14 DAY TRIAL // The Jawbone Up24 might not be the prettiest wearable around (it’s no match for Intel’s MICA, for example) but it sure takes advantage of some nifty software.
This little device you wear around your wrist can count your steps, keep track of your internal stats and lots more. But the important part is what the Up24 ends up doing with the information it collects.
This is the department where you'll see it shine, because the wearable manages to aggregate the quite useful info and it can even plot it on a nice graph.
Jawbone opens its arms to other platforms
And as of this week, Jawbone has decided to drop the barriers it has set up with the competition and is willing to accept data from other companies like Fitbit or mobile platforms like Android Wear, Pebble and Apple’s HealthKit, as FastCompany reports.
You probably know what this translates into – when Apple’s highly hyped iWatch arrives in the wild, Jawbone will play nice with it too.
So now gadget enthusiasts who like to hold on to more than one device will have the ability to sync all information in one place where it can get sorted out accordingly.
Image this scenario. You’re at the office and you are wearing the new LG G Watch R, but later on when you go out running, you might want to ditch the fancy looking smartwatch and take up the Up24 band instead.
It’s interesting that Google, Samsung and Apple are all known to be developing similar services, but Jawbone might have just beat them to the punch.
On top of opening its arms widely, the company has rolled out a new update for its Up24 smart band which doubles the device’s battery life (previously it was only one week, now you get to enjoy two weeks of run time).
Jawbone has no intention of withdrawing from the wearable market
Jawbone ‘s strategy does make sense. Consider the rise of Android Wear smartwatches. Only at IFA 2014 we saw three tech giant launch new products fitting the category, including ASUS with its ZenWatch, the LG G Watch R and the Sony Smartwatch 3.
So instead of trying to work against smartwatches with a parallel niche, Jawbone is actually looking to provide an alternative that includes both intelligent timekeepers and fitness bands in a complementary fashion.
As a matter of fact, Jawbone has no plans of halting their fitness band production (like Nike) and is currently working towards developing new sensor technology that will be embedded in future product models.