Real World Impressions - Your mileage may vary!

[garyhartaz]

The device:
Solid, sturdy, and built the way it is for a purpose; to get the most accurate biometric data. It is awkward to see so many "space gaps" between your wrist and the Band.

What I don't like is that you have to push a physical button to wake it up! Why would anyone develop a device this way when it has a touch screen? I am used to double-tapping my 1520 to wake it up so why go backwards?

The screen itself is bright and clear, even in the brightest of our Arizona sunlight. A word of caution....PUT THE SCREEN PROTECTOR ON RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX. Yes, I yelled that only to save you from posting that your screen is scratched after breathing on it.

The weight is something to get used to for sure. The Moto 360 doesn't even feel as if it is on your wrist but boy do you feel this thing. Microsoft should have called it the "Band-cuff". The clasp is clever and unique giving you some room to shrink or grow. One thing to point out here is that I had downloaded the size guide and boy was it way off. Yes, I measure to make sure it was 1:1 but a small would have put me at the end of adjusting it. This is something you will want to try on in person or, if in doubt, go to the next size up if you are in the higher percentile.

Using it:

Right off the top of the list I would like to point out how worthless the text replies are. When a text message arrives, you have two choices; Dismiss the notification or Reply. But......Reply leaves you with two worthless choices as in "I'll call you back" and "I'm in a meeting". Go in and immediately change these two defaults and add yourself two more in the Microsoft Health app. NOTE: While you are in there, go ahead and edit your call replies too!

And while on the text message front, if you don't do anything with the message it will stay on the device where you can go back and preview it. Problem: Yes, you can preview it but your ability to reply or dismiss is GONE.

Onward we go. The ability to see email is neat but there is no way to open it on your device. This is something I have gotten used to on the Moto 360 that will be a must for Microsoft to enable. They know the profile of the notification so give us the ability to open from the Band already. Who is running these labs these day anyway?

Yes, the running and exercise stuff is top notch and this is really what I am going to love about this Band. Hear rate is spot on and the UV meter may be a tad unnecessary in Arizona since we already know cancer is shining down on us. I have already paired the MyFitnessPal program so we shall see how that unfolds since nothing in the last 3 hours has synced (should it?).

As of the writing of this short review, I am not getting Facebook or Notification Center alerts pushed to the Band. I am experiencing Bluetooth issues that I have posted in another thread and that could be the culprit. I have noticed decent battery drain on my 1520 today since pairing the Band to it.

I'll come back with more tomorrow after I have put it through a sleep test, etc.

Cheers!

 

[garyhartaz]

The compare is underway: Band vs. Moto 360
From step count, to heart rate, Google Voice vs. Cortana....it's on!

 

[garyhartaz]

I can't tell you all how annoying it is to have to press a button to access information! Why did the Band not ship with a simple tap or double-tap like the Moto 360? Moving on, I am putting both devices head-to-head and will present a full 24 hours worth of data and results the evening of October 31. What I can tell you right this moment is that the Moto 360 has the edge as far as functionality and productivity go. Both seem to be on par with one another in the step count and heart rate area but my morning workout will see how comparable they remain. The only downside to the 360 I am reminded of before bed is that it does not track my sleep. I do have a BodyMedia FIT that I do not have to push buttons but more on that again later.

Stay tuned my friends...

 

[Lobwedgephil]

How often do you have to charge both will be helpful also.

 

[smoledman]

Does any smartband/watch have double-tap to wake? Just wait to Gen 2 if you want stuff like that.

 

[leo74]

Pretty much the first thing I did was changing the text replies. Which I expected anyway, because everyone has different scenarios. Not really a big deal.
As for reading emails, I can read emails on the band just fine, but hardly do unless it is really just a few lines long.
I am getting Facebook messenger updates, but I disabled Facebook, so I cannot comment on that. No need to get an alarm every time someone likes something.
Twitter updates work fine as well.
Notification center updates come in just fine though.
I am running the Band with a L1520 with the latest DP and so far it is working great.
Started using it yesterday around noon and am still on the initial charge and based on what I see so far, it will easily get me through today on that charge.
I do have GPS off, but everything else is on. Also enabled watch mode pretty much right away.

 

[TheZuneLune]

I would not want double tap on a product on my wrist. I would think the likelihood of inadvertently waking it up is too much. Also, you cannot have glance on OLED, I believe.

 

[mush10]

Another thing I would like to see is multi-device support. I switch phones all the time and the only way I have found to sync with new devices is to wipe the band and the information on it.

Sent from my Xperia Z3

 

[Fred_S]

Does any smartband/watch have double-tap to wake?

My Fitbit Force has double-tap to wake.

 

[Dreamspell]

I would not want double tap on a product on my wrist. I would think the likelihood of inadvertently waking it up is too much. Also, you cannot have glance on OLED, I believe.

The 820, 925 and 1020 have OLED displays and have Glance.

 

[leo74]

Another thing I would like to see is multi-device support. I switch phones all the time and the only way I have found to sync with new devices is to wipe the band and the information on it.

Sent from my Xperia Z3

I was thinking about it too. I have two phones and getting notifications from both on the band would be neat.
On the other hand, it might be some soft of privacy issue to allow a device which is holding personal information such as the band to just pair with another phone.

 

[garyhartaz]

Does any smartband/watch have double-tap to wake? Just wait to Gen 2 if you want stuff like that.

