There are four major players in the fitness wristband business now: FitBit, Jawbone, Nike, and Basis. They’re jockeying prices and features to get your dollars, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. That’s why we’ve created the chart above to help you take the leap.

You should consider three major categories when choosing one of these geek-chic exercise buddies: price, device, and battery life.

Right now, the FitBit Flex is the cheapest, coming in at around $100, followed by the Up at $130, the FuelBand at $150, and Basis at $200. There are, of course, tradeoffs. The Flex can’t tell when you’re on an incline, and while Basis is twice as much, it can monitor other elements such as your sweat and heart rate.

Indeed, the Basis might seem expensive and pared-down on the chart, but it focuses more on what’s going on inside your body than the others. An optical sensor can detect your blood flow, which means Basis can watch your heart rate throughout the day. It also measures your skin temperature and sweat levels, bringing all of this information together to gauge the intensity of your activities. It also plans on releasing mobile apps soon, with Android coming first.

On the device front, if you’re an Android user, however, you’re probably not going to want the FuelBand. It’s only iOS compatible, and it seems Nike has no plans to come out with an Android version. Flex, Up, and Basis provide Android support, but only for some devices.

When it comes to which band can outlast the rest, Up comes in as the winner with its advertised battery life at 10 days. Flex follows behind with five days of battery life and FuelBand with only one to four days. Of course, these times will all depend on your usage, which may include sleeping, as both Up and Flex monitor your sleep patterns and will wake you up with an alarm. Basis will track your sleep, but you’ll have to rely on another device to get your butt out of bed.

You can also hook up your wristbands to a number of apps. While Up and Flex support many fitness apps such as MyFitnessPal and LoseIt!, FuelBand focuses on the social side with connections to Facebook, Twitter, and Path.

Of course, your decision will depend on what matters most to you. Is it the science? The cool charts and analysis on your daily activities? The price or battery life? Let us know which you choose and why you love it (or hate it).

Fitbit began shipping its Flex wristband today, finding its place among established wearable (but expensive) fitness devices in the market.

Flex is Fitbit’s answer to big-name companies like Nike and Jawbone who have their FuelBand and Up wristbands respectively. Bracelets seems to be the form-factor of choice for many exercise enthusiasts as they are easy to keep track of and don’t get in the way of your workout. They become an accessory as opposed to another device you have to find a pocket for.

Fitbit’s Flex shares a lot of the same functionality as the FuelBand and Up wristbands. It will track your steps and calories burned, how far you actually went, and it will look at your sleeping patterns and make suggestions based off of that data. The difference is, it costs $100 in comparison to the FuelBand, which goes for $150, and the Up, which goes for $130.

It can also wirelessly connect to your phone or computer using Bluetooth 4.0. That means you won’t need to pull out a wire to view your activity data on your phone and can start evaluating yourself anywhere. Its social components keep you engaged through competition to see who can walk the most steps in a week as well.

One thing that’s missing, however, is the ability to track your “climbs.” That is, if you’re walking up stairs, the Flex won’t be able to tell that you’re on an incline and burning more calories. Fitbit’s other devices have this feature, but it’s curiously missing from Flex. For those who live in areas like, say, hilly San Francisco where Fitbit is headquartered, this could be a deterrent.

hat tip Engadget; Flex image via Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

Jawbone is putting the pieces in place to become a wearable health technology leader.

The company announced today that it’s acquiring BodyMedia, creator of sophisticated health tracking devices used on the TV show The Biggest Loser. Additionally, Jawbone is launching an app platform for its Up health wristband today, allowing third-party companies to integrate their services with Jawbone’s data.

Acquiring BodyMedia, a bet on the future

“BodyMedia has created one of the world’s largest libraries of raw and real-world human sensor data, with 500 trillion data points,” noted Jawbone’s Travis Bogard, VP of product management and strategy, in an interview with VentureBeat (emphasis ours). That figure alone should tell you why Jawbone was eager to snap up BodyMedia.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but AllThingsD is hearing that it was worth more than $100 million.

BodyMedia has been around for 14 years, and it’s been pursuing wearable health devices long before the category was popularized by the likes of Jawbone’s Up, Fitbit, and Nike’s Fuelband. The company recently launched an updated version of its Core health tracker armband. Perhaps most significantly, BodyMedia is also the only health tracking company to get its technology registered with the FDA as a Class II medical device (which means it’s been proven to help you lose weight).

According to Bogard, the two companies have 200 to 300 issued or pending patents between them. That gives Jawbone plenty of leverage in the nascent health tech and wearable computing industries.

