Jawbone has joined Fitbit and Misfit Wearables in offering a range of activity trackers to suit everyone from the competitively priced Jawbone UP Move to the high end Jawbone UP3. The Jawbone Move is also the only tracker within Jawbone’s arsenal to be worn anywhere else other than the wrist.

I had the UP Move for a while and here are my thoughts.

LOOK AND FEEL

Perhaps inspired by fruits, the UP Move tracker reminds me of a cross section of an orange. When housed within the contrasting coloured holder, it does add extra aesthetic value to an otherwise flat surface a la Misfit Flash or Fitbit Zip.

Keeping in line with the Jawbone series of trackers, there is only 1 method to toggle the various functions; by pressing on the UP Move tracker.

Housed within the Jawbone Move tracker are 12 white LEDs, 1 orange LED, and 1 blue LED. The white LEDs appeared bluish on my tracker which I assume was intended with white light shining through blue shell.

When activated, the face of the UP Move lights up with an array of light patterns that does everything from time telling to signalling the start of activity tracking.

Single press: View activity tracked thus far

Double press: Shows time.

Triple press: Shows amount of sleep tracked

Single long press: Activates sleep tracking. Deactivates by another long press

Double press and holding second press: Activates activity tracking. Deactivates with a long press.

Here’s a video to help understand the various functions of the Jawbone Move.

It may appear daunting but the various combinations of presses grows on you and using it becomes second nature. I always found Jawbone activity trackers intuitive and the UP Move did not disappoint.

Jawbone recommends that the UP Move tracker be clipped to pyjamas sleeve or wearing the UP Move tracker on the wrist with the wrist strap. Unfortunately, the wrist strap has to be purchased separately at the price of $14.99, effectively pushing the combined price to about $65 should you be keen to wearing the Jawbone UP Move on the wrist.

The UP Move can be worn on the belt, clipped on the bag, pajamas sleeve or the wrist when fitted into a wrist strap.

The UP Move tracker runs on a single coin battery with advertised battery life up to 6 months. Though splash resistant, the Jawbone UP Move tracker is not intended for submersion.

Syncing is via Bluetooth. I did experience difficulties with the wireless syncing via Bluetooth with an Android device. It would always start off with the Jawbone UP Move successfully connecting to the mobile device and shortly after, connection fails. I can literally go an entire day without any syncing. The only way to mitigate, which I found easiest, was to restart the phone. However, when tested on a iOS device, there wasn’t such a problem.

The Jawbone UP Move tracker taps on the UP app which is now a central app for all Jawbone activity tracker. The app is available on App Store and GooglePlay store.

FUNCTIONS AND DATA PRESENTATION (Similar for Jawbone trackers)

Among all the activity trackers and their own versions of apps, the Jawbone UP app stands out the most for me. It provides news, tips, summary of researches and the occassional “Today I will” challenges. The fact that the data is used and compared versus the general UP population gives the user a better glimpse of where he or she stands. The addition of the Smart Coach is really icing on the cake.

The updated Jawbone UP app for activity trackers simplifies the user interface further by consolidating everything under a single “+” sign. Tap on it and the user can access any of the 5 domains of functions; be it to track activity, mood, food, weight or sleep.

Users can scrutinise their tracked stats like activity and sleep for the day. Users could add a comment or simply share via Facebook or Twitter. The functions are all embedded within the app.

Past data can also be accessed right from the app. I’ve been a user of the Jawbone UP app since October 2013 and I can still easily access that. Nostalgia…Users can choose what to list in the trends screen.

• Light sleep
• Sound sleep
• Total sleep
• Steps
• Active time
• Workout Time
• Distance
• Calories burned
• Calories consumed
• Carbs, cholesterol, fiber, protein, saturated fat, sodium, sugar, unsaturated fat
• Weight
• body Fat

You can also decide the number of steps and duration of sleep to strive towards for the day. The best part is the user can see what the average UP user is clocking and judge if they should do more…or less.

Jawbone has a lot of compatible apps and at last count, it was 35 and includes popular apps like MyFitnessPal, Pact, Nest, Runkeeper and a whole lot more.

Jawbone introduced the Smart Coach into the UP app to provide more advice based on the tracked stats.

For example, I took 36 minutes to fall asleep on one night and Smart Coach suggest I try UCLA’s 12 minutes guided meditation.

When I failed to hit my goal for the day, Smart Coach would chip in with suggestions on how I can increase my step count; go for walks, take the steps, walk the longer way.

Since stride length differs from person to person, distance tracked in a day though the UP app can also be calibrated. All you need is a accurate measure like a walk around a 400m track or on a treadmill. I’ve used this function to fine tune my own distance clocked per day.

IN A NUTSHELL

Pros:

• Tracks steps, activities, calories, distance travelled and sleep
• Aesthetically pleasing
• Tells time
• Shows progress towards goals through LEDs
• Wireless syncing via Bluetooth
• Up to 6 months battery life (Coin cell battery)
• Android and iOS compatible (select devices)
• Superior mobile app
• Splash resistant
• Variety of accessories for customisation at extra cost

Cons:

• Wrist strap sold separately

While the Flash boasts water resistance up to 30m,a wrist strap that comes with purchase and automatic sleep detection, the UP Move counters with design, superiority of the UP app and a variety of medical grade TPU rubber clips and wrist straps for customisation. It is still very much an open race.

The most competitively priced tracker  released by the company synonymous with beautiful designs and intuitive products has hit most of the right spots. I would have been completely sold if idle alert was implemented as a feature or the wrist strap thrown in as part of the purchase. Oh well.

While there is an abundance of activity trackers on the market, very few comes close to what the UP app is offering in terms of making sense of your tracked stats.

If you’ve outgrown the free step counting apps and are keen to delve deeper into activity tracking, the  Jawbone UP Move is a good entry option for consideration among many others.

The Jawbone UP Move tracker is priced at $49.99 and is available in Slate, Ruby, Grape, Blue, Black.

You might be interested in:

• Misfit Flash review
• Misfit Shine review
• Fitbit Zip review
• Withings Pulse O2 review
• Other Jawbone tracker reviews
• Fitness Trackers buying guide (Nov 2014)