Yes, the Moto 360 does.

 

[garyhartaz]

I would not want double tap on a product on my wrist. I would think the likelihood of inadvertently waking it up is too much. Also, you cannot have glance on OLED, I believe.

The ability to offer either physical button or double-tap should be available based on user preference. OLED can have "wake up" features which is different from "glance" functionality. Glance requires OLED memory, which is a cost factor; however, wake up is part of the active digitizer that allows you to swipe, tap, etc. There is already a programed tap zone on the Band so why not use it? Battery issue? Who knows but lack of it is frustrating.

 

[cvflowe]

Another thing I would like to see is multi-device support. I switch phones all the time and the only way I have found to sync with new devices is to wipe the band and the information on it.

Sent from my Xperia Z3

I personally haven't tried it. But I watch a video on this site that shows if you reset the service it will un register it. This will allow you to add another device.

 

[garyhartaz]

Sleep Feature
Let me once again point out how irritating it is to have to push buttons to make certain functions work on the Band! As I previously pointed out, my daily fitness tracker is the BodyMedia FIT, that thing they use on the Biggest Loser TV show. Its simplicity is that I just wear the bulky device on my arm and forget about it. Granted, it has no heart rate tracking, GPS, and several of the other tools the Band has but in this writing, we are talking about sleep monitoring which it does do.

To remember or not to remember, that is the question. With the FIT, all I have to do is lay down and fall asleep. Sleep tracked, viola! With the Band, I have to not only remember to wake the Band up, swipe to the Sleep app, and then push the activity button to start my sleep. After my night of some sort of sleep, I have to remember to immediately wake up, then wake up the Band and press the activity button to stop the sleep tracking.

So, how close are the FIT and Band? Judge for yourself and let's discuss.

 

[wpguy]

Microsoft Band
Pros: Great range of features. Excellent merger of fitness band and smart watch functionality. UV sensor? Awesome! I burn easily, so I'll be using that frequently, once the polar vortex does it's thing and we resume to regularly scheduled warm-weather activities. Haptic instead of audio feedback was a smart design choice. Weight feels just right. Notifications, Cortana, and everything else appears to just work. Well made device.

Neutral: I didn't think I'd really like having the face on the inside of my wrist, but I adapted easily. I tend to want to press the corner button to activate the display.

Cons: I wish the band were a little more flexible in places. The shape took a little getting used to, and I wish it fit as good with the face on the outside of the wrist as it does on the inside. Initial pairing took a few tries of toggling Bluetooth on my Lumia 925 (latest Preview OS + Cyan) before my phone even detected the existence of the Band. (If having that issue, restart pairing on the Band, then turn on Bluetooth on the phone.) Unsure how the device will fairif I get caught in rain, considering it is said to be water resistant. Also unsure how the device will fair when my arm is slathered in sweaty sun screen. I can toss my Polar under the faucet and wash the gunk off.

Microsoft Health app
Pros: Great range of configurable options. More than I expected, and looking forward to more as soon as the SDK becomes available.

Cons: I wish it followed Modern UI standards. Between the hamburger menu instead of the standard three-dot menu and the phone-theme-unaware forced purple the app feels wrong on my Lumia. I get it, trying to go for cross platform. But should cross-platform require sacrificing a native app look and feel?

 

[garyhartaz]

Mid-day Update
Observed several odd text message notifications. When I had a moment to check the messages on my phone I noticed they contained emoji characters. Great, no support for emoji and it weirdly truncated the message on the Band. Again, who in the world is in charge of testing and compliance at Microsoft?

Another battle I have right now is that none of the data from the Band appears to be populating MyFitnessPal and there is no documentation anywhere that would explain how this is supposed to work.

About 6 hours to go until I post my first full day comparison of the Band vs. BodyMedia FIT vs. Moto 360.

 

[mush10]

I was thinking about it too. I have two phones and getting notifications from both on the band would be neat.
On the other hand, it might be some soft of privacy issue to allow a device which is holding personal information such as the band to just pair with another phone.

I was even thinking maybe you could only have it synced to one at a time. I wish I could have it set up on both phones and then maybe on the device choose what phone I want it to work with at that given time.

 

[garyhartaz]

Steps Review
Well I am not sure what to make of this. Below you will see the steps taken for the BodyMedia FIT and the Microsoft Band today. The FIT is saying 4231 while the Band says 5,082. For my wife, her number is off by almost 1,100 steps in favor of the Band.

What is interesting is that the caloric burn reported by the FIT is 2183 and the Band reports 2,119. I guess in the end that this is what matters and perhaps the step count isn't that far off???

NOTE: My battery on the Band lasted 23.2 hours

 

[Kronus24]

"My battery on the Band lasted 23.2 hours"
and that was with out gps on. hum.. I think I read reviews of people getting over 24 hours with gps on when they workout.

Well I know the Microsoft Band is in Beta and want to thank you for being a paid beta tester. This data is going to make this device better and fine tune in the coming months. Although the Health cloud sync is the real hidden gem. Seems like if Microsoft and developers are really going to make this into some special. From what I been reading this is a device people are looking for. So keep up with the reviews. Does Microsoft has a uservoice for the Microsoft band, they need one.

Oh yeah, you need to get some better restful sleep in . Stop looking at your watches and sleep, lol