It’s not hard to imagine how BodyMedia’s technology could be applied to Jawbone’s Up down the line. While the Up does a great job of tracking your steps and sleep habits, BodyMedia’s recent Core 2 armband can also track your heart rate, temperature, heat flux, galvanic skin response (sweat), and motion (with a wider array of sensors).

Ultimately, BodyMedia could help Jawbone get better at offering health tracking services, and Jawbone could help BodyMedia target a more mainstream audience.

For now, the two companies’ product lines will remain separate, Bogard told me. BodyMedia will stay headquartered in Pittsburgh, and it’s entire team will be joining Jawbone.

The acquisition comes on top of Jawbone’s recent purchases of health app maker Massive Health and design firm Visere.

Up opens to apps

Almost as significant as the BodyMedia acquisition, Jawbone is launching the Up app platform today with 10 partners, including RunKeeper, MapMyFitness, WiThings, and IFTTT (If this then that).

It seemed inevitable that Jawbone would eventually make its Up platform interoperable with other apps. It’s the perfect way to attract users of other fitness services, and it’s also a fun way to keep existing Up users interested in continuing to track their health.

“It’s really about the user perspective here … I think a lot of API projects in the past have been very read-only focused,” said Jawbone’s Brad Kittredge, director of product management for Up, in an interview with VentureBeat. “We know there are a lot of things that are complementary with the Up experience.”

For the most part, the apps make it easier to bring their data into your Up activity charts — for example, a RunKeeper session can be automatically plugged into your Up data once it’s completed. The integration is a win for both Jawbone and the third-party service, since it will likely encourage you to use both.

Jawbone also lets you make your data available to the partner services. So, for example, your Up sleep data could be used to inform your Sleepio profile (a service that helps you deal with sleeplessness).

For now, the apps are only accessible on Up’s iOS app (Android support is coming). You can add and configure them from within the Up app, as well as select exactly what data specific apps have access to.

Jawbone has been thinking about how to open up its platform ever since it launched the health wristband, Kittredge told me. For now, partners will have to contact Jawbone to be included in the app platform. But the company plans to offer a more open API down the line.

San Francisco-based Jawbone has raised $202 million in funding so far from Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, and others.

One is the remote control for my TV, another for my surround-sound receiver. One is for my blue-ray player, another is for the PVR, and yet another one is for no discernible purpose.

But if I wasn’t half the lazy idiot I sadly am, I could replace them all with a simple app on my iPhone or iPad, like Roomie.

We’re getting fairly used to our mobile devices being remote controls for the various aspects of our digital and not-so-digital lives. Your LG fridge has an IP address, can text you when food is going bad, and can be controlled by your phone. Home security systems that come complete with an app, and can tell you what’s happening in your home, are almost the norm.

OnStar gives your car a remote control too, and if it’s not exactly a James Bond-style actually-drive-your-car-by-remote app, it at least tells you the condition of your battery, how much gas you have, and lets you remotely unlock your vehicle. (Oh, and by the way, if you do want to drive your car by remote control, just buy the Chinese BYD Su Rui, an ordinary 5-seater sedan that yes, can be driven by remote control — at 1.2 miles per hour.)

Next week at VentureBeat’s Mobile Summit 2013, we’re going to be talking about mobile as a remote control for life. Security systems, cars, homes, appliances: everything modern, seemingly, has a remote control.

Even you.

One of the things we’re increasingly using our mobile phones/remote control is to control ourselves. Sometimes with little devices like a Fitbit or an Up, but often also simply with our phones and apps like Digifit, which monitors and tracks our fitness and workouts. Others help us get better sleep, stop smoking, and walk more, simply by letting us set goals, and then holding us to them.

One, the Gain Fitness app, helps us to manage our fitness with one simple feature: the workout streak tracker. Although the app does other things, it tracks every day you do a workout, and every day you do not. Miss one, skip one, or avoid one, and your workout streak is broken, and you start back down at zero. Essentially, it’s a simple motivational trick to make yourself do what you know you really want to do, but sometimes don’t feel like.

In essence, a remote control.

More on devices, gadgets, the internet of things, and the mobile computers we call phones that are enabling this remote control trend at Mobile Summit 2013, April 1-2 in Sausalito, California.

photo credit: Stéfan via photopin cc

Android owners now have one less excuse against getting healthy.

Jawbone has finally released an Android app for its Up health wristband, which has so far remained an iPhone-exclusive device.

Jawbone recently re-released its Up wristband ($129) after a disastrous debut in 2011. Just like the previous model, the device tracks your daily activity and sleep patterns — but its far better built, so it shouldn’t die off as easily as the first Up. The Android app allows you to synchronize with the Up, log your food, and keep track of your moods, among several other features.

It offers all of the features currently on the iPhone app, except for the recent ability to share your updates to Twitter and Facebook, according to Travis Bogard, Jawbone’s vice president of product management and strategy.

