Microsoft Enters the Wearables Market With 'Band'

Microsoft has announced the availability of "Microsoft Band," a wearable device that goes on the wrist. It's designed to do health- and fitness-related tasks, like monitoring heart rate and how well a wearer sleeps, and its on-board GPS lets users map their run/bike routes. The company says Band plays nicely with iOS and Android devices in addition to Windows phones. It also has full support for viewing phone notifications and calendar alerts, and a built-in microphone enables queries through the Cortana personal assistant software. The display is rectangular, 11mm x 33mm (0.43" x 1.3"), and has a resolution of 320x106. They claim a battery life of 48 hours, with a charge time of 1.5 hours or less. The device costs $200.

Comments

Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Why hasn't Nadella killed off all these "me too" wankers whose projects are just going to be discontinued after a few years anyway?

Re:Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Tx]

To be fair, nobody has really hit a mass-market sweet spot with this class of device yet, so it's worth a shot for Microsoft, normally they are later to the party than that. Although personally I think they've gone too niche with the health focus and the $200 price tag, and I wouldn't bet against you on the Microsoft Band being discontinued in a couple of years. Maybe they just wan to dip their toes in the water of the wearables market for now, and this is a fairly low-key, unambitious start that will pave the way for the Microsoft Watch :).

Re:Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Archangel Michael]

The fact that Microsoft already has a "Me Too" product in a market that doesn't have much traction, proves that market is doomed.

FYI, I shed my wrist clock years ago, and couldn't be happier. If I went back to wearing a watch, I'd go old school Waltham pocket watch. Now there is Class.

Re:Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[CanHasDIY]

I used to carry a pocket watch when I was a teen, but I found having to dig in my pocket to know what time it is too inconvenient.

Ironic, considering.

Re:Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Archangel Michael]

There are clocks everywhere. Practically every electronic device has one. It cost about $.02 to put one in anything, so it goes into everything. Ubiquity is the one reason I stopped wearing a watch; there is no practical need to carry one. The additional fact that unless your clock is Atomic Clock Synced, it isn't accurate enough is another issue worth considering.

Which is why i suggested that the best watch to carry, is a statement piece. A 150 year old time piece is just classy.

Re: Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Try going outside occasionally, neckbeard. Ain't no clocks in the great outdoors.

Re:Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

What do you mean "pave the way for the Microsoft Watch"? -- they invented the category!

http://www.smartwatchnews.org/2004-microsoft-spot-watch-smartwatch/

Re: Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't need to check the time every 5 minutes when I'm outside either.
Besides, things like church towers and giant clocks in buildings and church bells all let you know the time when you are outside.

Re:Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Which is this magical consumer electronics company whose products never get discontinued?

Re:Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Classy, if you're old and grey. If you're young and have a pocketwatch, you just look like a hipster douche. Kind of like those under 50 idiots you see smoking pipes and carrying non-medical canes.

Re: Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

A Cowboy riding down the trail encounters an Indian laying on the trail with hard on. The Cowboy asks "what are you doing?" Indian says" Me tellum time." Cowboy shakes his head, rides on, encounters another exactly the same. Says "You telling time?" yup" "how can you tell time like that?" Indian says "workum like sundial, readum shadow". Cowboy, incredulous, rides on. Encounters Indian in trail masturbating. Cowboy says "let me guess, you're telling time too." Indian says " Nope. But me windum clock!"

Re: Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Archangel Michael]

This!

Re:Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[Barlo_Mung_42]

I was very close to getting the GPS fitbit and I'm glad I didn't because this was $50 cheaper and does more. I'll also add that the health niche is probably much larger than the group of people who want a watch that connects to their phone so they don't have to pull it out of their pocket. This product has a clear purpose and is clear about the customer it targets. Maybe that's not you but judging by the lines they generated with almost zero notice and the fact that the admittedly limited supply sold out in a day suggests that there is untapped market potential here.

Re:Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft

[hawkingradiation]

Prediction: "Band" will soon need "aid"

Microsoft Band

[Anonymous Coward]

Clippy: "Looks that you are exercising enough!"

hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder what people's health information are worth.

Re: hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Ask Google. Microsoft is too busy shifting merchandise to spy on customers. In their business model direct contact with a customer is a cost, not a benefit.

Re: hmm

[NatasRevol]

Might be worth something to MSFTs actual customers though.

Hey Mr. Enterprise CFO,
How would you like to lower your insurance bill by tracking how unhealthy your employees are?
Sincerely,
Latest CEO of MSFT

Re: hmm

[Rob Y.]

Not quite. Microsoft has an immensely profitable business selling software to customers - but the stock price already reflects that. The perverse thing about Capitalism in America today is that being a hugely profitable business isn't enough. To satisfy the investor class, you need to generate an ever increasing stock price. And for a mature company like Microsoft, that means finding new revenue streams. So, while they could continue indefinitely with their software for cash business model, what they're trying to do is to copy other companies' models in addition. They're not particularly creative, so when they enter the search market, they do it by copying Google's business model as well as their technology - with the same incentives to mine your data. To think that they don't do that simply because they make a lot of money selling software is pretty naive. If they don't mine your data now, it's because they're not successful enough, and they're still in the loss-leader phase of trying to break into the business. But they probably mine you anyway...

Re: hmm

[boristdog]

This is actually done already.

My company has a program that hands out pedometers and if you meet certain fitness goals you get a discount on your health insurance. And if enough people do it, the company gets a big discount from the insurer.

And it's a good thing to do. Most people at the company have lost weight and are much healthier.

