The Jawbone UP3 Won’t Be Waterproof and Its Release Date Is Delayed (Again)
That Jawbone UP3 you preordered for the holidays won’t be arriving at your doorstep anytime soon. And when it does, it won’t come as promised.
According to an update posted on the company’s blog, the gadget — which was announced in November and available for preorder in December — will now begin shipping on April 20 to all customers in the United States. Jawbone originally said the band would ship by the holidays, but later delayed that deadline to “early 2015.” This time the company admitted it has been struggling to make the wearable entirely waterproof.
“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,” the post by Jawbone’s vice president of product management Travis Bogard reads. “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.“
Bogard went on to apologize on behalf of the company and offers those who preordered the band the option to cancel and get a full refund.
So, basically that thing you bought your boyfriend/dad/sister for Christmas is much less functional now and will also arrive half a year late. Happy gym season from Jawbone.
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