“Right now we’re focusing on supporting Android well,” Bogard said. “There’s a lot of variety out there, this is why many people in this space have either declared they won’t support Android [referring to Nike's Fuelband], or will only support one or two Android devices.”

Specifically, Bogard tells me that the Jawbone Up now supports more than 26 different Android smartphones, which includes most of the popular models you’d expect. The company has spent the past year developing the application in parallel with the iOS version, but it took a while to test it on a decent amount of Android phones.

Additionally, Jawbone is releasing an updating iPhone application today which includes support for more international languages. Basically, plenty of people who’ve wanted to get their hands on the Up will finally have a reason to do so.

“What’s cool is that people who have friends in the [Up] system move around 10 more miles per month and have 20 percent longer workouts,” Bogard said. “Being able to touch more people really helps create that encouragement and support.”

I’m a huge fan of the revamped Jawbone Up (so much so that I prefer it over the Fitbit One in my dual review), so it’s nice to see it finally reach Android. Unfortunately, you still have to plug in the Up device to synchronize it with your phone (that won’t be fixed until an entirely new model is released), but at least Android users now have the option to use it.

San Francisco-based Jawbone has raised $202 million in funding so far from Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz, and others.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

I’m going way out on a limb here, and cutting it off behind me.

But I have a theory. The more Samsung “adds value” to Android by customizing a version of it for the Galaxy line of phones, as it’s doing with its new Galaxy S IV, the more it will suck.

This is, of course, the company that sold 400 million freaking phones last year. And 57 million smartphones in just one quarter of 2012. Samsung seems, more than any other, to be the company that has shaved a few hundred billion off Apple’s share price.

But companies, like people, do best when they stick to what they’re good at. Better yet, what they’re great at.

And let me tell you, there’s no way that Samsung is great at machine language translation. And facial/eye recognition to drive smart document scrolling. And building app stores for hundreds of millions of global users. And tying Kinect-style hand gestures to phone functionality navigation. And building a personal health/self quantification system. And programming a voice-controlled smart personal assistant. And implementing a ticket-and-card aggregating Apple Passbook clone. And any of a thousand other software-based features Samsung is adding to its phones and laying at the pagan feet of the ruthless god called product differentiation.

No bloody way.

Not as good as Google, for the features that Google chooses to build, and are amenable to machine learning and improvement. Not as good as Fitbit or Up or other companies whose livelihood is self-quantification and health. Not as good as Kinect, or Leap Motion, which are focused on gesture control.

“Some of the features definitely didn’t seem to work all that well,” analyst Avi Greengart, who Samsung pre-briefed about its phone, told me today. “For the hover feature … you have pick the exact right distance from the screen for it to activate, and you select things you weren’t intending to select.”

Other features worked better, like a camera app that puts you in the picture while you take the picture, Greengart said, though he was most concerned about the sheer quantity of new features overwhelming consumers.

“A lot of it will drive people crazy,” he said. “But at the same time people will buy the phone so they can check it out.”

There are a bunch of reasons for that. One is that Samsung is not a software company, in much the same way that Intel, though it employs thousands of software engineers, is not a software company. Another is that ancillary features added by a company that is primarily focused on using those features to sell more of that product are seldom as good as the features created by companies that focus on those things exclusively.

But the big one is that Google is getting frightfully good at software. Partly because it learns a million times a minute as customers interact with its solutions, and data drives its decisions, but also partly because it gets mobile in a way that few other companies do. Google currently has five of the top six apps in North America on any platform.

Do you really think Samsung can build a better mobile user experience than Google?

I haven’t yet handled, played with, or slept beside a Galaxy S IV. But the early reviews on that cool eye-tracking technology that auto-scrolls documents for you? It works “better in theory than they did in practice,” according to CNet. And that neat gesture phone control technology? It seems to “work intermittently.”

ZDnet wonders if this is innovation or gimmicks, and Gizmodo hits the nail on the smartphone head:

Truthfully, there are too many modifications to go into, and most of them aren’t things you’ll ever use. Which is really the S IV’s biggest problem.

In other words, Samsung’s over-the-top Broadway launch for the Galaxy S IV might be the perfect metaphor for a phone that has everything you don’t need: A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer in your pants.

Now, we’re talking about unreleased hardware and software, and there are bound to be improvements before Samsung ships the Galaxy S IV to customers. But putting together a coherent, excellent operating system with well-integrated features is hard. Google went through multiple iterations before finally starting to get it really right perhaps a couple of years ago. Microsoft went through hell for years, trying to find its way in mobile operating systems.

Is it likely that Samsung, which is building on the Android foundation but chipping away at every piece of Google’s fingerprints it can while doing so, can get it right?