Re: hmm

[ozmanjusri]

Microsoft is too busy shifting merchandise to spy on customers.

Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users' communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company's own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian.

The files provided by Edward Snowden illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence agencies over the last three years. They also shed new light on the workings of the top-secret Prism program, which was disclosed by the Guardian and the Washington Post last month.

The documents show that:

* Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;
* The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;
* The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;
* Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to "understand" potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;
* In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism;
* Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a "team sport".

http://www.theguardian.com/wor...

Re: hmm

[njnnja]

No, the investor class is quite content to keep milking the cash cow that is Microsoft Office, and see steady capital accumulation through dividends and stock buybacks. Nobody who still owns MSFT stock is demanding double digit returns from them at this point. It is upper management who have a psychological need to be a part of an ever growing empire and therefore doesn't mind pissing the owners money away on YAZ (yet another zune).

Re: hmm

[Austerity Empowers]

And what stops you from attaching it to your dog or your 5 yo?

Re: hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Assuming his workplace is like mine, intelligence.

Re: hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Or asking the person who takes a 5km run every lunch time to throw them all in her bag?

Re: hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

"In the past, Skype made affirmative promises to users about their inability to perform wiretaps," he said. "It's hard to square Microsoft's secret collaboration with the NSA with its high-profile efforts to compete on privacy with Google."

ACLU technology expert, Chris Soghoian

Re: hmm

[Just Some Guy]

I don't think it's that straightforward. A tech giant like Microsoft has every smaller player gunning for them, either to eat into their market or to disrupt and replace them altogether. Microsoft probably could have stuck with XP forever, if it weren't for OS X and Linux showing "normal" people that alternatives actually exist. Even if your cousin doesn't want a Mac or Linux box, at least he now knows that Windows isn't the only OS out there. For a long time starting in the early-mid 90s, that wasn't the case for most people. MS probably could have profited of WinCE 7 for years to come if it weren't for those pesky iPhone and Android units that redefined what being a smartphone means. Word stagnated without Pages and OpenOffice. IE was dead until Firefox came along and reminded developers about things like "standards" and "crossplatform".

So even if Microsoft was perfectly isolated from shareholders and had no external pressure for growth, it's not enough for them to sit still and wait for competitors to chop away at them. They have to move into new markets just to keep from falling behind.

Re: hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

That's fascinating. I think you've accidentally explained Microsoft's really bizzare behavior in the past decade and a half.

Microsoft makes assloads of money in their core business, but yet they continue to throw money at literally hundreds of other ventures that have no chance at all.

It's all a game. A show to appease investors, drum up interest, put on the appearance of innovation and adventure when really it's mostly a waste of time and money. Microsofts phones are going nowhere and their surface division is 2 BILLION in the hole but they keep propping both up because it keeps wall street happy.

Is this what business is today?

Wow. We're fucked.

Re: hmm

[Necron69]

Microsoft isn't required for this. In order to qualify for the full company health insurance subsidy next year, all employees at my company now have to sign up for the 'Virgin Pulse' health website, do a (supposedly confidential) health screening, and get issued a step counter that updates your online account via computer or smartphone. You can earn 'HealthMiles' or something like that.

I'm doing it, but I'm not entirely happy about it.

Necron69

Re: hmm

[R3d M3rcury]

My personal favorite is the paint shaker. The low-tech version is also wrapping it up with some padding and putting in the dryer on the "air" setting.

My roomate's company did something similar. They had a contest with prizes to see who walked the furthest. It worked at first, but then everybody started trying to get the prizes without exercising. They eventually gave up when the "cheating" became obvious.

Pedometers are pretty simple devices and fairly easy to trick.

Re: hmm

[swillden]

To satisfy the investor class, you need to generate an ever increasing stock price.

This is incorrect.

To satisfy investors, you have to give them a return on their investment. This doesn't require an ever-increasing stock price, or an ever-increasing revenue or profit stream.

The nominal value of a stock is the net present value of its future dividend stream. A company (like Microsoft) that pays regular dividends then merely needs to generate a sustained profit and distribute it via dividends. As long as that profit, and hence dividend, stream is high enough, the stock price will stay at a given level, based on how much that dividend stream is worth.

Those are the basics. I'll leave figuring out how this applies to companies whose current stock price exceeds the NPV of their future dividend stream (perhaps because they don't issue dividends) based on investor expectations of future growth as an exercise for the reader.

Re: hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe if we used these things for their intended purpose we would live healthier happier lives. Instead at your workplace a bunch of lazy fat asses wasted their time figuring out how to avoid NOT having a heart attack or diabetes and dying by 55. What an inspiring group of people!

Re: hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

... and putting in the dryer on the "air" setting.

?

Does your dryer have a "water" and "fire" setting too?

Or can it dry by "ice" too?

Device looking for a use case

[Anonymous Coward]

Haha, 2 days of battery life in a wrist watch? What purpose are these devices made for? My Tag Heuer runs 5 years with one battery.

Re:Device looking for a use case

[Anonymous Coward]

A mere 5 years? 10 year battery is where it's at. A watch where the strap will likely fail before the battery does.

Re:Device looking for a use case

[Maxwell]

You don' t have a Tag Heuer. You have a $50 battery powered quartz watch with a very expensive Tag Heuer sticker on it. A real, Automatic Movement Tag has about a 48 hour reserve, after that it needs to be worn, wound or placed in a winder.

Not the two markets overlap much, but there are a lot of watches out there that won't run for more than 48hours....

