[rwp-review id=”0″]
As a recluse whose only movement stems from having to get up and find food, it came as a surprise to me when I found out that my Resting Heart Rate was at 50 beats-per-minute. I expected it to be at 80, considering I wolfed down a large margarita pizza yesterday night by myself. However after wearing the Jawbone UP3 for a week, something happened that I never expected to: I became health conscious.
But that’s what you get with the Jawbone UP3, a device that’s meant to monitor your health actually subconsciously prods you into leading a healthier lifestyle.
Design
Jawbone tapped world-renowned Swiss designer Yves Béhar to design the UP3 after his work with the UP24 and he’s done a great job dishing out a compact design; it looks like much like a sport’s bracelet, simple without any bling. It has a moveable clasp that, after much tugging, will ultimately result in a snug fit. Measuring at 220 x 12.2 x 9.3 mm and weighing at 29 g, you’ll barely notice it on your hand until it vibrates to remind you of something. While I did have to wear it quite tight (due to my lack of mass) it caused no irritation as the textured, rubber hypoallergenic TPU strap felt quite comfortable. However, getting it on is quite the task, I fiddled and fumbled and ultimately had to ask someone to help strap it on, though once it’s on, it stays on.
The rubber band design gets thicker at the top, where an aluminium body (that has less than 0.5% nickel) houses 3 LED lights and a touch sensor. The orange LED man lights up when you’re doing an activity, the blue moon lights up when you’re sleeping and the white LED lights up when you get a notification. One thing to note is that you can double tap or hold down on the aluminium body to switch modes but it’s incredibly temperamental, often not working and forcing you to switch modes via the app.
The rest of the sensors are stored in the rubber strap, where metal studs give them away. These sensors are the bioimpedance sensors, which measures heart rate, respiration and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). It’s these metal studs that result in you having some nice pressure tattoos when you remove the UP3. Also situated in the band is the tri-axis accelerometer.
A thing to note about the UP3 is that it is splash proof but not completely waterproof. However I found I could safely shower with it on though I have refrained from chucking it into a bucket full of water.
Features
The Jawbone UP3 is built on an advanced multi-sensor platform that packs in the sensors I mentioned above.
Passive Heart Rate Monitor
One of these measures the resting heart rate; Jawbone claims that resting heart rate is the key bpm metric. However, while a resting heart rate is indeed an important indicator of general health levels (a spike can indicate an upcoming illness, though that might just be a false reading). Unfortunately I didn’t find it as useful as I would a continuous heart rate monitor. Yes, my resting heart rate on a certain day would be measured as 68 BPM and the Jawbone app would give me some tips on how to improve become healthier, but other than that the number wasn’t useful.
Fortunately the UP3 also features passive heart rate monitoring but unfortunately I found it limiting in its usefulness since it didn’t continuously monitor my heart rate. The passive heart rate was measured throughout the day when my body is still though I was skeptical about this since I would get a reading on the app when I was walking and none when sitting down. The heart rate monitor was supposed to be the biggest feature about the UP3 but unfortunately it’s a dud.
Activity Tracking
Activity Tracking is one of the UP3’s other features and I was actually pleasantly surprised by it. The Jawbone UP3 can sense when you’ve begun an activity, such as a walk in the park, and once you’ve completed said activity it will prompt you, via the app, to confirm what activity you did along with an estimation of the time spent doing it. Yes it does require some work on your part but they pay off is worth it; it’s far more easier to log activities than previous Jawbone trackers. If anything the activity tracker is what makes you strive to be healthy as it always gives you a percentage of how much exercise you ought be doing for the day.
Sleep Tracking
Sleep tracking is another feature of the UP3 that you should take with a pinch of salt. The Up3’s sleep tracking works best when you manually enable and disable it before and after you go to bed, something you’ll have to remember when you wake up bleary eyed. But if you forgot to do that, it can also recover the basic details of your sleep after the fact (you lose out on some of the deeper analysis if you rely on the automatic sleep tracking, though). But the data you do get is quite something; the UP3 will graphically divide the time you slept into 4 areas: when you were awake, REM sleep, light sleep and deep sleep, with a small summary at the end of how much time you spent in each state of slumber. While it looks great, there were some nights where it didn’t flag those midnight pee breaks and I’m still a little dubious about the REM sleep tracking. What’s best is the smart alarm it offers, which wakes you up at the best moment during a specific time period. Again at the bottom of every sleep summary card in the app is also a tips and facts about sleeping which while interesting to read aren’t really going to change my sleeping habits.
Battery
The battery life on the UP3 is fantastic, going for a about 6 days without needing to charge though Jawbone claims it can do a week. Luckily the Jawbone app sends out a push notification letting you know the UP3 is low on charge and then comes the bummer: charging it, it takes quite a while. Charging is noticeably slower compared to previous Jawbone devices but I guess that’s the price you have to pay to get a few extra days of usage.
App
The sad thing about the UP3 is that it doesn’t have a visual interface; all the devices controls are managed through the Jawbone App which is available on Android and iOS. Nothing much has changed with the App, it’s still centred around a home screen that shows the amount of sleep and how many steps you’ve taken throughout the day. Scrolling down will let you see information from previous days along with little snippets on how to improve your health and so forth.
However there is one new feature (that isn’t tied exclusively to the UP3): Duels.
Duels allow users to challenge an UP friend to compete on who can take the most steps in a day, three days or over a full week. It’s a great way to make you strive towards being healthy since human beings are configured to be competitive.
Verdict
It isn’t the ultimate 24 hours, 7 days a week tracker we expected and to be honest, one I’m not sure I would have wanted. It has a whole load of sensors that in the end give us numbers and data that doesn’t really mean anything but does make you lead a healthier lifestyle as you read through the facts and tips on the app. And that’s the sad thing, the app also works with other versions such as the UP2. As a result the UP3 feels incomplete and for the price of AED 700 I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone over the UP2 which is far cheaper ($99); you’ll get the much of the same data over the app anyway.
