While the Microsoft Band 2 has been available for over a month, I finally received my new Band 2 yesterday (more on that below) and here are some quick thoughts after 24 hours of using it:
What I Love:
- The new, curved design:
- The Band 2 both fits more comfortably as well as looks more stylish than the original Band.
- I continue to love the focused, “doesn’t try to do too much”, mix of features:
- As I’ve written previously, and updated here, IMO currently ~70% of the benefit of a wearable is “glance and ignore” allowing you to leave your phone in your pocket or purse and still keep on top of, and respond to, incoming messages, alerts or calls, ~20% is fitness tracking, 5% is electronic payment, 5% everything else. The Microsoft Band hit’s this sweet spot very well.
- I love the new added functionality:
- The ability to measure your vertical movement, thereby tracking flights of stairs climbed, the reminder to get up and move when you’ve been inactive too long, and the ability to control the music playing on your phone continue to evolve the usefulness of the device.
What I Don’t Love:
- The new clasp:
- One of the things I really liked about the original Band was the clasp was black, non descript, and as a result, it looked like you were wearing a standard fitness tracker. (note: I wear the Band with the screen on the inside of my wrist which allows for much more discrete “glance and ignore”.) The clasp on the Band 2 is both larger (to accommodate the wider band) and it is silver, making it much more noticeable on your wrist.
- The wider band, though this might just be a “take time to adjust” thing:
- I had given up wearing a watch years ago once “time” became ubiquitous, so it was a re-adjustment when I first started wearing the original Band. After a few weeks I got used to wearing something on my wrist again and never gave it a second thought or notice. The Band 2 has a wider band and it feels weird after wearing the narrower Band, but I expect after a week or two I will no longer notice this.
- The UV sensor:
- As on the original Band, unless there is some hidden, future benefit of this, the UV sensor appears to be a waste of space and I would imagine battery. I’ve used it both on full-sun days, as well as overcast days, and pretty much get the same message “limit your exposure to 1-hour”.
What I Can’t Wait For:
- Location based app activation:
- I love the ability to do things like pay for my Starbucks coffee with my band but want I really want is for the band to recognize that I am in a Starbucks and automatically launch the payment application. This is not limited to payments but extends to other scenarios as well.
- “Hey Cortana” voice activation:
- Both the original Band and the Band 2 have Cortana, Microsoft’s voice assistant, built into the device which allows me to create or reply to texts, make calls, create notes and reminders, etc with my voice, right from my wrist, but this currently requires me to push a button on the Band. What I want is the same functionality I have on my phone, PC and tablet and just be able to say “Hey Cortana” to perform these tasks.
- Wearables as one of many ways we control Home Automation:
- I’m working on a separate post on Home Automation, but it’s clear that wearable’s, whether the Microsoft Band, Google’s Android Wear, Apple Watch, or even an Amazon Echo Watch, will be one of several devices that we will use to control our homes and lives in the future.
Why It Took So Long to Get My Band 2:
As someone who has owned, and loved, the original Microsoft Band despite some of it’s obvious V1 quirks, I was one of the first to pre-order the new Band 2 on October 6 as soon as the order site went live. Already owning a Band, I smugly selected the Large sized band as it fit my wrist perfectly on the original, and sat back and waited with anticipation for my new Band 2 to arrive.
My Band 2 arrived November 2nd and I eagerly opened the package, smiled at the beautiful new curved design, slapped it on my wrist, and realized I should have checked all the review sites which would have informed me that the new band sizes were all slightly larger and would have realized that I really needed a medium sized band, not a large.
Sadly the Band 2 went back in the box, shipped back to Microsoft, and I then sat in the “On Back Order” queue as initial demand had sold-out the supply of Bands. Flash forward 6 weeks and Microsoft production finally caught up with demand and my new, sized medium, Band 2 arrived yesterday.
clarkb... 