And back on topic, this thing looks really good. I don't care about the health stuff that much, but the smart watch features look great.

Re:Device looking for a use case

[Jonifico]

I think the health features are kind of what justify the product. If you're not interested in them, you could buy something else and save a little money in the process. However, the smart features are so. Damn. Sexy.

Re:Device looking for a use case

[Mr_Wisenheimer]

An automatic watch though, even a cheap Chinese-made one with a cheap Japanese movement will keep pretty good time on a two week trip.

A quartz watch will usually last a minimum of 6 months between battery changes.

Most of these smart watches and fitness bands last less than 24 hours (like the Apple watch) or only a few days.

Honestly, if you have to take your watch off your wrist and charge it more than once a week, it's a crappy watch, the same if you have to press a button to see what time it is.

Re:Device looking for a use case

[Brulath]

I think you're incorrectly assuming they're supposed to be primarily a watch. These devices track your approximated movement, location, and, most importantly, heart rate (resting HR is one of the best measures of your fitness). That allows you to get a pretty decent overview of your health and which direction it's trending in over time. Alone, not necessarily very useful after the honeymoon period is over. But when folk figure out ways to use that to effectively motivate people to get better it'll be pretty revolutionary.

They have displays so they can show more detailed information about what they're tracking, but I suspect it'd be a mistake to assume people would be buying them primarily for the watch functionality. They're all a crap watches, but they're awesome fitness trackers.

Re:Device looking for a use case

[Mr_Wisenheimer]

I don't think they're very good fitness trackers because they don't actually track most fitness.

Do you go backpacking for the weekend? Too bad, the battery will be dead.

Do you lift weights? Too bad, because the fitness tracker can't actually figure out which exercises you're doing or which muscle groups you're targeting.

Do you use an exercise bicycle? Too bad, because the fitness tracker won't be able to figure it out.

Do you do calisthenics? Too bad, because the fitness tracker won't be able to figure out what exactly you're doing.

In principle, it could be a useful device, but it doesn't seem to do very much that your cell phone cannot do on its own. For someone that specifically wants to keep track of their jogging, this could be useful, but it doesn't seem like a good general-purpose fitness tracker.

lacks speaker

[Anonymous Coward]

Drop the price and add a speaker so it could be used for phone calls like the hot watch and it would be perfect. Why wear a smart watch if it can't even be used to answer your phone?

Re:lacks speaker

[NatasRevol]

Dick Tracy says shut the fuck up.

Re:lacks speaker

[Scottingham]

I'm Dick Tracy! Take *THAT* Prune Face!

I'm Prune Face! Take *THAT* Dick Tracy!

I'm Prune Tracey! Take *THAT* Dick -----------CARRIER LOST-------

~Simpsons Et. Al.

Finally

[binarylarry]

Now I have a reliable way to compute an accurate Mean Jerk Time.

Thanks Microsoft! What would I do without your amazing products?

Re:Finally

[Anonymous Coward]

You must be left handed

its like theyre getting worse.

[nimbius]

when he iphone came out redmond took 4 years to consider the prospect of a competitive product. Once they released it, nobody cared because two smartphone manufacturers already existed in the market. The fitbit is a 7 year old product. most cellphone accellerometers do the same thing, including the windows phone. regardless microsoft decided to make this thing, 7 years into the market when everyone from nike to apple already have a competing product with greater market share.

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[justthinkit]

I'm curious which part of parent's post was "trolling". I checked and the Fitbit is exactly 7 years old. Can we start having a mod-free Friday or something?

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, you might think that. But only if you don't follow these things closely and haven't kept up with what they can do. This one comes in at a price point $50 cheaper than the FitBit Surge - and the Surge does less and doesn't ship until 1st quarter next year. It does a bit more than the Garmin - which was never much of a mass market appeal device. At this point in time, the wearable fitness tracker market is still pretty open especially since the rate of change pretty much says, "get a new one every year" and you'll find less of the ecosystem lock in that you get with phones. In fact, I personally have a FitBit Force - yes, the recalled one where a small percentage of users got a rash (my daughter got the rash and we had to return hers). I have been looking carefully to see what to replace it with as I got it in November of 2013 and planned to use it for one year. I had decided I would either get the Fitbit Surge or, if the shortly to be announced MS one was better, the MS one. Now that it is announced - and actually shipping (which the Surge is not), I've decided to move to the MS Band. Remember, the price point on devices with GPS for run tracking without bringing your phone is higher and this one fits right into the lower tier of the pricing for those devices. It has a solid chance to sell well if Microsoft puts some marketing behind it. It remains to be seen if they will.

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm curious which part of parent's post was "trolling". I checked and the Fitbit is exactly 7 years old. Can we start having a mod-free Friday or something?

I'm ready to have a mod-free SITE. Slashdot "moderation" is used mostly for "disagree" or "agree" mods disguised as a more "thoughtful" response.

Why don't we just do away with the immature, bullshit mods, already? It has nearly driven me away from this site more than once.

CAPTCH: Dissolve.

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[CanHasDIY]

So log in to post, thus earning a chance at mod points, so you can be, in your own mind, the one Guy who uses them correctly.

Posting as AC then bitching about the mod system is like staying home on election day then whining that your vote didn't count.

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[dkman]

I would say the

[bringing this product] into the market when everyone from nike to apple already have a competing product with greater market share.

