Jawbone’s UP app offers advanced (better?) algorithms, and works with Jawbone’s collection of activity trackers. There’s a version of the app that works without a Jawbone, using your phone and third party sensors. You can track you sleep, activities, and diet with UP. Both versions of the app have Smart Coach, an intelligent guide that monitors your behavior to offer personalized tips.
The Jawbone made some overall upgrades earlier in September. The company updated the UP software, adding Passive Heart Rate monitoring for the UP3 and UP4, and automatic sleep tracking for UP2, 3, and 4. The UP2 clasp got a fix in response to user complaints. There are also new colors available.
Runtastic has a massive community, more than 70 million registered users. It reports all the stats you’d expect, such as speed, elevation, distance traveled, caloric burn, duration, and more. It maps workouts in real-time. If you have Google Earth, you can watch your workout in 3D. Live-tracking lets your friends cheer you on — a nice feature for marathons or long rides where you’re far from the maddening crowd, but still want to brag a little. Hey, a little encouragement goes a long way. It has its own hardware too, and info collected with it will sync with the UP app.
UP gets great sharing and networking advantages through Runtastic, and Runtastic gets more training guidance and activity tracking progress in the UP app. Florian Gschwandtner, co-founder and CEO of Runtastic said of the collaboration, “We are working hard to pave the way toward a more active and healthier lifestyle.”
If you already use Runtastic and UP, your Runtastic data will automatically show up in the UP app’s newsfeed if you’ve connected the two services. This means you get all your stats in one place; less hunting through apps for data, and a more complete picture of health and fitness habits.