I think not.

“Look at the Samsung Galaxy S III,” ABI Research analyst Aapo Markkanen told me. “Everything that was good about the software came from Google, and everything that was annoying came from Samsung.”

Others that I’ve talked to agree, but still see a role for Samsung’s innovation.

“I agree that some of the software is buggy,” Rocky Agrawal, an analyst and mobile consultant who also writes for VentureBeat, told me. “If they would stick to the non-core things that they’re adding it could make sense … but to go in and mess up core stuff like keyboards and error correction, that’s just innovation for the sake of innovation. You should differentiate on things that matter.”

We have seen this movie before, during the 90s and 2000s, in a different industry: the PC market. Much as Android is to iOS what Windows was to Macintosh, Android vendors are to each other what HP was to Dell was to Compaq was to every other faceless PC manufacturer: a clone trying to be an individual.

And with every vendor trying to deliver unique value, a unique product, and a unique brand in a by-nature commoditized market, they get desperate. The result: software that adds a line item in the product comparison chart and a bullet point in the marketing blurb, but is really just crapware.

I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I’ve been that crapware vendor, sad to say, bundling a solution into HP’s, Asus’s, and even Intel’s offerings.

And my money’s on something similar happening here.

(Oh, and these user interface issues will be at the heart of our discussion at the Mobile Summit in Sausalito on April 1 and 2, where we’ve invited the mobile industry’s leading players. We’re hosting a wide cross-section of ecosystem from Google, Samsung, Facebook across the major carriers like AT&T and Verizon, to Cisco, Intel and the major analytics folks, like Flurry — along with the top 60 or so publishers and disruptive private companies.)

photo credit: Great Beyond via photopin cc

Because while it tracks your fitness activity, similar to a Fitbit, Jawbone Up, or Nike FuelBand, it also knows the difference between a sit-up and a push-up. In other words, it knows exactly what you’re doing, and it tracks it for you.

“The other devices are glorified pedometers,” Dave Scott, one of the four Amiigo cofounders, told me today. ”We’re the first fitness tracker which you can take into a gym and do jumping jacks or pushups or pull-ups … and it knows what you’re doing … and it knows how many reps and sets you’ve done of each.”

Amiigo fitness bracelet

I’ve had browser tabs open on the FitBit and Jawbone Up for a couple of weeks now as I’ve been trying to make up my mind on which one to buy. But one thing that’s holding me back is that neither of them actually seems really very smart.

The FitBit can tell me how many steps I’ve taken and stairs climbed, but it has no clue about my heart rate, or if I was  in the gym for 45 minutes. The UP will alert me when I’m too idle and will track my sleep patterns, but it wants me to tell it when I’m jogging or walking the dog or or in the gym.

And here I thought the whole point of technology is to do annoying, repetitive, and laborious things that I don’t want to. That is, in fact, the promise of Amiigo: According to the Amiigo founders, the gesture recognition technology can recognize 100 different activities.

“Because we’re using Xbox-like gesture recognition and we’ve included a shoe clip, we can track both upper body and lower body acceleration,” Scott says. “We know what you’re doing, and we’re automating that.”

That sounds good to me.

And apparently, to thousand of others on Indiegogo who have stepped up and ordered $347,088 worth of Amiigos, just two weeks into the campaign. But Amiigo doesn’t just know what you’re doing, it also knows how vigorously you’re doing it, by including a “pulse oximeter” sensor in the band that tracks both your heart rate and the oxygen content of your blood. Not to mention the skin temperature sensor.

Again, something that neither FitBit or Up do. And something that Nike’s FuelBand can’t do without an extra accessory.

All of the data, of course, shows up on the now-obligatory companion mobile app, which the Amiigo communicates with via WiFi or Bluetooth. And is shareable to social networks, where you can engage in fitness and activity contests with friends and acquaintances.

Of course, as with any crowdfunded campaign, you’re taking a calculated risk when backing a project. But the team of founders includes two MIT students and two alumni of a mobile marketing company. In addition, Scott says, he’s got working prototypes.

One more proof point that there’s something worthwhile here? In addition to the Indiegogo campaign, the team has apparently also raised a round of investment from a venture capital firm. The sum remains undisclosed.

Jambox wireless speaker creator Jawbone is singing the blues today. It alerted users early this morning to a hack on its MyTalk network that left the actual names (not to be confused with usernames), email addresses, and encrypted passwords compromised.

The MyTalk network is where people can update their software, find and download apps for Jawbone’s device, and customize their device’s voice and language settings. Those products include Jawbone’s Jambox speakers and headsets. One customer, Dave Zatz, posted the message he received from Jawbone on Twitter. It reads, in part: ”Based on our investigation to date, we do not believe there has been any unauthorized use of login information or unauthorized access to information in your account.”

