The Up3 features a design that’s not far off from the less-expensive Up2. It’s a bit larger and chunkier overall to accommodate for the added technology inside, but not noticeably so if you’re looking at the thing on someone’s wrist. Most of the Up3’s guts are located inside an aluminum casing that sits on the top of your wrist. The Up3 is splash-proof and safe for the shower, but you won’t want to submerge it. After originally promising that it would be fully waterproof (a requirement for swimmers), Jawbone realized during mass production that it couldn’t follow through and had to go back on its word. The downgrade is disappointing, but you can’t take Microsoft Band or the Apple Watch underwater, either.
As it turns out, some of the Up3’s most important sensors are actually located on the inside of its strap. Look at the band’s underside and you’ll see a total of five gold-colored squares that make contact with your skin whenever it’s strapped on. These are what separate the Up3 from all the Ups that have come before it. They’re bioimpedance sensors that can measure your resting heart rate and make the Up3’s improved sleep-tracking features possible by monitoring your respiration rate, body temperature, and galvanic skin response.
Showering's fine, but don't take it in a poolWith these, the Up3 can track the stages of your sleep every night between light, deep, and REM. That’s something the Up2 won’t do. Instead, the less expensive model guesses your sleep patterns based on movement using its accelerometer.
Unfortunately, the Up3 has the same poorly designed, awkward clasp as the Up2. Worse yet, it doesn’t even guarantee a secure fit; the Up3 has randomly come loose on a few occasions over the week I’ve been wearing it. It’s never happened while I was asleep, but it still makes me think there had to be a better, simpler way. If there's one plus, it's that you won't be taking it off frequently. The Up3's battery life is exceptional, and it'll last nearly a week on a single charge.
A word of advice on style: go with the black one. Jawbone gave me a gray-and-silver model for review, and I never once received a compliment for its appearance. Like most other fitness bands, the black version won’t attract much attention. But this one? It screams, "Oh, that’s one of those fitness things."
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