2011-11-05

Jawbone UP a Wristband Health Monitor

Jawbone Unveils Up, The High-Tech Wristband To Help You Sleep, Live Better

Jawbone, a company best known for making mobile headsets and speakers, is expanding into the health business.

The company has debuted a high-tech wristband called "Up" that, paired with a free smartphone application, tracks users' sleep and activity patterns and promises to "nudge" them to adopt healthier habits.

Jawbone Up aims to get you healthier | Crave - CNET


Similar to other movement-tracking fitness gadgets like the Fitbit, the Jawbone Up has a motion accelerator to sense movement. Jawbone calls this one the MotionX engine, and the wristband is designed to be worn all day long. The Up is durable and water-resistant, so you can wear it in the shower as well. Jawbone claims that the Up has up to 10 days of battery life

The Up iPhone app tracks your daily activity (pace, steps, calories); your sleep patterns; and even what you're eating (you take a picture of the food with the app) in a "ME screen" along with a "Lifeline" chart. After you've captured the photo of your meal, Up will notify you a few hours later to ask how the food has affected you.

Jawbone Wristband, App Track Your Total Health | PCWorld


The band resembles a bulkier version of those yellow Livestrong bracelets, and keeps track of all your activity and sleeping patterns thanks to the motion-tracking engine and other sensors. The companion app then asks for photos of your meals and answers to a few questions about how certain foods make you feel. The idea is to collect as much data as unintrusively as possible to then create, as the company puts it, "a complete, holistic view of your health" that can be accessed from the app at any time.