Jawbone Announces the UP4, a Slim Fitness Tracker That Also Makes Paymen

The band comes with an NFC chip that connects to American Express cards. (Photo: Jawbone)

The same wearables that track your exercise and sleep will soon be able to pay for your candy bars, too. 

Late Wednesday night, Jawbone revealed the UP4, a wristband that can count your steps, analyze your shuteye, measure your heart rate, and make purchases. The $200 band will work with Android and iOS phones, and come equipped with sensors to collect your skin temperature, respiration, and heart rate. It will also feature an accelerometer that tracks your movement at every angle, so that it will be able to recognize familiar movements and label the kind of exercise you’re doing, from skiing to Zumba. 

Perhaps most distinctively, a near-field communication (NFC) chip in the outer band will allow UP4 wearers to complete transactions by placing their wrist next to a credit card payment terminal for just a few seconds.

The UP4 will be released in black this summer, and will eventually be available in silver, too. (Photo: Jawbone).

The UP4’s ability to complete financial transactions is unique for a fitness tracker, but it comes with a few catches. Just as with Apple Payor Google Wallet, the number of institutions that have capable NFC terminals is limited to the major institutions that use them. Though Jawbone estimates that its band works with a number of terminals “ranging in the hundreds of thousands” across the country, whether you can actually find one very much depends on where you live in the country. Also reducing this feature’s usefulness: UP4 works only with American Express, which not every business accepts.

American Express will be securing the payment connection with the same encryption software its in-house contactless payment systems use, ensuring that your financial information won’t be intercepted or tracked on either end. If your band is stolen, you also have the option to immediately unpair your card via Jawbone’s UP app. The company will also cover all fraudulent charges made in the case of theft.

The premiere of the UP4 comes on the heels of an embarrassing product failure for Jawbone. Last week, the company announced that pre-orders for the UP3 were delayed for a second time, explaining that due to manufacturing snafus, the band would no longer be waterproof. After revealing the UP3 in November and taking pre-orders for it in December, the band will begin shipping on April 20. In other words, no one has spent enough time (if any) with the UP3 to know if they even want an UP4.

Alongside the UP4, Jawbone also updated its standard band — the colorful rubber bracelet known as the UP24. Renamed the UP2, the $100 wearable device will track your exercise and sleep, and it comes with the same app-adjustable alert capabilities as its predecessor. But the main draw is its size: It’s about 45 percent smaller in volume and — based on my own time with it — feels much lighter and more comfortable. Designwise, it swaps the UP24’s wrap-band enclosure for a stylish metal clasp, rearranging the charging portal so that it magnetically connects to a USB charger at the bottom of the band’s sensor.

Bloomberg Video

Jawbone Goes Right After Apple in Wearable Space

April 16 -- Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman discusses the company’s wearable payments devices. He speaks on “Market Makers.”

Since the premiere of its first fitness tracker in 2011, Jawbone has been praised for the lightweight design of its bands, as well as its motivational companion app called UP. Recently, however, the company has faced growing competition, including a line of similar fitness trackers from Fitbit, the Microsoft Band, and Garmin’s VivoSmart. Meanwhile, just before Jawbone’s embarrassing shipment delay, Apple premiered its long-awaited Apple Watch, which, like the UP bands, can measure your heart rate and offer insights on the intensity of your workout. A recent study also indicated that the tracking features embedded within smartphones tend to be more accurate than those of wrist devices.

The UP2 (Photo: Jawbone)

Both the UP2 and UP3 are on sale now on the Jawbone website in black. The UP2 will allegedly be in Best Buy stores on April 19. More colors, including silver, will be available in the coming weeks after its release. 

We’ve got both and will be testing them out to let you know if they’re worth the wait. Stay tuned.