Introducing the Jawbone Up
It isn’t often that I get excited by a new gadget; in fact the last gadget that I really lusted after was the AR Drone from Parrot. Sadly my infatuation for the quad-copter diminished a bit after I saw the gaping chasm between my disposable cash pile and the price of the toy.
However, as is the want with hi-tech toys, I have a new light in my life. The Jawbone Up.
The Up is a bracelet type device that not only records every movement that you make, but also can serve as an alarm and integrates with an iPhone app to tell you what you have been up to during the day.
At this point you need to understand that I am not a fan of things worn on the wrist; I laugh at people with Power Balance bracelets, I have never worn a yellow LiveStrong bracelet and the same goes for the Rhino bracelets.
So what would make me abandon my dislike for wrist jewellery and embrace the Up?
The first thing that made me sit up and take notice is that it wakes you up in the morning, not with an irritating beeping sound but by vibrating on your wrist. But it gets better; it monitors your sleep patterns and wakes you up (within a pre-determined time frame) when you are in a light sleep, rather than in a deep sleep.
That means that you wake up at exactly the right time to ensure that you bounce out of bed rather than having to drag yourself to the kitchen and kick-start your brain with caffeine.
The Jawbone Up
The second thing it does is record every move that you make. More than just a pedometer, it will let you track the impact that exercise has on your sleeping patterns.
In addition it throws in a social aspect to the mix, so that you can challenge your friends to sleep more each night, walk more each day or maybe eat more healthily.
How does it track your eating? Well you haul out your iPhone and take a picture of the food you eat.
If you are using the Up properly then you will have a way of measuring the quality of your life and also the impact that specific days have on other aspects of your life; things like sleep patterns.
I can almost guarantee you that I wouldn’t be taking photos of my food and I probably won’t be sharing all my information with my so-called friends, but getting an accurate indication of my movements during the day and my sleep patterns at night is something that I would love to know. And something that I would be willing to sacrifice my dislike of bracelets for.
The other bonus is that the Up is not all that expensive, $99, or probably less than a R1,000 when it gets here.
I foresee a lot of hipsters wandering around trendy neighbourhoods with this on, and even though I am far from the hipster stereotype, I will probably be wearing one as well.
Related Article: Parrot AR.Drone review
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