Microsoft today announced the second iteration of its Band fitness tracker and guess what, it is heavily investing in fitness, health, and activity tracking. And boy, is it a well-endowed one!
Let's start with the design. The wearable flaunts a curved AMOLED display with a resolution of 320 by 128 pixels protected by Gorilla Glass 3 and its band is made of a material called TPSiV (thermal plastic elastomer silicone vulcanate). However, what grabbed our attention is the wealth of sensors in the arsenal.
Some of the more important ones are the continuous, optical heart rate monitor, an on-board GPS and barometer for improved geo-tracking, 3-axis accelerometer/gyro, gyrometer, a skin temperature sensor, a UV sensor, a galvanic skin response sensor. Seriously, that's a lot of sensors.
Some of the features these unlock before you are sleep monitoring, calorie expenditure, track elevation, and others. The data will be available inside the Microsoft Health app on your paired handset.
Additionally, the wearable supports Cortana, allowing you to issue voice commands. The golf tracking features of the wearable also received their fair share of time in the spotlights.
Microsoft promises up to 48 hours of battery life; it's also claimed that the munchkin gets fully charged in less than an hour and a half. The Band 2 works with devices running Windows Phone 8.1 or higher, iPhone 4S and newer (iOS 8.1.2 required), and handsets running Android 4.3 or higher. The nifty activity tracker will be up for pre-order later today and shipping will start on October 30. It will cost you $249.
Any thoughts?
Recommended Stories
Loading Comments...
COMMENT
All comments need to comply with our
Community Guidelines
Phonearena comments rules
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: