It’s been quite a wait for the next Jawbone installment for fitness trackers, and even though it was announced last year around November, the Jawbone UP3 is here and it’s currently in mass production. The company states that by next Monday (April 20th) they will begin the shipping process for the Jawbone UP3 (first for those patient customers that pre-ordered, then everyone else). But why so long of a wait? Jawbone explains what happened.
Travis Bogard, Jawbone VP says that the primary reason for the six month delay for the Jawbone UP3 is conflicts with water resistance:
When we announced UP3 late last year we were confident we would start mass production of the device and begin shipping within a few weeks of the announcement. However, as we began to scale our manufacturing process it became clear that, while most units passed our high quality bar, a proportion did not. Specifically, we were not achieving the level of water resistance we had passed in the design and initial production stages.
Our intention was to ship an advanced multi-sensor product that defied industry standards with water resistance of up to 10 meters. Unfortunately, after extensive and exhaustive testing we have been unable to guarantee 10 meters of water resistance for all UP3 units.
UP3 will now ship with a water resistance comparable to, and in line with, most other multi-sensor trackers. This means that UP3 is resistant to everyday splashing, including while washing hands or in the shower, but it is unsuitable for swimming or submerged use. We would like to apologize to customers who may have pre-ordered UP3 on the basis that it would be suitable for swimming. Customers who wish to cancel their pre-order will, of course, be able to do so with no charge.
In the meantime, we look forward to shipping UP3 in the next few weeks in the US and thank our customers for their continued loyalty and patience. UP3 will be available internationally later this year.
– Travis Bogard, Jawbone Vice President
So while we don’t recommend that you go swimming or diving with the Jawbone UP3 on you, taking it with you during that early morning jog while it’s raining or while washing your hands, shouldn’t do any damage. But if the lack of water resistance happens to be a deal breaker for you, Jawbone says that you can safely cancel your Jawbone UP3 pre-order and you won’t be penalized for withdrawing. Other than that we’d have to get our hands on the new Jawbone UP3 to match it up with the other popular fitness trackers in the market, but since there is no water resistance we’d expect a similar experience.
