Jawbone Up3 to begin shipping on April 20
The long-delayed tracker finally has a shipping date, but Jawbone revealed it was not able to achieve the level of water resistance that was originally planned.
The Jawbone Up3 is alive, but not all is well. The company announced on Thursday that it will begin fulfilling preorders from US customers on April 20. Jawbone expects all preorders to ship no later than mid-May, and soon after it will begin fulfilling new orders.
The Up3 was announced this past November and was originally slated to arrive by the end of 2014. Jawbone apologized for the delay, which it claims was due to a number of devices not being able to achieve the level of water resistance that was originally planned. The multisensor tracker was to be water-resistant up to 10 meters, however this is no longer the case.
Jawbone has said that "the UP3 will now ship with a water resistance comparable to, and in line with, most other multisensor trackers." Unfortunately, that means the device will no longer be suitable for swimming, although the band can still withstand splashing, rain and showering. You can read more about water resistance ratings in activity trackers here.
In addition to tracking steps, distance, calories burned and sleep, the device can continuously measure heart-rate. Unlike many smartwatches and fitness trackers on the market, which use rapidly flashing green LED lights to measure heart-rate, the Up3 has metal studs that are capable of conducting electrical bioimpedance measurements. Jawbone claims this should result in better and more accurate heart-rate measurements.
The Jawbone Up3 costs $180 in the US, which converts to about £150 in the UK, and AU$230 in Australia. International availability is slated for later this year.