price for one of the smartest fitness trackers out there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRVrgQrkWWQ