How does the MS band and band 2 work?

[Chintan Gohel]

I've heard of the microsoft band and the newer band 2. I know they are mostly for fitness tracking and notifications but I have never seen one so I don't have an idea how they work

1. How does the band connect with the lumia phone?
2. Do I have to have my phone with me or can I use the band without the phone?
3. I keep hearing about bluetooth being the connection used. Does my phone bluetooth and band bluetooth have to be on always?
4. Related to the above question, if my bluetooth is off, does the band still record fitness data and then later I transfer to my phone at the end of the day?
5. Is there an option to not get notifications on the band? It's an interesting feature but I rarely get any notifications. Maybe one sms a day and a few phone calls. I check mail when I want to and not when it arrives
6. Can you switch off the band? I mean, does it have a power button? So I could leave it off at night to save battery
7. How does the band know how many kilojoules I've used in a day? Assuming it can do that
8. I'm running windows 10 mobile 10586.63 on my lumia 1020. How does the band perform vs using windows phone 8.1 cyan?

Thank you for your help

Ps: I'm not getting a band since I don't believe they will come to my country or region but this is about curiosity really. I might win one some day, who knows?

 

[xbrtll]

1. Bluetooth / Microsoft Health app (if that's what you're asking)
2. Tracking works without connection to your phone and can be synchronized later, but you obviously don't get notifications without the phone.
3. They have if you want them to stay connected (e.g. for notifications). You can turn off Bluetooth manually though and synchronize later if you have to save battery life.
4. Yes.
5. You can simply deactivate all notification tiles.
6. Yes, but you miss out on sleep tracking and smart alarm.
7. It gives you an estimate, I guess based on heart rate and steps but I'm not sure about that.
8. I only have Win10M, but I don't see how this could possibly affect the band if you don't want to use notifications etc.

You could always buy your Band online (international shipping).

 

[Chintan Gohel]

1. Bluetooth / Microsoft Health app (if that's what you're asking)
2. Tracking works without connection to your phone and can be synchronized later, but you obviously don't get notifications without the phone.
3. They have if you want them to stay connected (e.g. for notifications). You can turn off Bluetooth manually though and synchronize later if you have to save battery life.
4. Yes.
5. You can simply deactivate all notification tiles.
6. Yes, but you miss out on sleep tracking and smart alarm.
7. It gives you an estimate, I guess based on heart rate and steps but I'm not sure about that.
8. I only have Win10M, but I don't see how this could possibly affect the band if you don't want to use notifications etc.

You could always buy your Band online (international shipping).

Great answers, thank you a lot. I don't need the notifications and this is quite good.

Online shipping isn't such a good idea.250USD for the band, shipping costs of maybe 20USD, 62.5 USD customs duty, 40USD VAT, 20USD Railway levy, 20USD airport levy, 10USD DHL charges, 15USD inspection charges and others maybe about 75USD

So total would be 512.5$ for the band. Pass