Shoes started out as animal skins on our feet, and they ended up as five inch stiletto heals studded with titanium spies or sneakers worth hundreds of dollars men and women will wait hours in the rain to possess.
Cars started out as motorized carts that freed us from horses, but they ended up as tricked out hot rods with glowing LED lights projecting their names on the pavement and blue nitro-burning tail pipes.
The personalized activity monitor started out as a basic bracelet to detect, record and relay biological data from a body at rest or in motion. Now, it’s evolved into a personalized and uniquely decorated adornment thanks to the tech firm Jawbone and the personalized jewelry creator, Brilliance.
To get there, start with one standard Jawbone Up. Sized small, medium or large, it’s unisex and wraps around the wrist with simple flexibility. The user wears it 24/7 as it needs charging about once every 10 days. While it keeps in touch with your body’s rhythms, it analyzes physical activity (according steps), collects data and reports it via a free app from Jawbone. The Up also keeps tabs on your sleep patterns. The necessary app is available across platforms and works with iOS and Android devices.
Related: Wahoo Fitness RFLKT Links iPhone, Bicycle
I’ve played with the Up before, and it works as well as other competing systems, such as the Nike+ or the Misfit Shine. I do like the Up’s interfacing app better than most activity trackers as it seems to synch better and spread its data out over more effective reports.
With the Up already to go, we bring in Brilliance – an online service allowing anyone to design and order their own personalized jewelry. Previously, the site would help you come up with your own bejeweled engagement ring, pendant, bracelet, etc. When Brilliance met Jawbone, they gave birth to a “blinded” Up bracelet.
The Brilliance-enhanced device does everything the standard Jawbone Up does. It simply does it while calling a lot more attention to itself. When ordering their Up via Brilliance, customers mix and match band colors with their choice of diamonds or other gemstones (sapphires, rubies, emeralds) to be set on the otherwise metallic wristband cap. Via Brilliance, that cap is available in white, yellow or rose gold — along with platinum or palladium.
Wearers can order two rows of 10 round-cut diamonds or gemstones (for a total of 20 diamonds or gems) or three rows of 10 round-cut diamonds or gemstones (for a total of 30).
The result is the first activity tracker that cannot only be worn as jewelry, but also serves as a major eye catcher and fashion statement. The attitude of the wearer has to be, “I’m wearing this anyway for my health. I might as well make a splash with it.” It’s got to be a conversation starter since, once your neighbor catches sight of the gems gleaming in the sun, you can go on about everything the Up does to keep you upright and earning enough cash to buy jeweled bracelets.
Therein lies the bad news about this marriage of Jawbone and Brilliance – the price tag. The particular gem-studded Up I tested has an MSRP of $950, which puts it in designer watch territory. That’s not a shock as you don’t expect to get gold and diamonds on your wrist on the cheap under any circumstances. But, would-be buyers should be prepared to pay fort fitness in style.
