Microsoft Personal Band

[Ejwan2]

I?ve had a Microsoft band for a week now. I really love all the functionality, but I have noticed that some of the functions that I use most have nothing to do with running or exercise. The messaging, mail, call notification, calendar, alarms, weather, finance, Starbucks, and of course Cortana make the Microsoft band a real joy to use.

The hepatic notifications I get when the band receives an SMS message or email a really great because I don?t have to take the phone out of my pocket to see what messages I have received. The same thing with Cortana, all I have to do is press a button and tell Cortana to take a note or give me a reminder without touching my phone. Then when I do get a reminder from Cortana the hepatic reminder makes me check the screen and I can either access my phone or just read the reminder on the band screen and keep on working. I?m not fiddling with the phone all the time and it seems to improve my workflow. A quick glance at the band and I?m still going. If it?s a hot item I just take care of it on the phone or my surface.

Since I enjoy all of these features so much it got me to thinking that perhaps Microsoft should offer a band without any sensors. If the band didn?t have all the sensors the battery life would be substantially longer, the price would be a lot lower, and for me at least, all the valuable functionality would still be there. If it didn?t have all the sensors the price could be substantially lower too.
There are a few simple functions Microsoft could add if the sensors were removed, say a stopwatch and a timer. I am sure there are others. I?m sure you could think of some feature that would prove useful and provide expanded functionality.

How about it. Would you buy a new type of Microsoft band? A Personal Information band.

 

[mistaclark]

That's why I got my band. And perhaps the health stuff will be a plus and get me to start exercising.

 

[bugelrex]

Can you disable the health sensors and see if the battery life is improved? Just disabling the heart rate sensor alone should boost it?

 

[tk-093]

Question for you. Since you seem to be using your phone less, what kind of battery life improvements have you noticed on your Smartphone? Or is leaving Bluetooth on all day cancel it out?

 

[dcoaster]

OP: There is a stopwatch and timer mode on the Band FYI.

 

[Ejwan2]

Duh! I'm an *****. I saw the icon just haven't used it till you mentioned it. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Ejwan2]

I have a 920. Since the last update I can get about 16 hours with Bluetooth and location services on. This really depends on a lot of variables though, like talk time, browsing time, Bluetooth to my jambox use, etc. Before the last update I had to leave location services off to get through the day even with light use. Using a navigation app will suck the phone dry in just a few hours.

But to answer your question, I may have noticed a slight, but not substantial increase. Probably would be more if Cortana didn't turn the phone on. They need to fix that issue soon.