Microsoft Enters the Wearables Market With 'Band' 135
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.
Finally a unique, original idea from Microsoft (Score:1, Funny)
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: (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:3)
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 [watchuseek.com]. Now there is Class.
Re: (Score:3)
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: (Score:2)
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: (Score:2)
This!
Re: (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:2)
hmm (Score:1)
I wonder what people's health information are worth.
Re: (Score:3)
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: (Score:2)
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: (Score:2)
And what stops you from attaching it to your dog or your 5 yo?
Re: (Score:2)
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.
What if he can find (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
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 (Score:5, Interesting)
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: (Score:2)
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: (Score:2)
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 c
Re: (Score:2)
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 a
Re: (Score:1)
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... [theguardian.com]
Re:Device looking for a use case (Score:5, Informative)
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: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
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: (Score:2)
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
Re: (Score:2)
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 o
Re: (Score:2)
Dick Tracy says shut the fuck up.
Re: (Score:2)
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 (Score:1, Troll)
Now I have a reliable way to compute an accurate Mean Jerk Time.
Thanks Microsoft! What would I do without your amazing products?
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
[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 s
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
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: (Score:2)
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: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
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: (Score:2)
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.
Meanw
Re: (Score:2)
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 (Score:4, Interesting)
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: (Score:2)
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: (Score:3)
I can't speak to the MS band, but there are useful sensors in other products in that class.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
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
Re: (Score:1)
Have fun with your Zuneband!
Re: (Score:2)
How well does it track other types of activity? For example, how well does it track bicycle riding or weight lifting?
Re: (Score:1)
Have you picked out a spot on the shelf with your Tamagotchi?
Looks like the Samsung model - works with iOS (Score:5, Interesting)
Kudos to MS (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Device (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
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 w
Microsoft makes a stunning move (Score:5, Funny)
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 (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
It's still early. They can still find a way to stuff Metro onto it.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
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.
Got mine yesterday - Intriguing device (Score:5, Informative)
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 (Score:3)
It is pretty cool -- it has GPS, Heart beat monitor, sweat monitor, etc... hopefully it works well.
WTF (Score:3)
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: (Score:2)
If it's as successful as their other gadgets... (Score:5, Funny)
...we can call it the one-man band.
So... (Score:3)
...will the ad theme song be "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"?
Re: (Score:2)
Already got these features. (Score:2)
For the time, i use this: http://www.casio.co.uk/product... [casio.co.uk]
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: (Score:2)
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 i
Microsoft entered the market of Foo with Bar (Score:4, Interesting)
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: (Score:1)
I never liked the MS mice.
I have no idea what Courier was (I assume past tense is correct)
Re: (Score:2)
*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 p
It's a fashion statement (Score:2)
That and some mean tattoos and you'll look like a real bad-ass!
The new Microsoft Tracker (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
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: (Score:2)
But... (Score:2)
Does it come in brown?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Does it squirt bodily metrics!?! I wonder if you can get Ebola that way...
Calm Down (Score:1)
Coming soon ... (Score:2)
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 ..
Re: (Score:2)
Ahhhh .... Rule #34 strikes again.
Best ... rule ... evar!!!
Looks as uncomfortable as all get up... (Score:2)
Look at every photo. The screen sticks out far beyond the man's wrist - extremely uncomfortable.
Re: (Score:2)
Taco sez... (Score:2)
No gold, less space than an Apple Watch. Lame.
Sweet! (Score:2)
320x106 is SUPER widescreen. 3:1! This thing will be AWESOME for movies.
Slashdot never disappoints (Score:1)
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. (Score:1)
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 m
Wrong orientation (Score:2)
http://www.windowscentral.com/... [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? (Score:2, Insightful)
Let me guess, any apps for this will require the Craptastic Microsoft development suite. Epic fail.
Re: (Score:2)
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. (Score:2)
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 r
When the fad comes to Microsoft (Score:2)
You know it's finally dead.
Oh great, another device to distract people (Score:2)
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.