News - Microsoft Band, powered by Microsoft Health, revealed

[HEXUS]

Wearable smart band is available for $199 today in the US, in limited quantities.

Read more.

[DanceswithUnix]

First Microsoft product for ages that I think actually looks rather interesting.

Cost is about the same as my wife's Garmin, and looks to be better in functionality (specially the sunscreen warning). It would have to have a battery that can last the length of a marathon if it doesn't already.

Mind you, if it can track rapid wrist movements and heart rate then Microsoft could learn some interesting habits about it's users

[LeetyMcLeet]

Mind you, if it can track rapid wrist movements and heart rate then Microsoft could learn some interesting habits about it's users

lol

[Tabbykatze]

Mind you, if it can track rapid wrist movements and heart rate then Microsoft could learn some interesting habits about it's users

Hmm, the average wrist movement of male adults during the fappenning increase by a factor of 100? I think there may be a correlation...

It does look very pretty and do agree in the hope the battery life is decent. At least 2 days hopefully.

[semo]

Now all we need a technical review of this and the Basis Peak (not a fashion review). I wonder which one has the better sensors...

[DanceswithUnix]

It does look very pretty and do agree in the hope the battery life is decent. At least 2 days hopefully.

I was thinking 40 miles duration when running, comfortably within the 26 miles needed for a marathon.

Have you seen how cross a runner gets if their Garmin dies half a mile from the finish line? Several hours of GPS data logging is quite battery intensive though, so I don't know if the technology is up to being in a device this small yet. Just a matter of time if it isn't though, such is the way of technology.

OTOH, people like my wife who do half marathons are probably a much bigger audience.

[CK_1985]

Haven't previously been at all interested in these bands, but for some reason this one is intriguing me... Sounds more like a decent smartwatch, just in band form. Plus I have a Lumia phone so would be a natural choice... tempting! If it ever comes to the UK, that is...

[TheAnimus]

It's more that this is everything in one package, that is cross platform.

It's very compelling and I'm asking a mate of mine in the states if he can pick one up for me before he returns.

[Whiternoise]

I was thinking 40 miles duration when running, comfortably within the 26 miles needed for a marathon.

Have you seen how cross a runner gets if their Garmin dies half a mile from the finish line? Several hours of GPS data logging is quite battery intensive though, so I don't know if the technology is up to being in a device this small yet. Just a matter of time if it isn't though, such is the way of technology.

OTOH, people like my wife who do half marathons are probably a much bigger audience.

Problem I find with tracking runs, apps using mobile GPS or dedicated hardware is that they have an all-or-nothing approach. If the battery fails at 90% then you have no data. If it failed, but I still had all that information it would be annoying, but not a wasted run. Not sure how you can avoid that beside hard logging to an SD card as you go or uploading to the cloud.

[shaithis]

Probably could have done with some solar and/or motion powering to keep it going longer.

[TheAnimus]

Probably could have done with some solar and/or motion powering to keep it going longer.

You know how little energy those generate right? GPS is quite power hungry, a screen like that is very power hungry.

I doubt they would add any useful battery life.

[DanceswithUnix]

Problem I find with tracking runs, apps using mobile GPS or dedicated hardware is that they have an all-or-nothing approach. If the battery fails at 90% then you have no data. If it failed, but I still had all that information it would be annoying, but not a wasted run. Not sure how you can avoid that beside hard logging to an SD card as you go or uploading to the cloud.

The Garmin seems to log to flash as it goes, or at least saves before shutdown. So nothing lost, but runners seem to get quite intense about their personal best times. They aren't cheap, and every runner seems to have one.