UP 24 by Jawbone - Bluetooth Enabled - Large - Retail Packaging - Persimmon Red..
Grab Now UP 24 by Jawbone - Bluetooth Enabled - Large - Retail Packaging - Persimmon Red By Jawbone
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711 of 735 people found the following review helpful.
By RST
Last November, I reviewed the Jawbone UP, and later compared it to the Fitbit Flex. A year later, Jawbone has now released the UP24. This review will primarily focus on making a choice between UP, UP24 and Fitbit Flex. When I originally reviewed the devices, I thought the main differences would be in the hardware appearance and fit/feel. I was a bit wrong-- the biggest functionality difference was in the quality, function and aesthetic value of the software that comes with it. With the UP24 now having bluetooth syncing, the biggest difference for me is now only the software. I'll let you make your own conclusions.
And now a year later, I will refresh my thoughts about the UP & Flex devices, and how the UP24 adds to the mix of options.
If you want to read my original in depth review of the UP, you can see it here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RT0KPKVSQD0HI/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm (copy & paste if click isn't allowed)
If you want to read my original in depth review of the Fitbit Flex, you can see it here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1CVXEEYIAIR0W/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm (copy & paste if click isn't allowed)
If you want to read my original review of the Fitbit One, you can see it here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RU12ENFFFWD02/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm (copy & paste if click isn't allowed)
Hardware Comparison
UP24, UP and Flex are equally easy and comfortable for me to wear. The Flex requires a bit more work to latch, and the UPs both can get in the way when keyboarding on a laptop. Flex is charged by removing a horse pill sized module from the rubber arm band, and plugging it in to USB. UP is charged by plugging the band into an adapter and charging in USB.
In the UP vs Flex, I got about the same battery life in both, slightly leaning toward the Flex. In UP24, I get about 7 days of battery usage, and this includes it automatically bluetooth syncing. On both devices, if you have a bluetooth 4+ device, you should not see any noticeable drop in battery life by staying connected all the time, and I have not seen a difference.
I have worn the UP and Flex in extensive swimming, and while none are rated to track your swimming, none encountered any technical issues from the water. The Flex seemed to get a bit "funky/gross" in the portal where the horse pill goes. UP did not get gunky under its cap. Not a deal breaker on the Flex, but a bit more work to maintain.
From a physical and appearance perspective, the UP24 and UP are identical on the outside. The only difference is that the UP24 has a smaller sync jack inside the cap which is smaller than a standard headphone jack. The UP syncs through a headphone jack of your phone, while the UP24 and Flex use bluetooth.
Charging in both devices takes about at the same amount of time-- 30-60 minutes. I recommend for both that you only use a computer or PC-- not a USB wall charger. Some devices fail quickly when charged with more than 1.5V and while I don't have scientific proof to back it, this is my conclusion from what I've seen in discussions and on forums.
When you buy an UP or UP24, you are committing to a color. When you buy a Flex, you can change the band and can choose any color you can find in a replacement band.
Wearing each isn't terribly different. The UP/24 is more like a slap bracelet or a twisty metal that retains its original shape. You stretch it to put it on and it overlaps again to hold on. You can push it tighter if you want, as the rubber grips itself and lets you adjust the tension. The Flex is a thinner but wider band and feels more out of the way, but the clasp can be a bit difficult to operate. For absolute adherence I would say the Flex stays on better in most normal situations. The UP will stay on on roller coasters and probably even a NASA launch, but it can sometimes get entangled in backpack shoulder straps and pull itself from your arm to the strap. This is the only negative thing I have to say about the design of the UP.
Sleep Function
All three devices are equally accurate for day time walking for me and report almost identical steps. The UP and UP24 are equally good at sleep monitoring, both deep & shallow. The Fitbit didn't give nearly as much detail about sleep, and for that matter about activity, intensity, etc. throughout the day in such a clear simple beautiful presentation. The UP products now can auto add your sleep if you forgot to put it in sleep mode and you give it appropriate sleep and awake times. This is a really nice addition since all devices require you to tell them when you sleep, and sometimes it's easy to forget. Now, you don't lose that data. A great improvement.
One feature I like about the UP is the "power nap" function. It learns your sleep patterns, and lets you make it through one cycle of sleep and slowly begins to vibrate to wake you up. For me, this amount of time is about 26 minutes. It's so uncanny at waking you at the right time that you may almost feel like you didn't sleep-- until you realize you did. It can also use this technology to wake you in the morning.
