{"id":100332,"date":"2015-03-18T05:59:15","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T05:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=100332"},"modified":"2015-03-18T05:59:15","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T05:59:15","slug":"microsoft-launches-band-wearable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/03\/microsoft-launches-band-wearable\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft launches Band wearable"},"content":{"rendered":"
In recent days, I’ve been looking like a walking – or sometimes jogging – advert for wearable technology.<\/p>\n
On one wrist I’ve been wearing a smart watch, the Moto 360, on the other a fitness tracker, the Nike FuelBand – plus a device which supposedly combines the best of both in one package.<\/p>\n
That device is called the Microsoft Band, on sale in the US for some months and now coming to the UK in April. It’s a very clever product with a lot of smart technology on board. It will be a lot cheaper than the Apple Watch, while doing many of the same things. But will it put Microsoft in the lead when it comes to wearables? That may depend on what matters most to potential Band buyers – utility or design.<\/p>\n
The device is really targeted at the fitness crowd. It measures your steps, calories burned, and your heart rate, all of them displayed with a tap on the Band’s rectangular screen. You can also opt to have a run, a cycle ride or a workout tracked. I tried a run, which involves switching on the Band’s GPS. It struggled at first to connect, then eventually delivered a record of my run, with split times and route – and a rather unlikely average heart rate of 165.<\/p>\n
So just how accurate is it? Well, what I liked about it was that it showed me being more active than my other devices. Halfway through my day the Band said I’d taken 6480 steps, while the Nike Fuelband had me at 5,998 and the Moto360 reading was 5,714 steps.<\/p>\n
Who knows which one got it right – though what I’ve found after wearing the Nike device for a year is that what really motivates you to exercise is simply hitting an arbitrary target.<\/p>\n
As well as fitness tracking, the Band gives you the same kind of notifications you get on a smartwatch, throbbing and buzzing when you get emails and texts or an incoming call. If you’re the kind of person who urgently needs to know when another email has arrived, this could be useful. But I found that, just as with the Moto 360, knowing that I’ve got more email or Twitter messages did not improve my life.<\/p>\n
What makes the Band stand out is the software, and the fact that it is a cross-platform device. Microsoft’s Health app, which gives you a wealth of data from the device, is available for iOS and Android as well as Windows Phone. You can connect other apps, such as the calorie-counting myfitnesspal, to get a more rounded picture of your health and fitness.<\/p>\n