I've always had a bit of a weight issue and I've recently developed a love of all the new technologies, especially social technology. I always hated running and keeping a regular workout schedule never seemed to last. But I have always liked going for long fast walks plugged into my favorite podcast or walking music.
So, when the Nike+ FuelBand was introduced, I grabbed one up. I was at the SXSW where they introduced it and although I didn't get mine then, the ravings that some of the early adaptors, like Joeseph Jaffe, were enough to push me into ordering mine within the next 6 months.
I loved my FuelBand. It looked cool. It kept track of my activity and inspired me to do more. At a push of my button, the rainbow colored lights would show me my progress and it even told me the time. In fact my doctor was intrigued with getting one just as a cool watch. Sure, I never understood what fuel points really were, but that was the goal I strove for – to make my fuel points. And it I could sync it with the app on my phone or iPad to get more details on my progress and compare mine with my friends.
Then, one day, the button on my FuelBand broke. Sure it still recorded my data, but I couldn't see my progress at the push of the button any more. I couldn't sync it up with my apps either, because the bluetooth, required the button push too. I limped along for awhile – because I could still plug it into my computer and download the date – but that got frustrating when I'd see that there were days when I was 100 points or less from my goal – one I could have reached by walking around my living room for 5 – 10 minutes at the end of the day, if I'd known.
Along comes the Jawbone Up. Finally fed up, I put it out there on social media that I was looking to replace my FuelBand and was wondering what to get, now there there were a lot more choices. A lot of friends gave their opinion and then Verizion Wireless offered to let me try out the Jawbone Up and take it for a test drive and write my review of it.
My first impression of the Jawbone Up wasn't good. the thing with wearable tech, is that you wear it – all the time. Where the FuelBand was sleek and cool looking, a hard black band with silver trim, the Up was this goofy looking bumpy rubberized band that didn't connect, but snaked the two ends side by side under your wrist. It didn't help that the color Verizion had available for me to try was a bright teal. Being a professional male, bright teal doesn't always go with everything as well as black does.
But once I got past the looks, I did like the functionality of the Up. It didn't have a display built in, but it had one end that popped off to reveal a jack you can plug into your phone and download the data any time. Since I also always have my phone – it was easy enough to check my progress on a regular basis. And Up kept it simple – no mystery points to figure out – it just gave me my steps and calories burned. In fact it gave me my calories burned active and calories burned inactive.
The Up also lets you know your longest active and longest inactive times, seeing those numbers was a bit of a shock – and I started getting up from my desk to move around more often. You can even set the Up to vibrate and give you an alert once you've been inactive for a certain period of time – a reminder to get up and move around.
But the biggest difference and new aspect I liked the most, is that the Up records your sleep time. You have to remember to press the button to put it into sleep mode and again into away mode when you get up, but that's not a big deal. I found it very interesting to see my sleep patterns each night. It tells you how much of your sleep was deep sleep, how much was light sleep and how much you were awake each night. I found it fascinating to see how much it varied from night to night and try and figure out what caused what patterns. it wasn't always accurate on when I woke up during the night, if I didn't move around much or get out of bed, but overall, it seemed to keep a good record.
Overall, the Jawbone Up doesn't deliver the cool factor the Nike+ FuelBand does, but it does deliver nice functionality and some nifty special features. I was sorry to give it back. But, I did get a FitBit Flex for Father's Day yesterday, so it'll be interesting to see how that compares to the two. What has your experience been? I'd love to hear.
Also, thinking ahead as a marketer, I wonder if and how all this data we're putting out there about ourselves will be used in the future. It will be interesting to see how far wearable tech goes and how it eventually might make our relationships with brand more relevant and better – or more scary and annoying.
Mike McClure, I walk the line, because… well I've got some steps to make up here!
