It's time to say farewell to my 5th and final Band.
I was one of the very first adopters, right out there in the front of the queue when the first Band launched, and again eagerly out in front when the Band 2 became available.
I've thoroughly enjoyed my Band experience. I've tailored my exercise regime to guided workouts, have hooked it up to the one or two facebook friends who bought into the Band experience and only ever take it off at shower time. I've lived the Band life
But damn, those little blighters didn't hold up well. I replaced my first Band twice. Band 2 looked like it had overcome the strap tear issues but just a couple of months in and the first one packed up. In all, I had to replace it three times in a year. That's pretty rubbish.
Now my latest one has just developed a massive rip and won't charge or turn on.....
I guess I could take a chance, write to Microsoft and tell them all about how immersed I am in their ecosystem, how I've spend thousands over the last few years on surface pro's, Xbox, Groove, Office 365, Lumias, etc....and I guess there's a decent chance they'd repay my loyalty and send me out another Band, even although I'm a month outside of the 1 year warranty.
But frankly, I've lost interest. I can't see the point. A new Band might last 6 months if I'm lucky. Then what? Another 6 months of sharing my intimate details with Microsoft? What do I do after that?
If there was even a hint of a Band 3 or other wearable from Redmond then I'd stay the course. But I suspect that Microsoft have looked very closely at the wearable market and are seeing just how little interest is out there. I suspect they're going to do with wearables what they've done with phones.....retrench, research and wait for the next bend in the curve, the next technological leap that will make wearables interesting again.
Until then, I'm back to my trusty 10 year old Nautica watch and will occasionally open the Health app on my Lumia just for old times sake and a trip down memory lane to remember what could have been.....if Microsoft had stopped making the strap out of recycled tires and actually used leather or steel.
Oh well....
I was one of the very first adopters, right out there in the front of the queue when the first Band launched, and again eagerly out in front when the Band 2 became available.
I've thoroughly enjoyed my Band experience. I've tailored my exercise regime to guided workouts, have hooked it up to the one or two facebook friends who bought into the Band experience and only ever take it off at shower time. I've lived the Band life
But damn, those little blighters didn't hold up well. I replaced my first Band twice. Band 2 looked like it had overcome the strap tear issues but just a couple of months in and the first one packed up. In all, I had to replace it three times in a year. That's pretty rubbish.
Now my latest one has just developed a massive rip and won't charge or turn on.....
I guess I could take a chance, write to Microsoft and tell them all about how immersed I am in their ecosystem, how I've spend thousands over the last few years on surface pro's, Xbox, Groove, Office 365, Lumias, etc....and I guess there's a decent chance they'd repay my loyalty and send me out another Band, even although I'm a month outside of the 1 year warranty.
But frankly, I've lost interest. I can't see the point. A new Band might last 6 months if I'm lucky. Then what? Another 6 months of sharing my intimate details with Microsoft? What do I do after that?
If there was even a hint of a Band 3 or other wearable from Redmond then I'd stay the course. But I suspect that Microsoft have looked very closely at the wearable market and are seeing just how little interest is out there. I suspect they're going to do with wearables what they've done with phones.....retrench, research and wait for the next bend in the curve, the next technological leap that will make wearables interesting again.
Until then, I'm back to my trusty 10 year old Nautica watch and will occasionally open the Health app on my Lumia just for old times sake and a trip down memory lane to remember what could have been.....if Microsoft had stopped making the strap out of recycled tires and actually used leather or steel.
Oh well....
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