Even though the long-delayed Up3 isn’t shipping until later this month, Jawbone this evening has taken the wraps off of two new fitness trackers, the Up4 and the Up2. The latter is a replacement for the Up24 released in 2013, while the former is a new fitness tracker by the company. The Up4 most notably adds support for on-band wireless payments from American Express. Both watches pair with your iPhone over Bluetooth.
The Up4 sports an NFC chip to perform the wireless payments. Existing American Express customers will be able to link their regular account information with the Up4, but non-American Express customers will be able to apply for an AmEx card and potentially receive instant approval.
Other than the addition of NFC for wireless payments, the Up4 is nearly identical to the Up3. It features heart-rate tracking and sleep analytics. The Up4 will be available later this summer for $199, which is $20 more than the Up3.
Both of Jawbone’s new offerings come at an interesting time in the wearable space. The Apple Watch is set to start arriving to pre-order customers on April 24th and also includes the ability to wirelessly pay for products when paired with Apple Pay. While the Jawbone Up2 and Up4 are cheaper than the Apple Watch, we’ll have to see if they compare in terms of quality.
