Microsoft Band: review of frontrunner among 'pre-Apple wearables'

A year ago in this column, I complained that wearable fitness trackers such as Fitbit's wristbands or Jawbone's UP24 failed to offer sufficiently greater value than the many smartphone apps that can track your activity for free.

Those devices were mainly about counting steps and monitoring sleep - this year the wearables industry went for the heart. In recent weeks Apple, Microsoft, Jawbone, Fitbit and Basis revealed devices for tracking the heart rate, joining earlier wristbands and smartwatches from several brands, including Samsung, Motorola, Adidas, Garmin, Timex and LG. It's a full workout for a personal technology columnist just trying to keep up with them all.

Many of these devices are not yet on sale. The Apple Watch, expected early next year, is emerging as a pace setter by promising to combine style with apps and features ranging from health to communication, albeit for a premium price starting at $349. Jawbone's UP3 wristband, expected to be on sale within weeks, offers more sensors, including heart rate and body temperature, than its predecessor UP24 for a lower price than Apple Watch but it has no screen. Fitbit's new heart-rate trackers, the Charge HR wristband and Surge smartwatch-fitness tracker, are not on sale until next year.On paper In the meantime, Microsoft has emerged as an unlikely frontrunner in the awkward category of "pre-Apple wearables".

The creator of Windows is more responsible for the proliferation of computers in our daily lives than any other company. So perhaps it is an exercise in karmic rebalancing that drove it to launch the Microsoft Band, a hybrid fitness tracker and smartwatch. It is promising to free us from our desks and phone screens by putting a minicomputer on our wrists and tracking our vital signs all the while.

The Band is competitively priced at $200, especially given the wide range of functions, which include a heart-rate monitor, GPS for exercise tracking without needing a phone, and notifications from a Bluetooth-tethered smartphone. It can track sleep, guide you through a workout session and even let you pay at a Starbucks afterwards, through the coffee chain's digital wallet.

Its rectangular colour display shows the time and your chosen measure of activity (current heart rate, steps taken, etc) on its home screen. Swiping the touchscreen reveals a row of mini apps showing text messages, the next item on your calendar, tweets, Facebook posts, weather and stock prices. A gentle vibration alerts you to calls and messages.

The Band's battery life is a solid two days, and it is compatible with iPhones and Androids as well as Windows Phones. Microsoft's accompanying Health app provides the same charts of sleep and activity as most competitors and promises "holistic" and "actionable" insights based on data drawn from other sources, such as your Outlook calendar, although I was not able to test these.

On the arm Phew! That ticks off pretty much everything on any wristband or smartwatch list of features. But what is it like to wear?

Unfortunately, Microsoft Band is the latest in a long line of black, bulky, rubbery wearables. It is less chunky than the now-defunct Nike Fuelband or Fitbit's forthcoming "super watch" but noticeably bigger and heavier than Jawbone's UP3.

With three sizing options, Microsoft Band is not uncomfortable, just a little inelegant and unwieldy. Its horizontal display means the small lines of text it shows appear sideways when you glance at the screen on your wrist, and checking the time requires pressing a button to light up the screen. If "glanceability" is the (made-up) watchword of wearables, Microsoft Band comes up short.

The verdictWhat Microsoft has packed into its Band is impressive; but in many ways, it tries to do too much. Is this a fitness device or a digital assistant? Aimed at runners or suited executives? By making a wearable for all, Microsoft overlooked the need for a design that people can customise or a way to focus its technology on their particular obsessions.

If you really want a wearable device, but are not quite sure why, Microsoft Band is for you. For everyone else, stick with those free pedometer apps for now and see what Apple, Samsung, Jawbone and Fitbit produce in the coming months.

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