Software Openness
For some months I wore both the Jawbone UP and Fitbit Flex on my arm, side by side, comparing their use, charging habits, syncing functionality, and software. There were a few reasons that some people would prefer the Fitbit product, and most of those focused on the Fitbit software's openness to sharing data to other third party applications for more intense food tracking (like MyFitness Pal, which now works with both UP/24 Flex), and other types of apps that help you focus on weight loss, etc. Last year, UP didn't have this functionality, but now it does. On the openness of software, there may be some caveats of what is available for each, but both now fully support third party software integration to your data.
Software Usage
Hands down, the UP software is more useful, intuitive, predictive and provides more insight. The software is downright beautiful. The design gets out of the way and lets you really interact with the data and configuration in a way that feels natural and intuitive. It's fun. The Fitbit Flex software is an adaptation of the software they've had for some time for their other devices, so in that I suspect that Fitbit didn't have the opportunity and timing to start with a fresh slate and rethink their software. I didn't like the software enough that I chose to stop using the Flex after a few months. I'm sure a total refresh will come soon from Fitbit, if it hasn't already subsequent to my testing of the Flex.
Social
When I did the original reviews linked above, I received (and welcomed!) a ton of questions. I might expect the same here. From my perspective the UP24 is an incremental upgrade to the UP, which was already neck to neck with the Fitbit Flex, and for me, the preferred choice. With the addition of Bluetooth to the UP, it's my clear and only choice. There may be reasons that you would prefer the Flex, and one reason that could sway you either way is the social aspect-- both support friends, which can provide encouragement both directly, and by your observance of their performance. Hey! My friend did 2x what I did all week, no wonder I am not dropping pounds! Etc. Wherever you have friends already using the platform, don't discredit this as a strong piece of encouragement if you're looking to make this an encouragement product.
In the beginning, Fibit sent weekly email summaries that were quite nice, and the UP strong point was providing real feedback about your data, and telling you in which percentage of performance you are in by all UP users. This area is also starting to commingle a bit with both products nearly covering the bases of each other.
Food Logging
I don't plan to compare some more of the discrete differences in software such as food logging, etc. I tried it originally in both and while I wasn't an expert, I stopped using it in both products. If I pick back up on the habit of food logging, I will update the review with that information. At the time, the UP had a beautiful software which even allowed you to scan bar codes, and Flex had less pretty but more in depth software food database. I would suspect that this is another area where this competition will become more intense and where they will equalize, and since 3rd party apps are supported in both, you could do this in another app if either software is lacking.
So to conclude, if you want me to choose a product for you as the average general interested customer, I would choose the UP24 for you. But if you know more about your needs or you have specific needs that you know the Flex meets and UP/24 does not, it's ok! I certainly wouldn't bash the flex and I think they could make it a quite powerful product again if they could get their software on par with Jawbone UP software app for iOS/Android.
I recommend the UP24 (which comes with bluetooth). I would only recommend the original UP (the one without bluetooth) to someone who doesn't have bluetooth, doesn't want to enable bluetooth, or is purely buying on price but likes the description of software or features of the UP/24. If you choose the UP and not the 24, make sure it is compatible with your phone or device.
I hope this has been long enough to be helpful, but short enough to not bore you. If you have specific
questions, I will do my best to answer them in the comments below. Happy fitness! FYI: I bought mine from jawbone. com.
UPDATE: In the mean time, the Fitbit Force has been released. I have not used this device. From what I can tell it adds an external display and altimeter to gauge stairs, otherwise, I don't have specific feedback on that device. I assume it uses the same software as the Flex.
UPDATE: A commentor pointed out that it would really have been optimal to compare the UP24 to the Fitbit Force. I can't disagree with that. I lost a little bit of steam with the Fitbit product due to their software being lacking at my last use of the Flex. If I can get my hands on a Force, I will add what I can in comparison if any differences are seen in my conclusions.
244 of 261 people found the following review helpful.
By Charlie D
First off, I would like to point out that I own both the Jawbone UP24 and the Fitbit Force and will compare a few features in this review, but if you want a full review on the Fitbit Force I will be posting one on the actual product here soon.
Hardware:
The UP24 features new curved design on the top, has a smaller headphone jack that is only used for charging, and now syncs via Bluetooth. It has two green LED lights indicating day/night mode, a vibrating motor and a physical button for changing modes.
There is no clasp, you just twist it on and it fits fairly comfortably if you chose the right size. It is thin and bulky so it tends to get in the way and raise my wrist when I type or use a mouse and can get annoying, I prefer a wider, flatter design.
The Fitbit Force has a beautiful OLED Screen that shows you all of your stats without having to pull out your phone. The design is very minimalist, and to me is much more comfortable to wear vs the UP. It also does not snag on my jackets or long sleeve shirts and is very thin at the bottom so it is comfortable to type with it on where as the up can be very uncomfortable to type or use a mouse with it on.