It continues to say that the password has been “disabled” and you can reset the password by visiting the user reset page and completing emailed instructions.

Of course, if you use that password on any other websites, you should change it immediately. One of the first things a cyber-criminal will do with your password is try it on other websites. And though Jawbone says that because your password was taken was encrypted and none of “the actual letters and numbers in your password” were revealed, hackers have ways to decrypt information.

As The Verge notes, however, it doesn’t seem this hack affected all Jawbone customers. According to a statement provided to the Verge, Jawbone says that the attack was “identified within hours” and subsequently blocked.

Jambox image via Jawbone

Ever since the iPod Nano was slightly less Nano’d just a few months ago, there’s been increased speculation about an iWatch to replace it. Now there’s chatter about a new device — an iWatch, perhaps —  from Apple for specifically that purpose.

Nano is Apple’s smallest iPod with a screen, bigger than only the Shuffle, and the sixth generation has been used extensively as a watch with the simple addition of a wristband. At 1.55-inches square, the Nano was perhaps a little awkward but an excellent beginning — and perhaps a precursor — to the Pebble smart watch.

That’s no longer an option with the seventh generation iPod Touch, which sports a 2.5-inch multitouch screen and a longer, rectangular body.

Cue iWatch?

The speculation is that Apple will be releasing a product in the next six months, possibly with an Intel chip, that communicates with your smartphone via Bluetooth. If so, it needs to be much more than a watch, and much more than a way to communicate with the device that is already just a few inches away in your pocket.

In other words, it needs to be a personal quantification device for the masses.

There are currently 505 tools listed in the Guide to Self-Tracking Tools on Quantified Self. Jawbone’s UP, Fitbit’s err bit, Nike’s FuelBand, the Basis Band, the Zeo “personal sleep coach,” the Stresswatch, the Adidas miCoach and dozens more are devices built to measure, track, and encourage you to modify fitness activities.

This is more than a fad — it’s a movement. And while smartphones like Apple’s iPhone are often components of these systems, they’re just one component in an ecosystem that includes sensors, apps, online social experiences, and analytics. Apple could be so much more, if it wanted to play in this market.

As The Next Web mentions, 2013 could be the year when wearable computing leaves the geek and enthusiast community. And isn’t popularizing and improving emerging technologies what Apple does best?

The iWatch is just a rumor right now, but I’m hoping it’s more … much more.

photo credit: griffintech via photopin cc

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re still stuffing your face with leftovers, preparing to do so, or regretting that fifth helping of turkey with all the fixins. Even diligent weight watchers let themselves go during holiday feasts — so what better time to look at the next generation of fitness tech?

Over the past week, I’ve had a chance to test out Fitbit’s One, its third-generation activity tracker, and Jawbone’s redesigned Up health wristband. I went from not tracking my activity at all to constantly wearing two of the most advanced health tracking devices available. The result: Lots of data … and constantly feeling like a lazy bum.

Sure, I’ve dreamed of living a healthier life, but you know how it goes — work, chores, and sheer laziness inevitably get in the way. The promise of these fitness gadgets is that they’ll point out just how terrible your daily habits are, and with the power of data, they’ll force you to be move more, eat better, and get more sleep.

Both the Up and One can track your steps, sleep habits, and give you an estimate of calories you’ve burned. The One clips onto your clothes, just like its predecessors, while the Up is meant to be worn all day on your wrist.

No matter how you do it, simply tracking your activity has health benefits: People who do so generally increase their activity by 26 percent, according to the American Medical Association. Even if you don’t have a strict diet plan and a trainer at the gym, fitness data can make you healthier.

In comparing the Jawbone Up and Fitbit One, I definitely settled on a favorite. But I also learned that these devices are extremely personal — what works best for me may not end up working for you. But at least you now have a number of mature fitness gadgets to choose from.

Jawbone’s Up: You can trust it this time

Let’s not mince words. The original Jawbone Up was a failure. Released in November, 2011, the Up sported a slick Yves Behar design and came from one of the most trusted names in gadgets. But a month after launch, Jawbone was forced to suspend production of the Up and offer full refunds due to issues with its electronics.

Instead of giving up, Jawbone went back to the drawing board to figure out exactly what went wrong. It turns out building a flexible, wearable computer was harder than Jawbone anticipated. Now, after 2.9 million hours of user testing and the development of 28 new manufacturing processes, Jawbone has relaunched the Up. And even though it looks the same as the old Up, this new Up is a completely different beast internally.

Source: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

The old Jawbone up (left) alongside the newer, more well-built model (right), both without their rubber coatings.

