This is what a Jawbone Up activity tracker (£100, €130, $129) is supposed to look like.
This is what my Up actually looks like. (Yes, I've lost the cap too!)
Okay, I've now been wearing it 24/7 for five months, and am fairly active - football, running and hockey every week - but I'm pretty careful with my tech. I certainly don't wear my Up band in the shower.
But I'm really not sure how much longer it's going to last.
Maybe I should have bought a small size rather than a medium band, but the band is certainly losing its shape and the plastic skin is overhanging the button you press to active the sleep/wake mode.
(Or maybe the sleep/wake button mechanism is moving backwards within the band. It's hard to say which.)
Of course, this is one of the big challenges for wearable technology. We're going to wear it, and it's going to wear out. That's the reason most other companies have either chosen watch-style units or hard plastic frames for their trackers.
Other than the wear, however, I'm pretty happy with the Up.
Sure, the software could be better (iPad support anyhow?), but the software for any wearable tech could - and presumably will over time - be better.
NB: I think my primary request would be an option to manually add-in data, especially for the nights I've forgotten to turn on the sleep mode - happens about once a month.
I'm not a power user - so no food or mood tracking etc - but here's my data to-date. Sleep increasing, steps high. All good.
This is what my Up actually looks like. (Yes, I've lost the cap too!)
But I'm really not sure how much longer it's going to last.
Maybe I should have bought a small size rather than a medium band, but the band is certainly losing its shape and the plastic skin is overhanging the button you press to active the sleep/wake mode.
(Or maybe the sleep/wake button mechanism is moving backwards within the band. It's hard to say which.)
Of course, this is one of the big challenges for wearable technology. We're going to wear it, and it's going to wear out. That's the reason most other companies have either chosen watch-style units or hard plastic frames for their trackers.
Other than the wear, however, I'm pretty happy with the Up.
Sure, the software could be better (iPad support anyhow?), but the software for any wearable tech could - and presumably will over time - be better.
NB: I think my primary request would be an option to manually add-in data, especially for the nights I've forgotten to turn on the sleep mode - happens about once a month.
I'm not a power user - so no food or mood tracking etc - but here's my data to-date. Sleep increasing, steps high. All good.
No comments:
Post a Comment