Battery Life - Battery lasts me about 7-8 days and takes about an hour to charge. The manual says to charge it only on a USB port on your computer, but I have charged it using my iPhone wall charger and car charger just fine.
Pedometer - The UP seems fairly accurate for tracks your steps. If I wave my arm around or if I'm driving, the UP does not count steps whereas the Fitbit Force seems to count steps for any slight movement I make.
Software:
The App is just plain beautiful and intuitive. It is indeed what makes this product what it is. This is where this product shines over the Fitbit Force in my opinion, and is the reason I chose the UP24 even though it lacks a screen.
Activity Logging - Made extreme simple. You double tap + hold the physical button and it will start logging your work out. Once you are done, do it again and it will add an "activity" to your timeline in which you go to the iOS app and choose what type of activity it was from a preset list [walk, weights, run, cross train, hike, cardio, bike, yoga, stationary bike, pilates, elliptical, basketball, video games, tennis, dance, soccer, ski, other).
Once you choose your workout, you can choose what the intensity was and it will adjust the calorie burn accordingly. What I also like is that if you forget to log your activity, or remember half way through your workout, after your stop logging the workout you can edit what time you began the workout and it will analyze those prior movements and add them to your logged activity.
You can also calibrate your UP to your stride, by logging a known walking/running distance (track preferred) and going into your settings and choosing that activity and it will calculate your future walks/runs more accurately.
The Fitbit Force lacks in this department, it seems very finicky to me, especially after having used the UP. When I log an activity it only shows up on the web app but not on my iOS app (not sure why) and it only lets me name the workout but does not let me choose what type of exercise it was or the intensity level. The only way I have found to do this is to manually add your activity every time which is annoying and not as accurate.
Sleep tracking - The UP does this very well, you hold the button before you go to sleep until you see the LED moon, and feel it vibrate and press it again when you wake up. If you forget to put it in sleep mode, hit manually add sleep and it will automatically fill in your sleep and estimate what times you slept and woke up based on your movements. I've tried purposely sleeping without logging it to test this feature out and it has been very accurate. It also has a power nap mode (double tap 3 times + hold) and you can record your naps throughout the day and it will automatically wake you up based off your sleep cycle.
It will show you a pretty graph with your deep sleep/light sleep cycle, and how many times you woke up based off your movements throughout the night.
The Fitbit Force does at pretty good job at tracking sleep also, but doesn't break down your stats as well as the UP.
Alarms - One of my favorite features, you can set smart vibration alarms that wake you up slowly based off your sleep cycle, I much prefer this over a loud obnoxious cellphone alarm. There is also an idle alarm that will vibrate after you have been inactive for a preset amount of time to remind you to get off your butt (Something the Fitbit Force does not have).
Social - I loove the social aspect of the UP (Something the Fitbit Force also lacks) you have the ability to add your friends or random people (which I did because none of my friends own an UP) and cheer each other on and comment on each other's workouts and statuses. You can set your mood for the day with a status to go with it, you can view people's UP profiles and view their logged activities and goal progress. It makes it feel like a game and really motivates you to get off your butt and compete.
App Support - The UP has plenty of supporting Apps, although the only ones I use are runkeeper and withings. Every time you log a run on runkeeper it will automatically add it to your timeline with a picture of your route and your running stats. Every time you weigh yourself on a withings scale or manually add your weight to the withings app, it will add it to your time line with a picture of a bar graph showing your weight history.
Food Logging - UP has vast database of foods, I was even able to find items off certain restaurant menus. You can also take a picture of your food and type in the nutrition facts manually or use bar code scanner built into the app (what I mostly use). I really like this feature but am lazy at times to log everything I eat so I don't use it as much as id like to.
As for the Fitbit... I'd recommend linking it to MyFitnessPal and use their food database.
In conclusion:
I absolutely love everything about the UP except the hardware itself. Although I do really like the design, it is slightly bulky, lacks a screen, and has no clasp. But the UP software is so well made and fun to use that I am happily willing to overlook that. I don't carry my computer with me everywhere so it is awesome to be able have all my detailed stats available to me. Although I do hope they make a windows metro app for it next! Fitbit already has one!
The Fitbit band itself I actually prefer to wear, love the design, fit, screen, and color, but can't bring myself to like it as much as I'd like to because the steps always seem over counted and the app is way too basic for me. Also the fact that you have to pay 50$ a year for more in depth stats. Should be free in my opinion. Also don't like having to log on to the web app to see more details of my activities.
