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Microsoft Unveils $199 'Microsoft Band' Fitness Wearable

unplugme71 said:
Overpriced fitbit
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Except that the closest Fitbit equivalent, the Charge HR won't be out for a few months and also the MS band does more things and has more sensors. In truth the MS band sits between the $149 Charge HR and the $249 Surge watch. So, no, I don't think it's fair to say the MS watch is overpriced. Seems perfectly priced to me for what it does.
 
So I actually just looked and played around with the new band. Didn't buy one. It's big and very "block" like. They desperately needed to go with a curved display as it just feels very unnatural on the wrist. Wanted to like this thing but it's just to uncomfortable.
 
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subsonix said:
Yes, but what's your point? Apple made personal computers before IBM made the PC, here's Apple's taunting ad from the time.

Image
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lol nice ad
Didn't look up the original post but I think something was posted as apple its personal computer or so. It's a bit like saying: I bought my iphone from nokia lumnia.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Except that the closest Fitbit equivalent, the Charge HR won't be out for a few months and also the MS band does more things and has more sensors. In truth the MS band sits between the $149 Charge HR and the $249 Surge watch. So, no, I don't think it's fair to say the MS watch is overpriced. Seems perfectly priced to me for what it does.
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Just read about the new fitbits.. more overpriced gadgets.
 
iwayne said:
So I actually just looked and played around with the new band. Didn't buy one. It's big and very "block" like. They desperately needed to go with a curved display as it just feels very unnatural on the wrist.
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Thanks for sharing this. I was thinking about going ahead and ordering one to try out, but was concerned about the things you mention. Probably best to check them out in person.
 
Anim said:
I do sometimes for the GPS pathing but don't have a HR monitor, I just slow down when I can hear my own heart beat in my face haha. I was really asking about dedicated sport watches from the other poster really. With this MS band and all those additional sensors you could really analyse your fitness over time/distance that previously hasn't been possible I assume.
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http://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-comparison-calculator

There are lots of dedicated running watches out there and this site does excellent feature comparison tables and in depth reviews of all of them. Garmin, Polar, Suunto among others are some of the big players (among runners Garmin is almost synonymous with running watch).

They are all GPS watches and they all have their own data analysis websites that the watches upload to and they also all feed data into a variety of other 3rd party analysis apps.

What they don't have is all the sensors in an integrated product...you add accessories to get them. Garmin's newer forerunners have a multifunctional heart rate chest band which also collects a variety of other runner specific data to analyze...I just don't like wearing bands strapped to my chest so there is a lot of appeal in getting is all packed into one device strapped to your wrist.

They also tend to cost a fair bit more than the "fitness trackers" but comparable to the apple watch (to the degree we know what that will cost)
 
subsonix said:
Apple made personal computers before the PC, in fact it was among, if not the first personal computer. Funny that you refer to the iPhone as a me to smart phone, perhaps you don't remember what a smart phone was prior to the iPhone.
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I certainly remember what a smartphone was... a far more functional phone than the first iPhone. Until the App Store, the iPhone was junk.
 
ee4life said:
Thanks for sharing this. I was thinking about going ahead and ordering one to try out, but was concerned about the things you mention. Probably best to check them out in person.
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I highly recommend checking it out in person first. The other thing I should have mentioned is that it does look quite geeky. I'm 6'1" 215lbs and felt that it looked weird on my wrist. The counter girl put one on and it looked even worse on a girl's wrist. The one thing is that there is a 30 day return policy so one can play with it for a month.
 
anthorumor said:
TL-DR
The multifunctional 'jack of all trades - master of none' Apple Watch is beginning to look like what smartphones were in 2006 were - cumbersome and frustrating to use.

Photos on a watch? All the computing power on your wrist, at the expense of battery life? Apple, you should let your wearable be a stand alone and unique device, such as this; a wearable shouldn't replicate what your brilliant iPhone 6 can do better.

MS has got it right. They must have kept a close eye on products already in the market, and simply improved on that. Even better, it's not a Windows Phone exclusive (except for Cortana, but please - who would talk to their wrist in public?!), AND better still it's available!
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I'll bet plenty of people will be talking to their wrists when the Apple Watch arrives.
 
I quite like the sound of this! Minimal info, lots of neat sounding sensors. If they release this with full support for iOS I'd get one!
 
I want to see this thing in person, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to pick this up over an Apple Watch (never considered an Apple Watch anyways) because it has GPS and all the basic activity functionality I'm looking for. I would like to see how it feels on my wrist first. Thank you Microsoft for making a device independent of a phone but can connect to one just as easy! This will be great for my marathon training.

I don't know if this was covered but will the app sync with Apple's healthkit?
 
legioxi said:
I certainly remember what a smartphone was... a far more functional phone than the first iPhone. Until the App Store, the iPhone was junk.
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The statement was that the iPhone was a me too smart phone, empirically false.
 
euvnairb said:
I want to see this thing in person, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to pick this up over an Apple Watch (never considered an Apple Watch anyways) because it has GPS and all the basic activity functionality I'm looking for. I would like to see how it feels on my wrist first. Thank you Microsoft for making a device independent of a phone but can connect to one just as easy! This will be great for my marathon training.

I don't know if this was covered but will the app sync with Apple's healthkit?
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Once you try it on you may not like it. Went to look at it this morning with full intentions on buying it. After playing with it for 10mins all I wanted to do was take it off. Very uncomfortable and unnatural to the shape of a human wrist. If you have wide flat wrist then it may work for you.
 
legioxi said:
Except it was. There were many smartphones before it and they were far better.
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It was not, since it didn't simply ape the functionality and appearance of the existing smart phones. Wether you think it was better or not is irrelevant.
 
It's amazing that Microsoft can unveil a major new product without any multi-million dollar dog-and-pony event or did I miss it?
 
legioxi said:
Except it was. There were many smartphones before it and they were far better.
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lolno. May before it, sure, but "far better" is simply a terrible choice of words. There may have been a portion of the population for whom the iPhone was not as good of an option as their blackberry or palm, but the iPhone was a much better consumer smartphone. iPhone changed the smartphone world forever.
 
Once you try it on you may not like it. Went to look at it this morning with full intentions on buying it. After playing with it for 10mins all I wanted to do was take it off. Very uncomfortable and unnatural to the shape of a human wrist. If you have wide flat wrist then it may work for you.
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This is what I am afraid of. I am pretty petite, and I am afraid it is going to look monstrous on my little wrist.
 
unplugme71 said:
Just read about the new fitbits.. more overpriced gadgets.
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I have read about them with much interest. The new Charge is $129 and replaces the recalled Force. I had a Force and it was a terrific band -- for $129 it did a lot more than my $149 Fuel Band.

Sounds to me like you are just anti all fitness trackers. But just because you have no interest in them doesn't mean they don't provide value to others. If they sell then by definition they can't be overpriced because consumers don't pay readily more for something than they perceive it's worth to them.
 
chrisbru said:
lolno. May before it, sure, but "far better" is simply a terrible choice of words. There may have been a portion of the population for whom the iPhone was not as good of an option as their blackberry or palm, but the iPhone was a much better consumer smartphone. iPhone changed the smartphone world forever.
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Not until the App Store. I used many Windows Mobile phones and they were superior to the original iPhone, with the original OS. It wasn't much of a phone until they released the version of iOS with the App Store.
 
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