Sometimes unboxing new products is a bit like Christmas. It’s the danger of working here: I like tech and toys and we have tech and toys. It’s why I know some day I’ll give in and bring a thunderbolt display home. Last week I was thrilled to open up the Up24 by Jawbone. I had worn its predecessor for a long time before losing it, and I like it. There are a lot of options for wearable tech these days, and the numbers keep on rising, but I liked the original Jawbone and this version for their very simplicity. There are devices have readable displays and ones that clip on discretely and so on. The Jawbone is more of a put it on and don’t think about it device: I wear it all the time (it’s “shower proof”, although not completely waterproof — don’t wear it in baths or swimming) and rarely think about it. It’s attractive, too — I’ve had folks compliment me on my cool bracelet.

The UP24 is designed to give you information about your daily activities. It keeps track of your steps, showing you a detailed graph of your activity spikes throughout the day. In the face of countless studies that say sitting all day is bad for you, it can be illuminating to see just how much time idle you spend (or not!). You can set it to buzz if you’ve been sitting too long as a reminder to get up and move around. It also tracks your sleep, deep and light, with motion sensors built into the device. It feels fairly accurate — it catches my middle-of-the-night wake ups, and although it might be the power of suggestion I do tend to feel more rested on the days where the band reports I’ve had a lot of deep sleep. You can also use it to set yourself an alarm — it’ll buzz to wake you up within 20 minutes of the alarm when you are in a light sleep period. The theory is that this will make waking up a little less painful. I’m an incredibly deep sleeper, and the alarm doesn’t always wake me up, even if I am in a lighter sleep cycle — I would use a backup alarm just in case!

I got up very late this morning…

I’ve been wearing the Up24 for about a week now, and overall my experience is very positive. I think more knowledge can help you form healthier habits.

The Jawbone Up24 is available now at iCape Solutions.