Review: Jawbone UP24

design
The Jawbone UP24 looks almost identical to it’s older brother. The band now comes in black and orange and both look fantastic. It’s still covered in a rubber exterior as always. The new band now feats a more textured pattern on its shell. The UP24 still features a physical button which is used for changing between Sleep Mode and regular tracking. The device is charged through a 3.5mm plug (that connects to a USB adapter) which is hidden beneath a sleek looking cap. The UP24 is slightly smaller than the previous version but it’s nothing that most people would notice.

As always, the Jawbone UP has decided to keep things extremely simply with the way it displays your current status. When you’re awake, you will see a sun icon and when you decide it’s time to sleep, the moon will appear.

Jawbone LIGHT
The biggest change design-wise would have to be the battery life. The introduction of consistent wireless streaming means that the battery life has been slightly reduced. Jawbone advertises that it should now last around seven days and my experience with the Jawbone UP 24 has been right in line with that. I’ve used the device for nearly three weeks now and on the seventh day the device would prompt me to recharge it. It takes about 90 minutes to recharge so I never found the shorter battery life to be an issue.

The Jawbone UP 24 is still as versatile as previous models. It’s still advertised as water resistant and i’m glad to say that this is still the case. I never had to worry about taking it off when doing the dishes however I wouldn’t recommend jumping in the shower with it as there has been some reports of the devices becoming faulty after prolonged exposure to water. The device is still as flexible as last year’s model and i’m happy to report that it was extremely comfortable to wear.

sleep & fitness
Fitness and sleep tracking both work how you’d expect them to. A lot of people have had issues with the unpredictable of the sleep monitoring but I’ve never found it to be an issue. Sure, it’s not the most accurate thing in the world but for an $179 device, it does the job. It accurately measures how long I’ve slept and that’s what I want to know. You can now set Smart Alarms via the Up app. You can set it to go off within a 10, 20 or 30 minute period that will choose the best time to wake you up based on when you’re in a light sleep window. The most game-changing fact is that you can do this all wirelessly, without ever plugging your band into your laptop.

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When it comes to all sorts of fitness, the Jawbone UP24 has you covered. It can still track distance, steps, the amount of calories burned and your active vs. idle time. You can rest assured that it’s going to log any activity accurately and in a way that’s easy to understand. I really appreciated the fact that you’re now able to set a determined time for the app to alert you when you’ve been idle. This made sure to keep me going at times when I otherwise would’ve kept sitting at my desk.

JB the app
The UP app is all about getting your activity and providing it in a way that’s easy to understand. It allows you to connect with a team of friends so you can further motivate yourself and see how you compare. You’re now able to set yourself fitness or energy goals such as choosing the amount of sleep you want to get or the amount of water that you aim to drink.

Jawbone App
Version 3.0 of the UP app has accompanied the release of the UP24. The new update brings in quite a few new features that are bound to make your experience a better one. Firstly, you can now have notifications which will be pushed to your iPhone when you’re about to reach your goal. Also, you can activate notifications to constantly keep you updated on your progress, in case you forget to visit the app regularly.

There is a number of ways to track your food intake within the app. You can add images of whatever you’re eating or look through the inbuilt food catalog. You can allow friends to see what you’ve eaten through the My Team section. You can also use the built-in barcode scanner to easily add packaged foods. The application is really well designed and also really easy to understand. It doesn’t overwhelm you with a bunch of numbers that you don’t understand and that’s the important thing.