Last year, Bluetooth headset and speaker manufacturer released the UP wristband to much critical acclaim, only to pull it off the market a month later because of a defective design and numerous unhappy customers. The situation was so bad, Jawbone offered a "no questions asked guarantee", refunded all UP purchasers the full price paid, and allowed them to keep the device.
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Today, Jawbone released version 2.0 of the UP wristband, promising redesigned hardware and a better user experience. The wristband is similar to the Nike+ FuelBand that Apple began selling last month.
The Up, which was and still is a flexible bracelet, had two distinct issues that led to the hardware failures and thus the returns, Bogard explains now. The first was that small amounts of water were able to get into the band, causing moisture and contaminants to break some of the internal technology. The second was that the bendable nature of the band caused some of the tech components to break; people were bending and playing with the bracelet more than Jawbone had anticipated.
"In the last year we have learned a ton and we learned a lot from what became this beta in the real world. We got a lot of rich data from our users," Bogard explained. And with that the company built the next version of the Up, which is launching today in eight colors for $129.99.
The new Jawbone is available at Jawbone.com, Apple, AT&T and Best Buy stores. The UP app is available free on the App Store. [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)Yes it is.
Ah . . . so now we are getting to the bottom of this. You purchased a device in the US and the European Jawbone support wouldn't issue the refund. That's very different from the blanket statements you made such as "no costumer support in Europe" and "customers support only United States!" While this isn't always the case, it's very common for a company only to give support in the country that the device was purchased. That really shouldn't be a surprise.I bought my Up on a US travel, so the refund could only be issued in the US/Canada. I have the email from Jawbone.
I am a basketball official and wanted something to track workouts and the amount of distance covered during a game. I got a fitbit and loved it. The only problem is the form factor - I took off my pants one night, forgot I had it on the waistband and washed it. After that I got an Up for myself and my wife. Hers went bad almost immediately. We got the refund for hers and I took it back to the store for the exchange. I will make a long story short with this:
Fitbit
Pros: Accuracy (must supply walking and running step distance), battery life, small size, now measures flights of stairs, records activities, display on the device
Cons: must put on waistband making it easy to lose, app seems to be lacking (not sure if it will sync with bluetooth), sleep function...if you wear the stupid wristband
Jawbone Up
Pros: Accuracy, inactive notification (vibrates), records activities, measures sleep, wake from sleep, looks like a normal bracelet - harder to lose, new app looks better
Cons: must be plugged into audio jack of phone to upload information (hard if you have certain phone cases), losing a cap is inevitable, spotty reliability history
Nike Fuelband
Pros: the almighty Nike name, looks like a normal bracelet, harder to lose, the app is great, bluetooth syncing with phone
Cons: stupid Nike Fuel measurement, other measurements are not accurate (Polar heart rate monitor said I burned 360 calories, Fuelband said I burned 177 on my elliptical), no sleep measurements, no activity measurements, price ($161 after taxes)
I returned the Nike Fuelband yesterday and planned on getting a Fitbit One today. I'm not sure if I should hold off now. I am forced to put the devices, except the fitbit, into my pocket when I officiate. It wasn't a problem Saturday night (college game) with the Fuelband, but the stupid Nike Fuel said I didn't reach my goal after being on the elliptical for 30 minutes in the morning and running an entire college game...that should have been more than 10,000 steps (what I have been told should be everyone's goal).
Sorry for the long post. Since I am in the position I am in this gives me something to think about.
nice observations, but in reality all of these devices are gimmicks at best
Gimmicks how? To me they're certainly not.
They will never be perfect - to be perfect, Nike and Jawbone would have to implant 4 frickin' microchips into your arms and legs.
These are motivational/tracking tools. They are best for cardio, and if you buy into their philosophy, they can be brilliant.
I lost 1.5 stone, went from 26% body fat down to 10% and I've maintained it half a year later, thanks to my childish competitive spirit and a Nike FuelBand.
Given their poor track record I don't think i will risk another $100+ on being a beta tester and waiting for UP3 to arrive.
Way to go painting yourself like an exploited victim, even though Jawbone does everything it should for a reputable company screwing up. Dude, they gave your money back and let you keep the product, didn't they? What else do you want, CEO doing your laundry?They must have lost a ton of money dealing with the problem in 1.0 and lost almost months of market share to Nike and others, it is not like they are happy somebody beta tested the product. I am sure they would have liked it better if everything went fine the first time. On second thought, they might actually be better off losing you as a customer, who knows how you would bad mouth them for every little problem, real or imagined...
- For a lot of guys, myself include, weight lifting is a staple part of their workout routine and none of these devices have yet to find a way to accurately record and measure this type of movement/exercise
I look at these as devices to measure cardio training, not strength training. They serve very different purposes and need to be counted differently. I'm not saying both aren't important, because they are, but it's difficult to find a measurement that accurately tracks both in a meaningful way. (Yes I know you burn calories while weightlifting but that isn't the primary goal of that activity.) I don't think that makes it a gimmick.