Michael Berner

I knew I lucked out getting lumped into the Jawbone UP beta tester program meaning a free $100 bracelet. What I didn’t know is that after one week, free seems like just the right value I’d put on the band.

Here’s Why:

Pros

• It’s a conversation starter

Cons

• It’s not Bluetooth enabled. Removing the band to Sync is cumbersome and, while fairly quick, adds friction to viewing the results
• The data is limited.  No heart rate monitor. No GPS for RunKeeper esque workout tracking. Limited customization. And I won’t even touch the food tracking integration
• The app UI is subpar at best.  Not only is it confusing, but the data visualization and aggregation doesn’t tell much of a story or help provide actionable next steps

I live in NY, so it basically tells me what I already know; I walk a lot.  Outside of that, I’m finding it tough to realize the value of the band.  I’ll give it another week or two but for right now I’m not sold.  Good thing it was free!