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Microsoft Unveils $199 'Microsoft Band' Fitness Wearable

goir said:
So you are complaining price point of $199 which does a a lot more than the rumored $350 iWatch or any comparable fitness wearable today... :rolleyes:
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You find that a problem?

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maflynn said:
Why, the apple watch, doesn't even include a GPS but will sell for a lot more. Granted, its a more general use devise, but still, the MS Band has some pretty neat features like a UV sensor, GPS, heart monitor.

I've not had that much opportunity to test it out on my work outs - recovering from a cold, but on my last run it worked well. The only thing I wish it had (unless I missed it) is that it doesn't have an auto-pause, so when I wait for a light to change so I can cross the street
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The iWatch has HR and accelerometer. I don't know with this Microsoft Band.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Yes, I already went to the MS Store to play with them. I speak from personal experience, not just looking at a web pic, unlike you apparently. The band comes in 3 sizes, but the display is the same size for all bands. So if you have wrists smaller than the top of the display you get overhang since the screen is not contoured. It ends up feeling awkward and looking dorky. It's the key reason I passed it up.
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I haven't seen the band live yet. In the pictures is certainly looks clunky and heavy and a bit dorky.

Has anyone actually used the band for sports yet?

I mean when your running or moutainbiking then it doesn't really matter if there is a bit of a gap between screen and wrist. It's more about how much it impedes you during activity. I can"t imagine to use that band when I'm not doing sport (running, biking, hiking). I don't even see a use for the band when weight lifting or climbing or such. Maybe to monitor sleep but then looks don't matter either.
 
andiwm2003 said:
I haven't seen the band live yet. In the pictures is certainly looks clunky and heavy and a bit dorky.

Has anyone actually used the band for sports yet?

I mean when your running or moutainbiking then it doesn't really matter if there is a bit of a gap between screen and wrist. It's more about how much it impedes you during activity. I can"t imagine to use that band when I'm not doing sport (running, biking, hiking). I don't even see a use for the band when weight lifting or climbing or such. Maybe to monitor sleep but then looks don't matter either.
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I agree looks wouldn't matter IF it was a dedicated running or biking watch with all the features those respective watches have. I have a Garmin 620 that looks really goofy on me because the face is so big. I'm not self-conscious about it when running but I would be wearing casually every waking hour. I'd say the same for the MS Band, but the problem is it's a 24/7 activity band, not a "wear it only during your most physical daily activity" band. So aesthetics do matter here.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
............ I'd say the same for the MS Band, but the problem is it's a 24/7 activity band, not a "wear it only during your most physical daily activity" band. So aesthetics do matter here.
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You actually make a good point. If this is meant to be a 24/7 health band then the entire software package might be geared to that and my planned use as "only when running" might be very cumbersome in practice. I'll wait for a while and see what the reviews say and next spring when I'll start doing more outdoor sport I try to get one.
 
5 dealbreakers for any reasonable person:

* scuff-gate
* uncomfort-gate(one lady showed a picture of a swolen tendon, yeah MS is literally injuring people here)
* Bluetooth connectivity problems
* Bluetooth draining the smartphone
* widespread reports of inaccurate sensor readings

Steve Jobs would take one look at this thing and hurl invective at Satya Nadella telling him "what made you think you could foist this beta-level **** product on people and get away with it"?

Too bad Nadella only has yes-men around him.
 
So I was just at the Microsoft Store checking this out (I *really* wanted to buy one), and I ended up walking away. The hardware itself is very nice, but did anyone else notice how Microsoft requires you to send data (including location) to their Vault service? There's no way to use this offline like a BT LE heart rate monitor. It also doesn't seem to integrate with HealthKit, which was another dent. I like the device a lot and it has more sensors than the Apple Watch (which I'll probably end up buying), but this whole "let us use your health data" is very alarming. Skimmed their privacy policy and apparently they can use this data for targeted advertising too!

If there's some way of using the Band while keeping all my health data to myself, please let me know.
 
