Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

[Updated 30 August because of Android app upgrade to version 4.7.0] I preordered the UP3 band in November 2014 after having been hospitalized with a heart problem (since resolved) and I wanted a device to monitor my heart rate thereafter and to provide me some sense of peace of mind. Although the Fitbit Charge HR has a screen, I was concerned of reports of skin irritation with other Fitbit devices, reports you have to wear it further up your forearm for accurate heart rate and also I thought being able to so easily check my heart rate might encourage my own paranoia about my heart rate. I chose the UP3 because it claimed to be the most advanced tracker available. I buy the idea that the sensors we are familiar with on gym equipment for heart rate (the bars you hold with your hands) are more likely to be accurate than a sensor that measures the light reflected from a tiny light shining on your skin, even more so given all other trackers that rely on a light beam shine it on the outside part of your arm not the inside, and we all know doctors measure heart beat by placing fingers on the inside of your wrist. The UP3 has sensors within the clasp that go all the way around your wrist – to me this makes sense. Anyway, this was just my opinion and not based on any research I did then or since. The best thing about the UP3 is how small, lightweight and comfortable it is. Most of the time I forget I am even wearing it. Unlike others who have complained of problems with the clasp, I have only experienced problems 3 times when the clasp came loose. I have had the UP3 for 2-3 months now. Right now I would strongly recommend AGAINST purchasing this band for anyone else interested in a fitness tracker. The UP3 has in my opinion not lived up to expectations whatsoever. Specifically:- 1. promised “soon after launch” continuous heart rate monitoring (Jawbone call this “passive heart rate”) is still not available. This was supposed to be “soon” after original planned launch date in December 2014, and the delays in release were supposedly due to waterproofing problems and nothing else. So I do not understand why in July 2015 the device still doesn’t have this feature. Given it can monitor heart rate during my sleep it is OBVIOUSLY capable of monitoring heart rate during the day. 2. The device is packed with other sensors that could reveal insights into overall health but NONE of these are enabled in the app so they may as well not be in the device. The UP3 is therefore NOT ADVANCED as claimed. Specifically where is the data for skin temperature, ambient temperature, respiration, galvanic skin response etc? This device should be able to tell me if I am dehydrated etc before I get a headache for example. 3. The band is NOT WATERPROOF, which was one of the promised features. Kudos to Jawbone that they proactively contacted people who preordered and allowed cancellations. However shame on Jawbone for keeping this secret for such a long time and failing to deliver any of the other advanced features instead then or since. 4. The UP solution was supposed to automatically recognize activities, such as say “were you running between 17:00 and 18:30 earlier today?” but it doesn’t do this. If I was wearing the band for a run, it will register the steps but not recognize it was a workout, even though the number of steps and my heart rate would be much higher than during the rest of the day. If I manually add the workout, the app does nothing to help me pinpoint the start and end time of the workout, so I end up using my running app to track start and end. Surely the band should be helping me track my health including workouts, not making it harder?! 5. The band seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to whether it responds to taps. Sometimes I cross my arms and it vibrates as if tapped. Sometimes I knock it accidentally and it switches to sleep mode, but when I immediately then tap to switch back to day mode, it doesn’t respond at all for several minutes as if it is sulking or something. To date I have found I have to follow the steps to reset the band around once per week, sometimes I have to do it several times in a row, restart my phone as well etc - doing this works and fixes problems, but is tedious and frustrating. I just want the damn thing to work. 6. Sleep tracking is supposedly amongst the most advanced because the UP solution can differentiate the 3 stages of sleep (not just 2 like some other bands). However on one occasion I forgot to switch to sleep mode until half way through the might. In the morning the app registered the 5 hours sleep and claimed I had woken up 5 times. I then manually corrected the data by deleting the sleep entry in the app, and adding one that started approximately when I did fall asleep. The band clearly recorded sufficient data to know my sleep phases for the first half of the night… but the app suddenly decided I had woken up only once in the night. Weird huh? This makes me wonder whether the sleep detection is art or science… Update 30 August 2015: the following issues with Android App version 4.6.0 are resolved by App version 4.7.0 (released 28 Aug 2015) based on my experience: 1. RESOLVED: Many reviews claim the user interface is one of the best. I have not used other devices and their apps, but I expect better from Jawbone. I can cite many examples, but here's just two (see screenshots attached): Each day I check my sleep for the day before and it shows me my resting heart rate (RHR). If however I view the heart rate chart, which shows how RHR has changed over time, the displayed “recent RHR” is yesterdays, even though there is a more recent reading. On both of these screens the graph showing heart rate incorrectly displays the last reading. Given these kind of counter-intuitive information displays, can I trust the data I am reading??? I trust UP less now because of this. 2. RESOLVED: Synchronisation is incredibly slow/unreliable. So slow that in the morning when I grab my phone and head to the office my sleep data is still not synched more than 1 hour later. Although Jawbone may say this is a none issue with Android devices, in my experience if I wait long enough without restarting the phone or app, eventually it will sync. There is no way within the app to force a sync which seems plain stupid to me – instead of you want or need to, you need to force kill the app or restart the phone, and even then when I start the app it doesn’t sync – I have to wait a few minutes until the app decides it is good and ready to sync. God only knows what the app is doing in the meantime or why it doesn’t just sync immediately. Note it is not at all obvious when the app is synchronizing – there is a minimalist white bar that suddenly appears near the top of the app and slowly makes its way from left to right… this is not a conventional way to show progress and in my opinion is too minimalist. SO summing up: Pros: small and comfortable. Nice looking user interface with clever coaching insights. Cons: not as advanced as was claimed. Data shown in the app doesn’t always seem accurate and can be confusing. Synchronisation problems/slow (Android - I cannot speak for iPhone). Device behaves like a delinquent teenager and stops responding some of the time for no reason. Overall: AVOID. If you need Heart Rate monitoring, consider Fitbit’s Charge HR. If you don’t but you want coaching and other features, there are many others with similar features but much cheaper. The UP3 is not worth the premium price. Currently I am using UP3 firmware 1.1.20, Android 5.0 on a Samsung Galaxy S5 and UP app version is 4.7.0. (When this review was first written I was running version 4.6.0). If any of these change and significantly alter my comments above, I will update this review.