However, that's the key update Jawbone has recently provided. Originally, that wasn't on offer with the UP3 and, despite Jawbone's big claims about the UP3 being the most advanced activity tracker, it felt a bit naff that you only get one reading per day, taken in the morning when you wake up. Get more from your runs: Best GPS running watches However, while a resting heart rate is indeed an important indicator of general health levels (a spike can indicate an upcoming illness, for example), continuous heart rate monitoring is crucial for training in intensity zones. Jawbone claims that resting heart rate is the key bpm metric. The Charge HR, like the Microsoft Band and the Apple Watch offers 24/7 heart rate monitoring using a dedicated LED-based sensor. Unlike the Fitbit Charge HR, there's no optical heart rate sensor. However, it's honestly not uncomfortable, despite the pressure tattoos left behind.
After a day of wearing the UP3 you'll see five little square imprints on your skin (as mentioned, you have to wear the device pretty tight for maximum accuracy). These sensors sit on the inside of the band – they measure the resistance of skin tissue to tiny electric currents like a treadmill heart rate grip – and there are five little metal squares clearly on show, which immediately scream: "I'm gonna dig right into your wrist!"Īnd they do.
The Jawbone UP3 is built on an advanced multi-sensor platform that packs in a newly designed tri-axis accelerometer and bioimpedance sensors, as well as skin and ambient temperature sensors. Hopefully Jawbone will add that feature in the future. There are also no smartwatch skills on offer at all, sadly – it seems a shame that you can't be alerted to incoming texts, emails and the like from a paired smartphone, not even just by haptics. There's also a white LED for notifications from the UP app. What you've got is a set of lights that indicate the mode the UP3 is in: sleep (orange) or activity (blue).
There's also no Fitbit Charge-style OLED display on offer with the UP3. However, the new UP3 design, revealed in September 2015, adds a buckle to the clasp making it a more secure fit. We've knocked ours off reaching in a bag and it's also fallen off in the night while sleeping. The clasp is fiddly as anything and, although you'll get used to getting it done up (there's a certain knack that no words could possibly explain properly), it's never easy. It won't rival the latest smart jewellery trackers in terms of a wow-factor but the basic design – especially on the all-black affair we were reviewing – lends itself well to a range of styles it looks just as at home paired with a suit as it does with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.īut while comfort isn't an issue, awkwardness is. The dimensions are 220 x 12.2 x 9.3mm and it weighs 29g, making it Jawbone's thinnest and lightest tracker so far.
Read this: How to set your fitness goals and actually stick to them The slim durable anodized aluminium framework (less than 0.5% nickel, so hopefully no rashes) surrounded by a hypoallergenic TPU rubber strap works well and, despite having to wear the UP3 tight in order to get the most accurate sensor readings (more on that later), it never really caused any irritation. It's definitely a lot more svelte than the UP24, with a moveable clasp meaning a better, and ultimately more comfortable, fit. Unlike its predecessor though, the UP3 is a one-size fits all affair that looks more 'jewellery' than 'gadget'. Jawbone has again turned to Swiss designer Yves Béhar for the design of the UP3 – the same chap who came up with the flexible fit of the UP24.
Water-woes aside, was it worth the wait? We've had the UP3 strapped on for a couple of months now (with the new firmware fully loaded), so read our full Jawbone UP3 review to find out. At $179.99, it's not the cheapest fitness tracker on the market either – $50 more than the Fitbit Charge HR and $80 more than Jawbone's own more than capable UP2.