Starfox said:
So I was just at the Microsoft Store checking this out (I *really* wanted to buy one), and I ended up walking away. The hardware itself is very nice, but did anyone else notice how Microsoft requires you to send data (including location) to their Vault service? There's no way to use this offline like a BT LE heart rate monitor. It also doesn't seem to integrate with HealthKit, which was another dent. I like the device a lot and it has more sensors than the Apple Watch (which I'll probably end up buying), but this whole "let us use your health data" is very alarming. Skimmed their privacy policy and apparently they can use this data for targeted advertising too!

If there's some way of using the Band while keeping all my health data to myself, please let me know.
Click to expand...

No doubt Apple will tout HealthKit as being completely 100% free of data-mining. Don't forget that MS & Google are in a war of "business intelligence" data-mining on our data to see who can get an upper hand. Apple doesn't play in that space, so they can play the "we're pro-privacy" game rather cynically.
 
smoledman said:
5 dealbreakers for any reasonable person:

* scuff-gate
* uncomfort-gate(one lady showed a picture of a swolen tendon, yeah MS is literally injuring people here)
* Bluetooth connectivity problems
* Bluetooth draining the smartphone
* widespread reports of inaccurate sensor readings

Steve Jobs would take one look at this thing and hurl invective at Satya Nadella telling him "what made you think you could foist this beta-level **** product on people and get away with it"?

Too bad Nadella only has yes-men around him.
Click to expand...


all of these gates are real.

Bendgate however is fake.
 
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I've had the band now for few days, and I'm happy a customer, Its is comfortable. It works well and the battery lasts a long time.

I think you do need to be careful about scuffing the display though.
 
maflynn said:
I've had the band now for few days, and I'm happy a customer, Its is comfortable. It works well and the battery lasts a long time.

I think you do need to be careful about scuffing the display though.
Click to expand...

How do you get the battery to last a long time? I haven't gotten 24 hours out of it YET! It's the ONLY reason I'm thinking about taking it back. If it has a watch functionality, I want the watch on. So...I've had watch mode on. I turned the HR off (for all day usage). So...the watch mode has been on and it's been tracking my steps and sleep. That has given me AT MOST 18 hours or so. I'm sure I could get more if I turned off watch mode.

HOWEVER, I'm getting SICK of companies claiming a certain battery range (UP TO 48 hours). Then, you use it to it's capability and the battery life SUCKS! I have to charge it every morning before I leave the house. That's gonna get frustrating. ...or I can stop using some of the functions of the Band that I wanted in the first place...so then it's not worth keeping!

At this point, I'm heavily considering taking it back and buying a Fitbit Flex for the time being. Then, when the Fitbit Surge comes out, going for that. I thought this might be a viable alternative, but it's not turning out to be that. I don't want a watch that can do everything and I can talk into... Ultimately, i want a Pebble that will allow me to track fitness well (steps, calories burned and sleep). The Apple Watch will be total overkill and WAY too expensive. The Surge looks like it fits that space well (notifications, music control, watch, fitness tracking).

I really like the MS Band...and would keep it if not for battery life.
 
bigdog5142 said:
How do you get the battery to last a long time? I haven't gotten 24 hours out of it YET! It's the ONLY reason I'm thinking about taking it back.
...
The Surge looks like it fits that space well (notifications, music control, watch, fitness tracking).
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I'm not doing anything special - maybe you have a bad battery? Its looking like I have 50% of battery on the watch and I charged it up Saturday evening.

I too like the Surge and I may swap this out for that, depending on what it has once it hits the store shelves.
 
maflynn said:
I'm not doing anything special - maybe you have a bad battery? Its looking like I have 50% of battery on the watch and I charged it up Saturday evening.

I too like the Surge and I may swap this out for that, depending on what it has once it hits the store shelves.
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Do you have watch mode on or off? That's about the only thing that I'd be willing to turn off (and I don't really like doing that). The rest are the basics that I want in a smartwatch/tracker. Do you have many notifications coming to your device? Mine is texts, phone and some app notifications. Maybe 3-5 per hour at most.
 
maflynn said:
I've had the band now for few days, and I'm happy a customer, Its is comfortable. It works well and the battery lasts a long time.