That's the only thing troll-ish I could spot. But really every product that isn't first can have that said. So I don't blame a company for trying to enter a market. I don't see great things when you enter with the same features at the same price. If you want to shake up the sector you need something to distinguish yourself or a price to move your product to gain market share. Did they do that? It's not for me to say.

What I really want is a watch band that doesn't scratch up my desk so I can wear it and tell what time it is without pulling out my phone. If it can tell me about notifications or some health info - great. If it lasts longer than a day great. If I can turn off sensors I don't care about to get better battery life, even better.

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[Mr_Wisenheimer]

Yeah, but I don't have my smartphone on me when I'm exercising and few people use a smartband.

The fact is, the market is wide-open for someone to make a killer-product. I don't think Microsoft has done that, but their take on the market is not any worse than anyone else's and it represents more choice for the consumer.

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[UnknowingFool]

Technically that's not true. When the iPhone came out, Microsoft already had Windows Mobile out for the better part of a decade. Now I will say that MS failed to respond to the iPhone and Android as a fundamental shift in the smartphone market. Before then the vast majority of smartphone customers were enterprises who could and had to deal with the unfriendliness of the smart phone. With Android and iPhone the consumer smartphone was the main focus. Part of it may be that MS was reeling from the disaster that was Vista and that they were considered Blackberry their main competitor for smartphones.

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[phantomfive]

when he iphone came out redmond took 4 years to consider the prospect of a competitive product. Once they released it, nobody cared because two smartphone manufacturers already existed in the market.

To be more specific, when the iPhone came out, Redmond had a superior product (it could run apps, the iPhone couldn't). After four years of little improvement, they still managed to hold ~15% of the smartphone market.

Then they decided to remake their phone in a backwards-incompatible way, and their percentage of the market dropped to ~2% overnight. It takes effort to perform worse in the smartphone market than Blackberry, but Microsoft did it.

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[cbhacking]

To be sure, by the time they killed off WinMo, it was already being displaced by Android (and to a lesser extent Android). They could have focused on tweaking the UI and OS core while trying to maintain backward compatibility and avoiding losing features (WP7 lacked a lot of features WinMo 6.5 had, though it also had some features 6.5 lacked such as finer-grained permissions than "root" and "not root") and maybe they could have ridden the tail of WinMo into the modern smartphone era, but I'm skeptical.

Meanwhile, Windows Phone has once again thoroughly overtaken Blackberry and is solidly in third place. That's not exactly impressive, but they're well above the noise floor.

Re:its like theyre getting worse.

[phantomfive]

maybe they could have ridden the tail of WinMo into the modern smartphone era, but I'm skeptical.

It would have been better than what they tried.

I have one

[Anonymous Coward]

I picked it up yesterday. That means, to a certain extent, that yes, I'm a fanboy.

That being said, so far I love it. The sensors work great, and the pedometer does an eerily good job of differentiating between me taking a step vs me waving my arms around like I'm taking a step.

So yes, I'm sure the /. crowd will absolutely hate this device. But - as someone who has a windows phone and was wanting a fitness band - this is a first rate option.

Re:I have one

[Anonymous Coward]

"... as someone who has a windows phone and was wanting a fitness band..."
So, a small subset of a tiny subset of the smarphone market then.

Re:I have one

[NatasRevol]

Other than heart rate, which I only care about when working out so could be integrated into headphones, what does it provide that I don't get with my gps enabled phone?

Re:I have one

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure. I'm talking about my personal experience. I can't speak for others :)

Re:I have one

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, if your smartphone is a WP, it lets you pay for starbucks (there's no starbucks app) :)

I *have* a GPS enabled smart phone, but I don't like carrying it with my when I go running (sure, it's a lumia 1520, so that's my own fault). This is much lighter and less distracting. It also offers you a UV meter, although I'll be the first to admit I'm not going to use that (and suspect few will). If you have trouble getting good sleep (I do), the night monitoring mode will be interesting for monitoring sleep patterns.

It's not designed to replace your phone, as far as I can tell. It's designed to supplement. Being able to see what an email/text is on my wrist is more convenient than having to dig out my phone.

Re:I have one

[Totenglocke]

The main thing I want is a heart rate monitor and calorie tracking. Everything else is just a bonus. Does it actually track calories burned based on heart rate? If so, I'll definitely consider getting one.

Re:I have one

[Anonymous Coward]

The features seem good. But it's about as neat as wearing a rubber band. It's boring and ugly. About what I can sum it up as is: Meh.

I wear a watch partly as a fashion statement. The rest is on my phone. If I want a sports watch I would have bought that, but would not use it day-to-day. A sports watch is used when I am exercising which is not what I do most of the time. I wouldn't mind a "smarter" watch but it needs to look good. Otherwise I look like a granola touting hippie, like the people do in their ads.

Re:I have one

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it does.

Re:I have one

[frank_adrian314159]

Have fun with your Zuneband!

Re:I have one

[Just Some Guy]

I have a Jawbone UP, and it provides 1) sleep quality tracking, so that each morning I get a graph of my light and deep sleep patterns from the night before, and 2) the ability to track a treadmill. Maybe your phone provides that; my iPhone 5 (pre-pedometer) does not.

I can't speak to the MS band, but there are useful sensors in other products in that class.

Re:I have one

[Eponymous Coward]

How well does it track other types of activity? For example, how well does it track bicycle riding or weight lifting?

Re:I have one

[wiredlogic]

Have you picked out a spot on the shelf with your Tamagotchi?