One quick glance at the two Up models laid bare is enough to tell you which one is better built. The new model features a strong coating around the Up’s internal electronics, and it also seals together with the Up’s rubber exterior to keep water out.

According to Travis Bogard, Jawbone’s vice president of product management and strategy, water damage was one of the biggest problems the company faced with the first Up. Jawbone went through all of the usual industry standards for testing, but once the Up failures started rolling in, the company quickly realized it needed to come up with rigorous new testing standards of its own.

Now Jawbone is confident the Up will withstand whatever consumers throw at it. But you’ll have to pay a bit more for this model: It’s retailing for $130, instead of the $100 last year’s model cost. For now, the Up is only compatible with iOS devices. The company says it’s working on an Android app but hasn’t said when it will be available.

I’ve been using the new Up wristband almost non-stop over the past week. It’s survived showers, pouring rain, and several instances where I forgot to take it off before messy cooking situations. Perhaps due to its more solid internal construction, it also feels more flexible and comfortable than last year’s model. That’s particularly important, since it’s meant to be a device you never take off — even while sleeping.

The Up is a bit too thick to hide completely, but with its bright color options you may not want to hide it. And it’s light enough that you can easily forget you’re wearing it. Jawbone claims the Up has 10 days of battery life, and it’s performance over the last seven days I’ve been wearing it seems to confirm that figure.

The good: Strong design, revamped app

Design still holds up: I immediately lusted after last year’s Up model the moment I saw it — chalk that up to a simple, yet elegant design that makes it seem like a piece of cyberpunk jewelry, not just a gadget. Jawbone didn’t change anything with the new model’s design, and I can’t blame it. One year later, I’m still drawn to the Up in a visceral way.

Vastly improved mobile app: The original Up iPhone app released last year was fairly basic — it showed the number of steps you took and your sleep performance and offered you a way to track what you ate. But there wasn’t much of a social component, and the food tracking was mostly manual.

This time around, Jawbone’s Up app finally feels complete. You can track what you eat (using the device’s matching iPhone app) more easily with a massive database of foods and their nutritional information, and you can add friends to your “Team” to compare their performance. You can also track your mood through the app and log additional exercises like yoga and cardio workouts.

Best of all, the Up app now uses all the data it collects to generate useful insights about your behavior. If you don’t get enough sleep while travelling, or if you tend to eat unhealthy lunches at work, Up will nudge you to be better.

Sleep tracking and silent alarm works wonders: Not much has changed when it comes to the way the new Up handles sleep, but its ability to track the quality of your sleep and wake you up gently is still worth mentioning. The wristband can figure out how much light and deep sleep you’ve had, as well as how long it took you to fall asleep once getting to bed.

And since it knows how well you’re sleeping, Up’s silent alarm can pick the best time to wake you, so you get up feeling refreshed. It’s the perfect solution for anyone who hates waking up to a blaring alarm in the morning.

The bad: Syncing is a pain

For all of the Up’s whiz-bang technology, you still have to plug it into your phone’s headphone jack to synchronize it, even though the FitBit One and Nike’s FuelBand both offer wireless BlueTooth syncing. According to Jawbone’s Bogard, the company still thinks wireless syncing has a ways to go. That’s ironic, given that Jawbone made its name with its wireless Bluetooth headsets and wireless Jambox speakers.

Synchronizing the Up is a simple process, but it feels like an imperfection in an otherwise quality product. It’s also a pain when it comes to making simple changes to the Up, like changing the time of its silent alarm or tweaking its activity reminder (which buzzes to keep you from sitting down for too long). It’s not tough to get into the habit of syncing the Up twice a day, but plugging it in just to make a simple alarm clock change seriously diminishes its futuristic veneer.

You can be sure Jawbone is working to get wireless synchronization in future versions of the Up, but for now your only option is decidedly old-school. For some people, this may be reason enough to opt for another fitness gadget. But I’ve gotten used to the inconvenience — and it’s also somewhat fun to see the stares from strangers when I plug my unassuming bracelet into my iPhone.

Fitbit’s One: The pedometer, evolved

While Jawbone is a relative newcomer to fitness gadgets, Fitbit has been at this for a while now — and it shows. The company first showed off the Fitbit Classic in 2008. The Classic was widely praised for its compact clip-on design and its ability to track your steps and sleep. The Fitbit Ultra, released last year, added stair tracking, among many other new features.

With the Fitbit One, the company took all of its experience in this arena and crafted it into its most compelling device yet. It can synchronize wirelessly with your smartphone and has a smoother, pebble-like design. Instead of building the clip directly into the device, the One includes a small, removable clip “jacket” — a helpful addition, since it prevents the device itself from getting damaged if the clip gets caught in your clothing.

