Rapper Ludacris tonight has shown off a unique twist on the Apple Watch: a model encrusted with diamonds around the face’s bezel. Ludacris wore the gear to tonight’s Teen Choice Awards on Fox, and he posted a couple of pictures of the device on Instagram. It appears that taking the custom route allowed Ludacris to one-up his colleagues who were able to secure all-gold Apple Watch Editions with gold Link Bracelets from Apple in the run-up to the Apple Music launch. A close up shot of Ludacris’s Apple Watch is below.
Jawbone released Up, an app-enabled wearable fitness tracker, roughly one year ago, but a slew of hardware issues ensued, and now the company has corrected those errors and launched a second iteration of the product today with 141 new parts.
The primary problems with the original version of Up concerned water contamination and flexibility. It was apparently not durable enough to handle moisture, and many users who came into contact with water subsequently reported damaged internal parts, while other users snapped components if they bent or twisted the bracelet. There were also many complaints regarding battery life issues.
Jawbone’s CEO and founder Hosain Rahman said his team went back to the drawing board, however, and the new Up design is now perfect after 46 weeks worth of user trials and testing:
“UP marks our commitment to solving everyday problems for real people. We’ve combined hardware, software and data, developed 28 new manufacturing processes, and created unparalleled testing standards validated by nearly three million hours of real-world testing. The resulting breakthroughs have allowed us to create the category’s first truly day-and-night wearable product – a band that looks great and fits effortlessly into the way you live, along with an app that delivers detailed data with meaningful insights to help you achieve your goals.”
Up is essentially a rubberized bracelet with sensors and a 3.5 mm headphone jack concealed by a removable cap. Users must plug Up into an iPhone to sync it with an iOS app and retreive measured data on their sleep habits, activity level, moods, and more.
The bracelet comes in three sizes and eight colors, and it is available starting today for $129.99 at Jawbone.com, Apple, AT&T, and Best Buy. The updated Up by Jawbone iOS app is also available for free in Apple’s App Store.
