Microsoft Band

Gazaman

I got cold feet and cancelled mine 2 days ago :-(

supadryz

Had mine turn up last Thursday but had to send it back because it was too big. Will reorder sometime this week.

vorn182

Microsoft's Health app won't need a tracker to get your fitness data http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/22/microsoft-health-goes-tracker-free/

Nice update coming today,  including strava

kayzee

You cancelled and are reordering?

So had mine a week now and quite impressed with it. Certainly it's not something I need in my daily life, but sometimes you just want a new gadget don't you? Not interested in an Apple Watch this time around, but maybe in a few years.

Have to admit getting notifications on your wrist can be so handy, I wish there was more control though i.e. being able to see the whole message and deleting them off your phone too.

The alarm is great and is something I'm using all the time, seems very personal to have it vibrating away and no one else know it's going off!

Certainly some interesting statistics to be had from the heart rate sensor and sleep tracking... though how much they're going to help me in my day to day life, who knows. Enjoyed passing it around the office testing everyone's heart rate! It seems to get positive comments actually, even from die hard Apple fans.

Battery is good, taking between 20-50% usage per day at the moment. Charges up really quickly too.

Main annoyance is how easily the screen scratches up. I did put the free protector on but caught a cat hair underneath it! Was so annoying I just had to rip it off again later. Was scratched up after just 24 hours without it, and now a week later it looks like it's had months of usage, and I've been very careful with it. Next time I hope they opt for Gorilla Glass, even if it does end up costing more.

To be honest I've not even started looking at the Guided Workouts etc. yet but definitely interested to see what they can bring. I'm also looking to get back into biking and good to see a recent update brought tracking for that too.

My girlfriend's a bit disappointed though as even the small Band on the smallest possible setting is too big for her! She was interested in one but thinks she's going to go for Fitbit now instead because of the sizing.

Overall I think it's a great first version and is only going to get more useful; really hope they bring some apps to iOS. Some of the stuff available on Windows Phone looks awesome...

Microsoft Band Apps by Platform | Microsoft Band content from SuperSite for Windows

supadryz

Well mine turned up again yesterday, to early for a review but I did mange to get my screen Protector on no problem & pleased with the DIY. Used the ZAGG one. Has a few bubbles but sure they will disappear.

kayzee

That's good; wish I'd done a better job with mine! Can't believe that little bit of plastic is meant to cost £10 though

BigFas

Picked mine up today.  Was going to buy one from my local PC World but it was always out of stock, fortunately was going through Heathrow and picked one up for 149 including the screen protector.  Been playing around with it, so far so good.

Have been using a Jawbone UP for the last few months, this is bigger and heavier so getting used to that, but to be fair, the tech is amazing.  Looking forward to getting home and using it properly

oasismark

Id like peoples thoughts in the band now its been out a while?

I was all up for the apple watch, but the delay in deliveries is a pain now, and the price tag is hard to justify.

Would you say it would be safe to wear this playing football? I really want to track while i play football, but id be weary of damage to the band, damage to other people, and damage to me etc.?

Also i saw a video showing a keyboard on the band for making quick replys to txt?

                               
Is this now availabel and is this a windows phone only feature. (i have a iphone)

Ive also just read on reddit that its had a update and it will now do autodetect sleep.

Band will soon auto-detect sleep according to Health website : MicrosoftBand

Messiah

I absolutely love my MS Band.  It certainly does everything one could want with regard to fitness tracking and the on board GPS is just fab.  The level of detail it provides both directly on the band but even more so via the MS Health Dashboard is just brilliant (have attached a couple of screenies below).  It is a very robust piece of kit and would say that it is unlikely to get damaged or hurt you or anyone else any more than a normal watch.  I certainly would not worry about wearing it during most types of sport activities.

I tried the Apple Watch (bought 4 of them for the family) but sold them all within a week as I was just totally non impressed by them.  I now wear an LG Urbane as my day to day watch and a MS Band for sleep and activity tracking.  The really great thing also about the MS Health app is it can now use the step counter of the phone (assuming suitable phone) so if you are not wearing the band it will still track steps/activity.  I have mine linked to an S6 Edge but also have the MS Health app on my iPhone which syncs the data from the cloud so still shows the data.

Yes, the latest update now offers auto sleep functionality.  Actually, it's just the way the app interprets the data so if it sees inactivity for an extended period, with a heart beat, it will present this as sleep activity.  So if you fall asleep for an afternoon nap it will track it.  If you just leave your band on the bedside table it will not as it sees no heart beat.  It is a very sophisticated bit of kit and whilst it has shortcomings related to look and size (although it is extremely comfortable) I think it is an amazing piece of kit and would not be without mine.

The on screen keyboard for text replies and Cortana integration are, unfortunately, Windows Phone only features.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

King Tones

Let me know how you get on with it Mark, I am very tempted in one for when I am out cycling just so I don't have to take my phone with me to track my routes and distance.
Also think it would help me get out more and with a step counter and force me to ride more and just exercise more in general.