There’s nothing truly revolutionary about the Fitbit One, but that’s mainly because the company has done such a good job of establishing itself as a fitness leader with its past few devices. It’s hard to blame Fitbit for not pushing the envelope a bit more when it’s already done so pretty significantly several times. With wireless syncing and a strong ecosystem, the Fitbit One could be the ideal device for fitness gadget newcomers and addicts alike.

The Good: Almost everything

Secretly geeky: The Fitbit One may not be as flashy as Jawbone’s Up, but it’s perfect for people who don’t want to flaunt their fitness tracking. In my week using the One, I appreciated how unobtrusive it was — you can clip it onto your jeans and easily forget it’s there.

Data strong: It was nice to get access to my Fitbit data from the company’s extensive online dashboard (Jawbone’s Up relies entirely on its mobile app, for now). The site gives you many more ways to look at your data without fishing through a mobile app.

Easy synchronization: Where the Jawbone Up is annoying to sync, the Fitbit One is a dream. The device can wirelessly synchronize with Bluetooth 4.0-compatible iPhones and Android smartphones, as well as with computers through Bluetooth. Fitbit includes a Bluetooth USB receiver, just in case you have an ancient computer.

Useful ecosystem: Fitbit’s $130 Aria Wi-Fi scale can help you, and seven other people in your household, easily keep track of your weight. And the $60 Fitbit Zip is a good option for keeping track of your kids’ health — it can track their steps and distance traveled, but not sleep or stairs climbed.

The Bad: Competitors are more exciting

As great as the Fitbit One is, it lacks the striking appeal of Jawbone’s Up and Nike’s FuelBand. In the end, it’s the evolution of a device that’s been around for several years, instead of something that feels new and fresh. (Just compare Fitbit’s functional, but slightly boring app, to Up’s and Fuelband’s.)

This may not mean much when assessing its quality, but when it comes to convincing lazy consumers that they need to keep track of their health, it certainly helps to appeal to them on a more visceral level.

Up vs One

After using both fitness gadgets for the past week, it’s the Up that I’m most excited to use every day. Sure, the manual syncing is annoying, but I love its gorgeous design and colorful app. Most of all, I appreciate how it makes a simple statement — the future of technology isn’t just about what we’ve got in our pockets, it’s about what’s right up against our skin.

The Up feels like the precursor to the inevitable rise of body augmentation — you don’t have to wear the Up for too long before it feels like a part of you. The up has a strange and almost ineffable pull on me as a gadget geek and someone who appreciates artistic technology.

For the pragmatic types, Fitbit’s One may be more your style. It offers better access to your fitness data, as well as a few more helpful features. It’s also the best fitness gadget option for people who just hate wearing things on their wrists (that’s a bigger group than you may think).

Summing up: A wealth of choices

Even if you vehemently disagree with my preferred fitness gadget (as a reviewer, I’m used to this), the beauty of the current marketplace is that there’s a choice for just about everyone. Beyond the Up and Fitbit’s devices, there’s Nike’s popular Fuelband, and smart pedometers like Striiv’s. And if you have a smartphone, you don’t even need an additional gadget: You can dive into fitness apps like Runkeeper and Endomondo.

When it comes to fitness gadgets, reviews may not be enough. You may have to try a few before you figure out what works best for you. But no matter what you choose, it’s hard to go wrong. I have friends who’ve lost a significant amount of weight using all of the above options.

What’s important is that you find something that helps you get off your butt — and constantly reminds you to be better.

Jawbone and Fitbit provided VentureBeat with units for review.

Few devices evoke an instant emotional response from me, but Jawbone’s Up health wristband did just that when it was released last November . With its ability to track your daily activity and sleep patterns, it seemed like the perfect device to help you live a healthier life.

But, due to a critical flaw in the Up’s electronics, Jawbone was forced to suspend production and offer full refunds a month after launching the device. Today, the Up is back — and Jawbone wants to make it clear that you can trust it this time.

The company says it has tested the Up for 2.9 million hours using a variety of different methods (see some in the video below). Jawbone developed 28 new manufacturing processes, 115 design patents, and 141 new parts to build the wristband.

Due to the more rigorous testing and manufacturing process, the Up is now selling for $130, compared to its $100 launch price last year. The device is available today on Jawbone’s website, as well as Best Buy, AT&T, and Apple stores.

While the new Up has seen some major internal changes, you won’t see many other immediate changes over last year’s model. But at least the Up smartphone app has been significantly revamped — now it can track your mood and has a more refined social interface. Jawbone is offering the device in two additional colors (bringing the total up to eight color choices).

