I have been anxiously watching the wearable’s space and finally took the plunge last week when Microsoft announced their new smart fitness band. I ordered the device on-line late Wednesday evening and it was delivered Tuesday.
I’ll have a more expanded post later with my thoughts on the current and future wearables market but this is a quick summary of my first 48 hours with the Microsoft Band.
And let’s all keep in mind we’re very, very early in this space, any attempts to declare a “winner” are grossly pre-mature.
Here are my thoughts so far…
Fit/Feel:
- I’ve had to get used to wearing a “watch” again as I gave them up 12+ years ago and I skipped that whole Livestrong-Wear-A-Yellow-Rubber-Band-On-Your-Wrist thing, so wearing something on my wrist still feels a bit odd, but it’s quickly becoming un-noticeable for the most part, and I’m even getting used to the feel of it while typing.
- It’s a little bulky, but very wearable. As with others, this is a v1 product and given they packed in more sensors than anyone else it’s understandable there’s some bulk to it.
- Would prefer a curved screen, but for the number of sensors they provide and still keeping it at $199 I understand the trade-off as I’m guessing curved would put it in the $225-$250 range. Plus, this first device is fitness optimized and I expect their watch/fashion wearables will have curved faces, as will future iterations of the Band as the cost of curved screens comes down.
Fitness Stuff:
- This is my first experience with a wearable fitness device beyond tracking runs and walks with my phone but I’m impressed with the range of tracking the Band provides and the guided fitness workouts. Have only played with these and it will be interesting to see if it helps motivate me to increase my workouts and their diversity.
- Used the Band while on the treadmill and it’s pace counting/mileage tracking mapped to the treadmill. Am anxious to try the GPS tracking and will do so when I have the time (and the rain stops). While I carry my phone for music/podcasts/calls when I run or walk alone, I hate having it flopping around and when I walk with Mary I don’t listen to music so don’t want the bulk of always having to carry my phone.
- One thing I do know, it would be very nice to have one sports-band form factor that I wear while running or working out then be able to switch to a more watch/fashion device that would still track my health and activity and sync it to one unified place. Like any sports band the Band got drenched with my sweat and even though I wiped it down I could imagine after weeks/months of use that dedicated sports bands, or a watch used as a sports-band, could get a bit funky.
Convenience of Glanceability:
- I’m pleasantly surprised with how useful the ability to glance at things like texts, phone calls, etc is. We have some family medical stuff going on and I was out to dinner Tuesday night, got a text, and it was great to be able to glance down and see the particular text was on another topic, wasn’t urgent, and I hadn’t needed to disrupt things by pulling out my phone just to see if it was important or not.
- Having my calendar a quick glance away is also a very nice feature as well as the subtle buzz on your wrist reminding you of an appointment.
- Being able to quickly reply to an incoming call with a “Can’t talk right now, please text me.” or other pre-set message is also very handy.
Convenience of Talking to my Wrist:
- While the Band works with iPhone, Android and Windows Phones, one added benefit of being a Windows Phone user is the integration with Cortana, Windows Phone’s voice controlled personal assistant. Being able to say “Next time I talk to my wife remind me to ask her about our Thanksgiving plans” and having that remembered on my phone is very convenient.
Not Sure what 97% Sleep Efficiency Is:
- I know companies, and consumers, are trying to figure out what info is/isn’t useful from wearables, and I applaud the experimentation around sleep tracking, but my initial sense is kinda like phones/apps that track the vertical you ski in a given day; the data is semi interesting to know, but no real baseline to compare it to. (At least with vertical you know what you need to do to get more).
- For grins I’ve worn my Band the last 2 night and after getting “97% Sleep Efficiency” the first night I joked about the pressure I felt to do better the second night. Not really sure what to do with this data point but I will say, even though I don’t think I felt any more or less rested, I did have a little extra bounce in my step thinking “Hey, 97%, I had an A level sleep last night!”.
Battery Life:
- I put my Band on after charging it to about 80% because I was heading out the door and was anxious to give it a whirl. I got about 36 hrs of use out of it but I’m definitely in the new-toy-check-everything-out-all-the-time mode, so my first 48hrs have NOT been “normal” usage.
- At this point it’s too early to tell what normal/steady-state battery life is and for now I’d be a bit skeptical and take anyone’s comments about battery life with a huge grain of salt.
4G, The Missing Killer Feature of All Wearables:
- OK, I get that we’re early stages, I get that adding 4G/cellular-data capability would add unacceptable bulk and battery-drain to wearables given current technology but damn if I don’t just crave the ability of wearables to be truly “smart”.
- I’ve never been more aware of how many times I leave my phone in one room when I need to say go to the kitchen, or pop upstairs. Yes, I know I’ll still hear my phone but I’m starting to get addicted to instant notifications, right on my wrist, makes me feel naked if I’m out of Bluetooth range from my phone.
And a Shout-out to the Bellevue Square Microsoft Store:
- The Band came with a protective screen cover and from other reviews it looks like it’s highly recommended to apply the protector. I’ve never been very good at applying these things and sure enough my first attempt of putting it on the Band was a fail. I tried to peel it back to re-apply it but it became obvious it was not going to look good if I did. I stopped by the Microsoft Store at Bellevue Square, the person who greeted my was super helpful, said it wasn’t a problem and they just gave me a new protector gratis (equivalent value $13.95 on Amazon.com) and even applied it for me. Thanks guys!
I’ll try to come back and update this post once I have more time with it and settle into a more regular and steady state usage. For now I’d say Microsoft has delivered a very good first effort for a fitness optimized wearable form factor. Is it a svelte, sexy device? no, but at $199 and for the features it packs it’s a great device and I expect to see new apps and features roll out on a pretty steady basis. Plus, it’s cross platform and actually shipped in time for the holidays, thinking they’ll sell a lot of these.
clarkb... 