I'll be the first to admit, Jawbone's Up wristband was a disappointment, and I never even laid fingers on one. As soon as the preview post went up on this site, complaints of the hardware failing within days went from being exceptions to the norm. The company offered complete refunds to everyone who'd bought one, whether theirs died or not.

The new Nike+ FuelBand looks set to rectify that, and although it improves on the Up in many ways, such as having Bluetooth connectivity (hallelujah), an ambient light sensor, and a digital readout with color-coded status lights indicating whether one's goals have been met, the concept feels like it belongs in a different category. The Up's promise was activity tracking for everyone. Sedentary office workers could get a little encouragement to take the stairs each day, and sleep a little better at night. You might, it was implied, start making minute adjustments to your life — no pressure.

It's a testament to Nike's branding that the FuelBand immediately provokes images of heaving, tanned athletes bolting loudly out of the blocks, sweating profusely. The band's industrial design promises you'll break before it does. Gravel gets tossed up, and sneakers squeak everywhere you speak its name. It's all so TIRING. Perfect for some people surely, but not the rest of us. It doesn't help that activity is measured in a new arbitrary unit called NikeFuel, and that socially-networked users are invited to compete on who expends more fuel a day. Expect to see pro athletes online making you feel like a complete slob after the hardest run of your life.

At USD$149, it's also 150% of the Jawbone Up's asking price; less of an impulse buy, but certainly affordable for health enthusiasts. The entire package, including the announced smartphone/web software and integration with social networks such as Path, is exciting and speaks to a scale of software/hardware engineering at Nike that will be hard for smaller companies like Jawbone to match.