Gadgetory

when you think Microsoft you're probably not thinking wearables and yet Microsoft has gone ahead and made yet another activity tracking wristband simply called the Microsoft band this is actually a follow up to last year's Microsoft band which was a pretty capable fitness tracker but it was a little bit more expensive than other activity trackers and it definitely was not going to win any design awards so what's new with the new $249 Microsoft fans and will it win people over who are considering something like the Fitbit or even the Apple watch Microsoft says it's making a fitness band because it cares about your health that's a nice yarn to spend but for a lot of these companies activity tracking devices are an easy way to get a better understanding of consumers habits interests and lifestyles but there's no doubt that the Microsoft band is very Fitness focus his new band has a slightly curved design which is a welcome change from the angularity of last year's band it also has a new oh le d-- display coded and Corning Gorilla Glass it certainly looks a lot nicer than last year's band but it's still not the most comfortable band to wear especially it to sleep there are two physical buttons in the band one that triggers the display backlight and another one called the action button that stops and starts your activities otherwise it's all touchscreen all the time that's how you see your activity checks at time and mainly interact with the band like last year's Microsoft band this one has optical heart rate sensors to get your heart rate readings from the wrist although the placement of these has changed and like last year's band it has built-in GPS something that Apple watch most definitely does not have if you're comparing that as a fitness device the new band now includes a barometer for measuring your elevation and like last year's band it works with Cortana Microsoft's virtual personal assistant that you access through voice control so what can you actually do with the band well it tracks runs bike rides and golf swings there's a generic exercise tile for when you're doing something else like lifting weights or practicing yoga and there's a tile for adding preset or customized workouts you can for example go into the Microsoft health app and download a workout from Gold's Gym or shapes magazine or even make your own workout you overachievers here it even measures your vo2 max something that serious athletes like to take note of it's not been to track swimming though so serious overachievers like triathletes may not apply and battery life isn't great my van lasted just under a couple days especially if I track workouts for two days in a row also syncing the band's data to the Microsoft health app on iOS is painfully slow something that Microsoft acknowledges the problem some days it just didn't work it's like if it doesn't track it dude it even happen on the upside Microsoft band works with Windows Phone Android and iOS making it one of the few totally platform agnostic activity trackers out there and you can see a lot of data in the app how many steps you've taken for the day what percentage of your daily goals you've reached your most recent workouts your sleep data assuming of course that you've sucked it up and worn the thing to bed and that your data syncs to the app Microsoft health gets even more granular when you log into the website another good thing about this band it shares information freely with other popular health and fitness apps so if you're into Strava or RunKeeper or MyFitnessPal or lose it your data will show up there in a lot of ways the Microsoft band is a very capable tracker the inclusion of GPS is great and I like the automatic sharing of data to other apps but I just can't get past the way it looks and feels on my wrist even with the improved design and 2-day battery life that's getting into SmartWatch territory whereas if you're looking at more fitness focus devices Garmin or a Fitbit surge will get you double the light so even with the improvements made for the band Microsoft band is still a bit of an identity crisis on your wrist one that I can't today is my number one pick