Looks like the Samsung model - works with iOS

[gadlaw]

I liked the look and function of the recent Samsung model with the same rectangular screen and found that attractive but wouldn't get it since it didn't work with iOS and my iPhone. This one one looks like it takes care of that problem. Microsoft making something that works with iPhone out of the gate is a selling point and would seriously get me thinking to buy one. I run with my iPhone in my hand and keep track of my distance, speed and progress with the Nike+ on my iPhone and from what I've seen this unit. although it doesn't look like it has Nike+ working with it does look closer than anything else. Hey now, eventually there will be something that makes a fitness band/watch/smartwatch a must buy.

Kudos to MS

[sootman]

Try something new, play well with others, start small... I'm liking this. Go, Satya! Take that lumbering hulk of a company and do something with it besides coast.

US only

[Anonymous Coward]

I always feel left out living in Europe, because of products like this only being released in the US and only later in Europe. If at least they would say when other continents/countries are up.

Re:US only

[Anonymous Coward]

Unless you live in the UK or Germany, then you have a better government in place. Living in the US is much worse than you probably imagine.

Device

[Translation Error]

Now, this makes more sense than something that tries to cram everything you can do on your smart phone/tablet into a tiny screen strapped to your wrist. The wrist is a convenient space to mount a device. For most applications, it just isn't a convenient space to use said device.

Re:Device

[c]

Now, this makes more sense than something that tries to cram everything you can do on your smart phone/tablet into a tiny screen strapped to your wrist.

I think their problem will be that battery life sucks for a fitness band. 48 hours is only just a little more than the Wear smartwatches. Sleep tracking with a device the user is likely to plug in every night or two strikes me as a bit of a dodgy feature.

Compare that to the just announced Fitbit Surge (which I'd put in the "not quite a smartwatch" category when compared to the Wear), which does just about all the same stuff but rates about 5-7 days battery life. And 5-7 days seems to be on the low end as far as fitness bands go.

Microsoft makes a stunning move

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Microsoft announced that starting from 2015, there will be a grand fusion of ALL User Interfaces. All devices, from wearable watch like device, to 4 or 5 inch phones, to 7 or 10 inch tablets to 15 or 18 inch laptops to 23 to 36 inch desktops will all use the Microsoft Band UI as the default UI.

There will be a hidden hotspot at the lower left corner to bring up the phone UI, and it will have another hidden hot spot and the mid point of left edge of screen to bring up the tablet UI, and that will have a hidden hot spot at top right to bring up the laptop UI and there will be a hot spot on the top left to bring up the desktop UI.

So, in one fluid motion, you can hit all the four corners and move up and down the UI. National Association of Chiropracters and Carpel Tunnel Healers of America welcomed the new UI and gave 10$ off coupons to all Microsoft users.

Picked mine up yesterday

[Bugler412]

Go ahead and accuse me of being a fanboy, but this is the first smartwatch in my view to hit the right balance of functionality and design that I would be willing to wear regularly. It's function because MS didn't overreach and try to duplicate the smartphone in a tiny wrist device, it's an adjunct. It's also the first wearable not hideously designed like some sort of oversized geek bling. So go ahead and hate away MS haters, this is a good device and MS squarely hit the mark for me at least.

Re:Picked mine up yesterday

[halivar]

It's still early. They can still find a way to stuff Metro onto it.

Re:Picked mine up yesterday

[g0tai]

'Design' would have curved the screen so it fit more comfortably. In their website you can see in the pictures just how awkwardly it sits on the wrist. A bit of a let-down to be honest.

Re:Picked mine up yesterday

[Bugler412]

well, it's lighter and thinner than the Citizen chronometer I had been wearing, and the 18 hours or so I've worn it so far (including while sleeping), the flat screen hasn't been an issue. It lies very comfortably and unobtrusively on my wrist. Yeah, a curved screen would have been somewhat better, I'll agree. And yes, a VERY limited version of metro is there, it works for this purpose.

Re:Picked mine up yesterday

[Anonymous Coward]

"Go ahead and accuse me of being a fanboy..."

Oh, you a fanboy, no doubt.

"...but this is the first smartwatch in my view to hit the right balance of functionality and design that I would be willing to wear regularly."

If this is a smartwatch, then I guess we can grandfather in all pre-existing fitness bands like the Nike FuelBand and Fitbit Flex as smartwatches, but I'd rather class this as a fitness band, and to be fair I don't believe Microsoft is calling it a smartwatch.

" It's function because MS didn't overreach and try to duplicate the smartphone in a tiny wrist device, it's an adjunct."

Microsoft has always tried to make its non-PC devices adjuncts that only work with a PC or another Microsoft device. PocketPC/Windows Mobile device manufacturers were contractually prevented from putting VGA ports on their devices for example, to avoid any chance that they would be used instead of a Windows PC, rather than alongside one. So if its positioning as an adjunct device works in its favour, that's probably more of a happy coincidence rather than a clever choice. Works with Android an iOS too you say? Well yeah, Microsoft probably wants to sell more than a handful of them; if they only worked with Windows Phone, the product would be DOA.

"So go ahead and hate away MS haters, this is a good device and MS squarely hit the mark for me at least."

It seems there's a niche for it, but the question is how big is that niche? I suspect not very big, but time will tell.

Re:Picked mine up yesterday

[Anonymous Coward]

'Design' would have curved the screen so it fit more comfortably. In their website you can see in the pictures just how awkwardly it sits on the wrist. A bit of a let-down to be honest.

Kinda sums up MS products in general, doesn't it?

Microsoft Enters the Wearables Market With 'Band'

[Anonymous Coward]

...and introduces "The Blue Band Of Death"

Less braindead design

[Anonymous Coward]

than most. At least it looks thinner than the 12mm+ thick watch bodies by others. I'm not too keen on the wide flat face, looks uncomfortable on smaller wrists. Why no rotate the body 90 degrees (with less width and more height)?

All aboard!

[Anonymous Coward]

All aboard the Band Wagon!

Enters the market? Does no one remember SPOT?

[Anonymous Coward]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Personal_Objects_Technology

Got mine yesterday - Intriguing device

[archmcd]

I picked one up yesterday. I like the form factor. It's not as bulky as my MOTOACTV, but it still seems to have a lot of usefulness. Some of the things missing out of the gate include the ability to do voice input if you're on anything but Windows Phone 8.1, the ability to load music on it and use it without your phone for a run (with bluetooth headphones - something my MOTOACTV can do), and I really wish it had NFC so I can use it for mobile payments.

As for the first two gripes, those may get fixed with a future software update. The last one I guess I'll have to get over. I can use my phone.

All in all, it seems Microsoft may finally be thinking outside the box. Not everyone wants a microtablet on their wrist, and with the right software updates, this thing could be just as capable.

Ordered one

[WolfgangPG]

I was considering a fitness band and went with this one. It is $199 and has more sensors than the iWatch or Fitbit charge. Seemed like a good deal to try out and it works with all the smartphones. http://www.neowin.net/news/spe...

It is pretty cool -- it has GPS, Heart beat monitor, sweat monitor, etc... hopefully it works well.

Re:Ordered one

[Anonymous Coward]

IT DOES NOT work with "all the smartphones".
I have a beautiful Nokia N808 which runs Symbian, you insensitive clod!
And Microsoft also claim that "it works with the phone you own".
No, it doesn't, you fucking liars.
And to think that MS bought Nokia lock, stock and barrel.

Re:Dear Microsoft

[neurovish]

Welcome to 2010. Good luck with that new operating system, people really seem to like their Windows XP. Too bad about Vista though.

I take this back...I see that you can talk into it. Now I eagerly await a self driving firebird so I can play out my knight rider fantasies.

If it's as successful as their other gadgets...

[pushing-robot]

...we can call it the one-man band.

Re:If it's as successful as their other gadgets...

[Anonymous Coward]

Need a new moderation: +1

Re:If it's as successful as their other gadgets...

[Anonymous Coward]

I was gonna call it a marching band.

So...

[Chris Mattern]

...will the ad theme song be "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"?

Re:So...

[dwpro]

They should use "the shape I'm in", but knowing MS they'll probably use "the weight" instead.

Website Design Question

[Anonymous Coward]

Slightly off topic, but the MS website has the design where there is a large static background with bands of data that scroll up and down over the top. It seems like all of a sudden every website I visit is using this same design trope (which I don't care for). What is going on?

Already got these features.

[danknight48]

For the time, i use this: http://www.casio.co.uk/product...
For my heartrate, i let the nurses hook me upto a monitor when its required
For sleeping well, i use earplugs.
For GPS, i use a Map and compass.
For everything else, i have a PC.

Jokes aside, this is just the 1st wave of possible replacements for phones and tablets.
Give it 2-5 years and the "smartwatch" might just be the only device you need. At the moment, its just an extra peice of tech that is already being replicated by existing tech (phones/tablets).

Re:Already got these features.

[R3d M3rcury]

Give it 2-5 years and the "smartwatch" might just be the only device you need.

I keep seeing this and I'm not convinced.

Some of it is the whole "digital hub" thing. I don't really want to try to read web pages or watch movies on my watch. The screen is just too damned small. Look at "small" screened smart phones as an example. The original iPhone's 3.5" screen was huge when it first came out. But people wanted bigger screens.

I like the idea of a bunch of devices that work with my phone. For example, I could see my "smartphone" receiving data from my "smartwatch" and presenting it on my "smartglasses."

Microsoft entered the market of Foo with Bar

[m2]

And objectively speaking, beyond their core product, which Bar has been a success? Arguably the X-box.

Windows phone? Nope.

Zune? Nope.

Surface? Nope.

Azure? Please, be serious.

WebTv? Nope.

Mice? Maybe, a long time ago, but not today.

Kin Studio? Nope.

Courier? Do you even know what this is?

Keyboards? Some people like them for some unfathomable reason. They are not unlike a myriad other keyboards out there.

Headsets? Nope.

Microsoft knows how to fail. That's good. Microsoft has a real issue with acknowledging they have failed. That's bad.

Re:Microsoft entered the market of Foo with Bar

[dkman]

The Surface Pro 3 I would really disagree on. It's pretty good (though not perfect). It is pricey however.

I never liked the MS mice.

I have no idea what Courier was (I assume past tense is correct)

Re:Microsoft entered the market of Foo with Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

Azure? You mean the service that provides most of Apple's cloud infrastructure? Yeah, *that's a failure*.

Re:Microsoft entered the market of Foo with Bar

[cbhacking]

*Which* "core product" are you talking about? Productivity software? Desktop OSes? Server OSes? Web servers? Database servers? Content management software (SharePoint)? Email and "groupware" servers? Software development tools? Encarta, until the Internet made it obsolete? Strategy games? Flight simulators? Any of the other games they've produced?

