Jawbone has always been able to design the sharpest Bluetooth accessories on the market; their ICON and ERA models are the closest to credible any handsfree headsets have ever been. I should know, I get beat up less when wearing them than with any other brand. Odd then, that their latest product is neither a headset nor Bluetooth enabled.

The UP is a flexible wristband containing an advanced motion sensor, some memory, and a battery that lasts up to 10 days. By wearing the water-resistant device 24 hours a day and using a companion app, users get a comprehensive picture of their health habits by plugging one end of the UP into their iPhone headphone jacks to sync. Quality and duration of sleep each night, the number of steps taken, calories burned, and so on. It even serves as an intelligent alarm clock by vibrating at the tail end of one's deep sleep cycle in the morning, kinda like the very popular Sleep Cycle app.

It's available now in the US, UK, and select countries, with a larger international rollout planned by the end of the year. Scattered reports of defects and failures in early batches might give would-be buyers pause, but at just USD$99, early adopters will want to jump in and rely on Jawbone's customer service for replacements as necessary.

Update: Jawbone has acknowledged the UP's higher-than-normal failure rate and is now offering a full refund program, even for those with working units who want to keep them. It's hard to continue recommending the UP under these circumstances, but the concept is sound and hopefully the next iteration will achieve its promise.

Jawbone UP