Up Update

A couple of weeks ago, my second Jawbone UP failed. I’m bummed about it for a couple of reasons (and will go through the process to get a replacement for sure). The first reason I’m bummed is theoretical – I miss the data it collects, mostly because I think I’m going to want it some day, but also because it makes me a little more mindful of my activity throughout the day. The second reason is that I really, really love the vibrating alarm – it makes a huge difference in quality of life for me & Kathy not to have an alarm blaring on the days I need to get up early.

The Lark has a vibrating alarm, but bugs me at night. The Fitbit, by contrast, I think doesn’t have the alarm, and I forget to wear it pretty often.

The UP solves that set of problems for me, even though it’s got other deficiencies (reliability, obviously, but also no wireless data sync, weird software UI, no open data, etc). So I’m looking forward to getting a working model again soon…

3 comments

  1. I’ve given up on mine. I like the same features and use the sleep measurement a lot but I have to fight it for 5 to 20 minutes to sync it. It isn’t worth it to me until they work the bugs out.

    I actually wanted to hack it to use it as a 40 minute meditation timer. The vibration is much easier on the soul than a beeping alarm.

  2. The Fitbit has no alarm. However if you wear it at night, pretty easy to not forget it… since it’s like a part of you.

    However the Fitbit’s quality is IMHO sub-par. The plastic is to weak for long term wear. I got my first one in May, and in Dec they shipped me a replacement (thanks to team Fitbit). The new one is an Ultra, but the plastic still seems the same. I suspect it will eventually crack.

  3. There’s an event on “wearable” devices at Stanford GSB (by VLAB) on Jan 17th: http://www.vlab.org/article.html?aid=435