Jawbone Up wearable health sensor

Jawbone is known for its excellent Bluetooth headsets and a very cool, if pricey, portable speaker called the Jambox. By any standards, its new product is pretty out there. It’s a rubberised wristband with a motion sensor in it. When you connect it to its free companion iOS app, it becomes something to help you become healthier …

[DF118]

"Health" sensor is stretching it a bit as far as naming goes

For one thing it'd probably have your average super-fit club cyclist down as a borderline couch potato.

[handle]

That's why it has a cycling mode

As the review says, it can use the phone's GPS instead of the motion sensor for cycling. Using vertical information from this would be even better.

[Anonymous Coward]

Activity level monitored by wrist movement?

There's a certain category of people who spend entirely to long sat in front of a computer that its going to register as highly active fit people, even though the truth is rather less pleasant. Now why can't I choose the Paris icon from the mobile site?

[Eponymous Cowherd]

Ah HA!

I was wondering why this was aimed at iPhone users......

[Captain Hogwash]

Wrist movement

You're talking about operating a mouse right?

[handle]

No Paris icon...

...because you elected to be AC.

I wouldn't worry - that joke has become rather tired.

[Annihilator]

Mumbo jumbo

Two main issues with this. First is that most phones are capable of measuring activity via their gyros and accelerometers - the bActive app is one that I can think of that does just that (Android only at the moment IIRC). The second is the supposed "sleep cycle monitoring" that is similar to the Sleep Cycle app. Although it's an interesting idea/concept, the science behind it is non-existent. The apps infer that when you're not moving, you're in deep sleep and vice versa. It's been shown that this is largely flawed logic - there is no direct correlation. Sleep labs use these devices to measure rest-activity cycles, but have to rely on electrodes to measure EEG in order to determine "deepness" of sleep.

You may "feel" more refreshed if this app (or Sleep Cycle) wakes you, but it's likely to be largely placebo. I've yet to see a double-blind test of these apps anyway.

[Anonymous Coward]

"You may "feel" more refreshed if this app (or Sleep Cycle) wakes you, but it's likely to be largely placebo. I've yet to see a double-blind test of these apps anyway."

Oh you cynic you.

[hughc]

Hopeless customer service!

I pre ordered the Up about 6 weeks before it was released. I then received a computerized email saying that if I did not switch from the blue wristband to the black my order would be canceled.

I then requested that I keep the blue, but would be happy to wait for the release. Consequently me order was canceled.

This is an awful way to treat a first time customer and I wonder how this company treats other's with it's autocratic computer generated demands?

The product may end up being good, but the customer support has been so bad I would not want to have to deal with them if something else went wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

Had a look on the Apple store - so far it's received 7 reviews - mostly pretty negative ;(