Or are you just classing all of those under "software"? Maybe "x86 software" so you can exclude Windows RT and Windows Phone? How about Windows Mobile, which was pretty successful in the pre-iPhone smartphone market? Windows CE, which is still embedded in a bunch of tiny systems that need an OS but don't have the hardware for a PC-grade one or the development expertise for a custom one (and which was the core of WinMo)? The Xbox 360 OS, which ran on PowerPC?

Also, citation needed for the claim that Azure is a failure. It has a number of big clients and as far as I know it makes money. It's not number one in the market, but that doesn't mean it's not successful. Similarly, their mice and keyboards still make money, and frankly some of their mice are (still) quite nice.

Courier never even launched. I'm not even sure what market "Foo" you'd have said it to be in.

Surface RT was a flop, but that's largely due to the crippled-by-design OS, but the Surface Pro line has been pretty popular and now makes money, though it hasn't yet paid off the cost to develop it.

WTF

[Dr. Evil]

This looks like it might actually be a good product. I clicked "buy" and it actually has a caution about the sizing... and recommends I go to a "Microsoft Store", whatever that is. I guess I should look for one.

Could Ballmer have been so bad for MS that we forgot they could produce good products?

I'm going to check it out, but I simply can't believe it will be acceptable until version 3.

Re:WTF

[archmcd]

Not to sound like a fanboy (because I'm not even close), but they have made a few compelling products and interesting decisions since Nadella took over.

It's a fashion statement

[NotQuiteReal]

Looks like a GPS tracking device criminals are required to wear.

That and some mean tattoos and you'll look like a real bad-ass!

The new Microsoft Tracker

[kheldan]

It knows when you're sleeping and where you're sleeping, it knows when you're awake and where you go. It provides enough extremely personal data so that, when coupled with your online data trail and banking records, can provide a very accurate picture of every move you make, all you activities, your beliefs, proclivities, and any potentially illegal activities you engage in. How long until they have an implantable, body-powered version, and it's mandated by the government that every citizen has one? For their own safety, of course; the government would never want to keep track of it's citizens like you keep track of small children, animals, or criminals, no sir!

Here's a tip for you: You're a CHUMP if you buy one of these and wear it everywhere. Enjoy being under a microscope 24/7/365.

Re:The new Microsoft Tracker

[dlingman]

It knows when you're sleeping and where you're sleeping, it knows when you're awake and where you go. It provides enough extremely personal data so that, when coupled with your online data trail and banking records, can provide a very accurate picture of every move you make, all you activities, your beliefs, proclivities, and any potentially illegal activities you engage in.

Um - You've just described Santa Claus.

Re:The new Microsoft Tracker

[kheldan]

Yeah, I knew it sounded like that.. but more like an evil Santa Claus. Closer to Black Peter, really.

But...

[Ignacio]

Does it come in brown?

Re:But...

[doramjan]

And can it squirt songs?

Re:But...

[frank_adrian314159]

Does it squirt bodily metrics!?! I wonder if you can get Ebola that way...

Can't trust MS

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I *really* going to wear a device from a company when I have no idea what it's reporting back to MS?

If I knew it was prviate, I'd be fine, but I can't know that - I certainly can't know that.

So not for me.

Re:Fuck Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Settle down CuteSteveJobs, settle down.

Calm Down

[zcubed11]

I am hardly a MS fan but this is actually a unique entry into the 'wearables' market. A fitness band with 24 hour HRM and smartphone notifications for any platform is already a pretty good deal. Throw in the GPS for whenever you run or bike at $200 makes it the best value in years for such a device. It's a great balance between cheap fitness bands like the Fitbit and super expensive fitness watches by Timex, Garmin and Polar. I think the only shortcomings in this band are a lack of being waterproof (swimming is out) and 48 hour battery life without the option for wireless charging. It will be interesting to see how it sells but I am willing to bet that this does way better than expected considering the timing of the launch.

Aaaaaand

[Anonymous Coward]

It's gone.

(out of stock)

Coming soon ...

[gstoddart]

Microsoft cock-ring.

You can gather metrics about your, um, performance.

And, as an added bonus, you can set it to give you an electrical jolt at random intervals ... heighten your pleasure, and let you last longer since the jolt will distract you enough to bring you back from the brink.

And, of course, there will be an app so you can share your coital prowess with your friends. Unfortunately, it'll use whatever social media offering Microsoft has these days, so nobody will ever know.

Slightly more on topic ... can anybody name a product in the last 10 years which Microsoft innovated? Not bought. Not copied. But a truly novel consumer product which you look at and think "now that's kind of cool".

I'm starting to think that one of the largest companies on the planet, which spends billions on research ... doesn't ever actually produce anything they didn't buy or copy.

Which isn't what I'd call ROI on the Microsoft Research folks.

Re:Coming soon ...

[Anonymous Coward]

already done: http://www.bondara.co.uk/blog/sexy-news/sexfit/

Re:Coming soon ...

[gstoddart]

already done: http://www.bondara.co.uk/blog/...

Ahhhh .... Rule #34 strikes again.

Best ... rule ... evar!!!

Looks as uncomfortable as all get up...

[PortHaven]

Look at every photo. The screen sticks out far beyond the man's wrist - extremely uncomfortable.

Re:Looks as uncomfortable as all get up...

[Bugler412]

it's actually thinner than the Citizen chronometer I usually wear

Taco sez...

[sootman]

No gold, less space than an Apple Watch. Lame.

Sweet!

[sootman]

320x106 is SUPER widescreen. 3:1! This thing will be AWESOME for movies.

Slashdot never disappoints

[Viros]

My first thought when I saw this was "Wow, this may actually be one of the first fitness wearables that I'm interested in, and it's cross-platform to boot!"