- UPDATE [5 JAN 2014]-
After extensive testing wearing both the Jawbone UP24 and Fitbit Force on my non dominant hand (left) I have found the Fitbit force to be grossly inaccurate. More so than I had originally thought. On a 10 minute drive to work the Fitbit recorded 126 steps while the UP recorded none. On a road trip back from NY to MD, the Fitbit counted over 400 steps while the UP24 constantly gave me my hourly idle alerts so I knew that no activity was being recorded. By end of each day, the Fitbit force counted 1,000 - 3,000 steps more than then UP24! Now I have also compared this data to the Moves App and the Runtastic Pedometer app for the iPhone 5S that both utilize its M7 motion processor. I started recording an activity on all four apps/devices before I stepped out of my door, and went to the mall with my wife for a typical day of following her around while she shops. I stopped recording when we arrived home and I stepped back inside my house (I was out for about 4 hours). Here are the results of my comparison test:
iPhone 5S: Moves App - 3,106 Steps
iPhone 5S: Runtastic Pedometer App - 3,313 Steps
Jawbone UP24 - 3,269 Steps
Fitbit Force - 3,886 Steps
As you can see, the UP24 fell right in between the iPhone Apps, while the Fitbit Force had counted 500+ steps more. This is due to the high sensitivity of the Fitbit Force as it counts steps for any slight movement (as I mentioned earlier). To test this further, I had my wife wear the Fitbit force while she did her hair and when she gave it back it had counted over 1,000 steps...
Another thing I have discovered about the Jawbone UP24 is that it can indeed be used for cycling/elliptical, although there is a catch. You have to wear it on your ankle (which its coil design somewhat allows, depending on your band/ankle size). Mine is a little stretched when I have it on as the ends don't touch, but it still feels comfortable over the sock and works just the same. I tried it on a stationary bike and it counted two steps/revolution, it also counts steps walking around very accurately as well. So that's something you can experiment with if you do decide to get one and you frequently go on bike rides or if for whatever reason you can't wear it on your wrist.
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If there is anything else you guys would like me to add to this review that I may have missed, please let me know and I will update my review.
161 of 173 people found the following review helpful.
By kolimit
I was initially given the Up24 as a Christmas Gift. My fiancé saw that I had been searching for weeks trying to decide the right one. She did some research on her own and decided to get me this product. But after a week, I returned it and brought the Nike Fuelband SE. BUT here is my product review.
Pros:
1. Software: The Jawbone’s software is FAR ahead of Fitbit and Nike Fuelband. It was very comprehensive and easy to understand. The Software integrated with all the popular Fitness tracking apps, i.e. Myfitness Pal. Fitbit does too. Nike Fuelband does NOT! That’s a huge negative for me. I digress. The software automatically synced with Myfitness Pal. What I would offer as a suggestion to Jawbone is to improve the software would allow for the individual to put in Calories manually. It allows it, sort of. But you have to do some playing around. ALL, I REPEAT ALL, Fitness trackers are horrible at recording Weight Training and Static Exercise Machines (treadmills). BUT jawbone does better than all to help the user put the actually calories that they think may have burned and sync with MyFitnessPal.
2. Sleep tracking: Another good one. Their sleep tracking and integration was awesome and provided me an insight into how I sleep. I noticed that I do my heavy sleeping early and light sleep as the night wears on. I think that is military training. I digress.
3. Battery Life: 7 days is great. Before I decided to switch, my plan was to wear the device Monday-Saturday and take it off on Sundays for charging. I personally believe that too much tracking and syncing will derail your fitness plans. Need to give it a rest. No matter. This is still a plus.
4. Ease of use. Very easy to remove and expands. This was useful for weight training when I had to put on my gloves (w/ wrist support). My Fuelband, I must replace the links.
5. The Silent wakeup. Great idea. TOO bad the Nike FB DOES NOT have this feature .
Cons: Ultimately, I decided I had to return this product because it did not integrate into my routine smooth enough
1. Software: Jawbone needs to have a desktop app.
2. Feels Cumbersome: I could never find the right position to wear this thing around my wrist. I initially have the thicker piece facing up. Then I switched to it being down. Jawbone needs to be on board and design the next Up24 as something you strap to your wrist, not wrap around. This was the main reason (if not, the only) I returned the product.
3. Need to allow the user to manually input his/her calories burned after a workout. Why does Jawbone care if people cheat. They are only cheating themselves.
4. Need to thin it out. It is too thick and gets in the way. It came off while I was sleep. I believe it’s too easy to lose this item. Por Que $150 es mucho dinero (Because $150 is a lot of money).
5. Where the heck is the heart rate monitor? If it’s too much to put into the product, an idea would be to team up with a popular heart rate tracking company to integrate a HR monitor to link in with the UP to give accurate calories burned. Just a thought.
If Jawbone Up was similar in design to Nike FB SE, I would return the Nike FB SE in a heartbeat.
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