Last year, my Up unit lasted around two weeks before it stopped synchronizing with my iPhone. I’m hoping that with this revamped model, the Up fulfills its potential as a wearable computer that teaches you about yourself.

Weight loss gadgets have evolved far beyond simple pedometers. We now have Up bands, Fitbits, and FuelBands that track our fitness levels (and make us look like athletes even when we’re not). One of these devices is BodyMedia‘s FIT, a series of armbands that use medical-grade sensors to track health metrics.

Wednesday, BodyMedia announced a $12 million funding round led by Comcast Ventures. The company plans to develop devices geared towards diabetes management, sleep disorder treatment, and elderly care assistance.

The FDA-approved medical/fitness device comes in three models and tracks movement, skin temperature, sweat, and heat dissipation to give an overall picture of your health and daily fitness levels. It won’t track individual workouts, but it will help you monitor your overall daily activity, log meals, and keep track of your sleep patterns. FIT is mainly for people who want to set specific weight-loss goals, not just get off their butt more often.

FIT competes with the other health tech gadgets I mentioned above. Jawbone’s Up band, the Fitbit, and the Nike+ FuelBand all tracks sleeping patterns and daily movement — such as steps taken or stairs climbed — and come with health-tracking software. The multiple health sensors on the FIT have earned it the FDA Class II medical device label and help it stand out from the rest.

Existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, ePlanet, Draper Triangle Ventures, Ascension Health Ventures, and InCube Ventures joined Comcast Ventures in the funding round.

Founded in 1999, BodyMedia has raised a total of $49 million in funding. The company’s headquarters are in Pittsburgh, Penn.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Jawbone is one of the new entrants into the market for quantifying your life. Its Up movement and sleep-tracking health wristband is aimed at people who want to keep track of and improve their health.

The product had a good launched in November, but Jawbone decided to put sales on hold because it got complaints that the Up units died suddenly within the first week of use. Jawbone offered to replace the failed Ups for free. Sales have not yet restarted.

Even so, Travis Bogard, vice president of product management and strategy at San Francisco-based Jawbone, was promoting the product at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week.

You wear the Up band 24 hours a day. It will measure your movements, including your steps. It will record how much sleep you get. You can snap pictures of the food you’ve eaten, and it will reward you points for food intake. You can challenge a friend to see who can take more steps. Overall, it’s one more product that helps you find a healthy lifestyle.

A free companion app for the Up band tells you how you’re doing throughout the day — if you’re getting enough sleep, eating the right foods, moving enough. After you start using it for a while, you can see how much you’re exceeding or missing your targets.You can pull the band apart and plug it into your iPhone to synchronize it.

The app measures your sleep and wakes you at the ideal time, using a silent “smart alarm” which vibrates on your wrist. It can detect whether you are in a deep or a light sleep and assess the overall quality of your sleep. It also reminds you when you’ve been idle for too long. And after you eat, it asks you how you feel.

You can share your information with friends on a social network and compete or get positive reinforcement.

Here’s a video of Bogard talking about Up.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Bluetooth headset maker Jawbone issued an apology today and will be giving broad refunds with “no questions asked” on its recently launched Up health wristband after many users complained of issues, including battery and syncing problems.

“While many of you continue to enjoy the Up experience, we know that some of you have experienced issues with your Up band,” Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman said, in a statement. “Given our commitment to delivering the highest quality products, this is unacceptable and you have our deepest apologies.”

Jawbone is mostly known for its stylish Bluetooth headsets, so when the company set its sights on the health and fitness space, we were intrigued. Using the Jawbone Up wristband and an iOS app, you could get reminders to move when you sat at a desk too long, be told exactly how long you’ve slept, be prompted to wake up in accordance with your natural sleep cycle and track how many calories you ate by snapping photos of your food.

Unfortunately, the first set of users for the wristband appear to have had many issues — so many that Jawbone is suspending production until it can fix all the problems. The main issues appear to be that some wristbands can’t hold a full charge due to capacitor malfunctions, and some don’t sync properly because of a hardware issue. Jawbone said it is “working around the clock to identify the root causes” and it will take new orders for Up wristbands once all of the issues have been addressed.

The most interesting aspect of the refund is that anyone who purchased the wristband, even if they haven’t had any problems, can still get a refund. The somewhat hilarious wording from the press release reads: “This means that for whatever reason, or no reason at all, you can receive a full refund for Up. This is true even if you decide to keep your Up band.”

The “Up No Questions Asked Guarantee” refund applies to any Up wristband purchased in 2011. So, in theory, you could go buy an Up wristband right now and still get a refund even if you don’t have a single problem. And if you do have serious problems, the company will send you a replacement band in accordance its standard product warranty.

[Lemon image via platinum/Flickr]