My second thought was "I wonder how Slashdot's going to shit all over this."

I got mine yesterday.

[drew870mitchell]

I have been waiting for a device like the Band ever since reading Total Recall, a book by Gordon Bell, a few years ago. The book described his experience with a total life logging system called MyLifeBits inside Microsoft Research. About once every six months since 2012 I've investigated what options are available in the smartphone personal assistant and wearables markets, and tested lots of half-baked apps like ReQall Rover, that just weren't there in terms of features or integration. Wearables on the market previously have always been lacking in something that was a deal breaker for me - no apps, no HR monitor, poor battery life, etc. So when I read a few months ago the rumor that MSFT was going to release a fitness tracker band, knowing the long-running work they've had there in this field, I was cautiously excited.

The release yesterday seems to have caught most everybody by surprise. I'm happy that they went with a low-key launch because it ensured I was able to run to the mall and grab one after work. I did look at the sparse first-day reviews before going out, because I'm not a fan boy and $200 while lower than many other wearables isn't anything to sneeze at.

I unboxed and paired it to my Android phone at their mall kiosk to be sure it worked. The manual claims that it ships with only a partial charge, but I've had it on for most of a day now, and am still at half battery, even with the screen-always-on watch mode activated. The feature set is a pretty short list, which is understandable given the form factor: I can see myself primarily using it as a watch, workout tracker, and to check phone notifications. The Starbucks app, which I have not yet used, gives hope that more specialized apps will become available in the future.

As far as the actual wearing of it there are two things I'd warn about. The band is not terribly flexible, since they've jammed hardware into it, so if you have a wrist of unusual physical shape, you will definitely want to be careful with getting a good fit in-person before you buy one. It's heavier and bulkier than a watch, but not irritatingly so - it doesn't get in the way when I'm at a keyboard, sink, or steering wheel. It is probably tied for the heaviest watch I've ever worn. It is a discreet black band, especially when you wear it in the recommended placement underneath your wrist, and from a casual glance at my wrist looks almost like the $10 Casio watch it replaced.

It's pretty much set it and forget it. After you choose which notifications you want to be pushed to it, you ignore the thing sitting on your wrist until it vibrates, then you can turn your wrist over and see the notification. Maybe it's because I had been waiting for a worthy wearable for a long time, but I actually was already fluidly using it before even making it to the other side of the mall. Today it's been a notable boost to my productivity because I can glance at 98% of notifications in less than a second and either choose a canned reply from the Band (editable - so I've set "Sounds good," "I'll call you ASAP," etc.) or ignore them until I actually want to see my phone again. Because Google Now pushes new cards to notifications, it's worked very well with that, giving football game score updates, ETA to my house or work, etc.

I haven't yet gotten to use it to track a workout or run, which I hope to do later today. But for what I have used it for, the interface is great (it's nice to see Metro tiles finally find their place), and the few non-workout things it does, it does very well. For a first generation of a product, easy provisional A+, based on how well the fitness tracker features go.

Wrong orientation

[PSXer]

http://www.windowscentral.com/...

Hello Microsoft, why is your watch showing the time at a 90 degree angle from the way we're used to reading our watches?

Man, how did they fuck that up?

Where's the API?

[Lumpy]

Let me guess, any apps for this will require the Craptastic Microsoft development suite. Epic fail.

Re: Where's the API?

[Anonymous Coward]

Visual Studio is far and away the best development suite out there. Better than Xcode, eclipse and every other open source I've seen. Troll elsewhere.

Re: Where's the API?

[Lumpy]

hahahahahaha! you are funny as hell. Nobody thinks VS is worth a shit. Not even the people that work on it at microsoft.

Looks promising.

[MaWeiTao]

I can always rely on Slashdot to crap on anything Microsoft does, even when it's actually a good product. Not that it's unique to this site, but at least others have the decency to just not bother mentioning it at all. Early reports already indicate that the Band is a hit; it's sold out online and apparently people have seen lines in the stores. That one is a first as every Microsoft store I've ever seen has been a ghost town.

Anyway, as a fitness band Microsoft's implementation seems to get the essentials right. It's packed full of features, works with all mobile platforms, and everything seems integrated quite nicely. That's a far cry from anything else currently on the market. It looks like it's obsoleted the more expensive FitBit Surge before it even hits the market.

I guess we'll see how it stacks up against the Apple Watch and Android's various smartwatches. They definitely offer a lot more utility, but they're also more expensive and relatively bulky. At this point I also think they suffer from being a solution in search of a problem. The utility of a fitness band is a bit more clearly defined.

I think the question here will be how much of a niche Microsoft manages to carve for itself. I expect the Apple Watch will be a big success no matter what, if for no other reason than because it's Apple and they're playing up the luxury angle. You can't really underestimate how irrational consumers get with luxury products. On the other hand, I don't really see people wearing those watches while exercising and that's where Microsoft could make inroads.

When the fad comes to Microsoft

[gelfling]

You know it's finally dead.

Microsoft entered the market of Foo with Bar

[Anonymous Coward]

Apparently Azure is killing it with Billion dollars in Sales. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-29/microsoft-azure-sales-top-1-billion-challenging-amazon.html

What if he can find

[publiclurker]

a particularly dense dog or 5 year old then.

Oh great, another device to distract people

[OldSport]

As if people weren't vanishing into their phones enough already, now you don't even have to take the phone out of your pocket to get distracted, ignore your surroundings, and generally be a rude cunt.