Microsoft Band has utilitarian appeal

Published May 27, 2015

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Microsoft is unlikely to unseat Apple’s iWatch in the fashion stakes with its Band.

The thing isn’t just unfashionable – it looks like you’ve been ordered to wear it by a judge. But like rivals from Fitbit and Jawbone, the Microsoft Band’s anti-fashion, faintly communistic look is intentional.

This is a high-end hypochondria accessory, designed to allow one to obsess endlessly over everything from the amount of ultraviolet rays you absorb on the way to work to the amount of “quality” sleep you get at night.

While it offers a few, rudimentary smart functions – for example, you’ll experience the thrill of your wrist buzzing when you get an e-mail – for a fraction of the price of an Apple Watch, the gizmo is designed to deliver a constant flow of health information to nag you into living a better life.

The Band is also armed with a more sensors than the average guilt-bracelet – an accelerometer/ gyrometer, GPS, heart-rate monitor, UV monitor and skin sensor – so it might be of interest to people who don’t live on wheatgrass shakes and run a marathon before breakfast every morning.

During the day it also keeps a constant tab on your heart-rate, offering some interesting insights into the effects of workplace stress, as well as ensuring you don’t over-exert as you work out. At night, it monitors each time you toss and turn as you sleep.

There are a lot of these bracelets on the market (they’ve become the tribal tattoo of people on diets), but the Band is more versatile than most.

It’s also a touch more informative, with a display that stopped me as I was about to tell my other half that I’d slept two hours, by telling me that I had in fact been sparko for seven.

The app feels like it’s been designed by grown-ups, too – it’s sensible, all-encompassing and easy to use – much like Windows.

Many rivals feel like they’ve been cooked up by Californian health fiends who are unaware that people over 25 actually exist.

It’s refreshingly easy to set up – I didn’t even need to tell it my e-mail password for it to begin itching my wrist every time a message came in – and your daily perambulations rapidly turn into impressive-looking graphs that are fascinating to pore over.

I am already morbidly obsessed with getting more “quality” sleep by any means necessary.

What’s less certain is whether you need both the fitness functions and the e-mail and Facebook alerts in one bracelet.

As far as I’m concerned, putting on my running trainers is a Do Not Disturb sign, which the world ignores at its peril. – Daily Mail

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