I think you do need to be careful about scuffing the display though.
Click to expand...

How do you set this up on your iPhone. Nothing I don will pair the damn thing on my iphone 6+.
Thnx!
 
Really dissapointed with my Microsoft interaction when going to look at the band myself. Walked into the the Bloomington Minnesota location within the mall of America, and literally had to ask for assistance after nobody talked to me for over 5 minutes. Once I did get someone's attention, I was presented with a small, non Working floor model with a broken clasp.

Long after asking two other people for assistance, I was finally able to see a demo that I actually liked enough for me to want one.

I guess that they only made a few thousand of these, as on day 2 they were sold out. What I find funny is sales people within the store told me to pre-order online, only to find out that Microsoft doesn't offer that option.

I hope I don't loose interest by the time Microsoft gets their act together, I will likely shift my attention to an other product, as I can't see myself waiting for a gadget from Microsoft.
 
I ordered mine thru Microsoft website on Thursday morning and paid
extra for overnight shipping for Friday delivery
Guess what they just shipped it out today, due to get it tomorrow.
I got on the phone Friday with Microsoft asking what happened.
The rep I talked with couldn't help me and said he will send it
up to someone higher up to see what happened.
Later I was on there website checking to see if
anything changed and there "chat with a rep" window
popped open, so I asked her what was happening
with my order and she also said she had to send it to someone higher up.
Today I got a email for Microsoft saying they will refund the money
that I paid for the overnight shipping.
This better be as good as some has been saying or I'm shipping it back.
 
@bklyneddie

Same thing happened to me except mine arrived today. Dealing with Microsoft sales is very frustrating. My shipping was also refunded but man was it painful. But so far I'm digging the Band.
 
MatthewStorm said:
@bklyneddie

Same thing happened to me except mine arrived today. Dealing with Microsoft sales is very frustrating. My shipping was also refunded but man was it painful. But so far I'm digging the Band.
Click to expand...

Glad you got yours today, I thought I would have
gotten mine also today, but when I checked it
said tomorrow.
I'm hoping to like it also, so we'll see sometime tomorrow.
 
Well, before taking it back to the MS Store, I decided to check prices on eBay and then decided to try to see what I could get for it. It just sold for $350. UM...WOAH.

Thinking about calling the local store to see about selling some more!
 
maflynn said:
I've had the band now for few days, and I'm happy a customer, Its is comfortable. It works well and the battery lasts a long time.

I think you do need to be careful about scuffing the display though.
Click to expand...

Same. Very happy. Much better than Fitbit and I have used Fitbit products for years.

Not concerned with scratching the screen though... it came with a free ZAGG screen protector.
 
I returned my band today. I really wanted to love it but it's not ready just yet. My thoughts were it was too big, & uncomfortable. The HR readings are inaccurate & I also had an issue where my iPhone lost the Bluetooth connection & the band forced me to reset the band to re-pair with the iPhone which deletes all data on the band. I ended up losing all my morning activity. Essentially anything that was on the band since the last sync was now gone. Never had a fitness band lose data like that. Another disappointment with the band was the lack of waterproofness. Coming from a polar loop & garmin vivosmart you really miss a device that you could shower or swim with.

I do think Microsoft is on to something here and I'll be back when the second generation band gets released. Now to see what this jawbone up3 is all about....
 
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Would have also been good if it was curved, not flat for the display.


However, i can also understand this is something only Apple can do.
 
Tech198 said:
Would have been good it it was curved, not flat.
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Agreed, that was one questionable move. As it stands, the best way to wear it, is having the display on the inside forearm. Not too bad, but turns the watch into a scratch magnet
 
AppleScruff1 said:
It says splash proof on the Microsoft site, so it's not submersible. Are the other bands waterproof so you could wear them swimming? Personally I would like it to waterproof.
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I have the Garmin Vivosmart. Waterproof up to 5ATM, so good for swimming. Doesn't have a GPS, but has amazing battery life, notifications, silent alarm clock etc. I like it a lot. The Microsoft Band seems nice, but the lack of waterproofing is a total deal breaker for me.
 
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