As we rolled into CES week, I was provided with a few souvenir photos from years past when I attended, and one of them was of the Microsoft Band. As I write this, it has been eight years to the day since I first bought one, which I must have done while I was in the United States because, at the time, it was not available in the UK.
I remember it well. As we settled into Las Vegas, the Windows Central contingent headed to the local Microsoft Store. I necessary to get a Microsoft Band, so I did that before CES started and wore it all week. It was the first tech product I’d coveted in a long time, with its initial regional exclusivity only adding to that.
I’m not really a very active person, but the Microsoft Band was just an awesome product. It was different from other fitness trackers and emerging smartwatches; it was exciting and really attracted attention. We got a sequel, sure, but like all amazing Microsoft products, it was destined for the scrap heap. I haven’t really enjoyed a wearable since, many have been tried on my wrist and none have lasted more than a few weeks. So let’s remember the good times, shall we?
Different and truly cross-platform design
For us Windows Phone nerds, the immediate appeal of the Microsoft Band was that it was designed to work with our favorite smartphone. But beyond this excitement, was different. The horizontal screen was much more convenient to look at than a thin, vertical screen, and the fact that it was designed to be worn with the screen on the inside of your wrist was a first.
It was more comfortable to wear, more comfortable to look at, and more comfortable to interact with that way. Or at least I thought so. I wear a mechanical watch every day, but I rarely have to press a button; it’s to tell the time and look good. But wearable devices are designed to be touched a lot, and being horizontal and on the inside of the wrist made the Microsoft Band a dream.
It was also completely cross-platform, a feature I always appreciate. Even back then, although I was a Windows Phone fan, I had an iPhone or Android phone as a secondary device. Being able to connect to whatever I had with me at the time was a huge bonus, as was the fact that you could get basic connectivity and updates using a PC (or a Mac). Microsoft has nailed the basics of a good laptop on the first attempt. Compare that even today to the limited use of Android smartwatches on iPhone and the complete lack of Apple Watch support outside of the iPhone itself.
Microsoft had a good thing going here. Much of the initial buzz may have come from Windows Phone enthusiasts, but no one can deny that the Microsoft Band was an exceptional product on every level. Innovative, different, brilliant.
Solid features and a great community
Naturally, it didn’t take long for the developer community to rally around the Microsoft Band, and great ways to customize your own experience quickly began to appear. Some apps exposed hardware sensors that the Microsoft Health app didn’t surface, there was (naturally) a third-party app that turned your wrist into a mini flashlight, and there were a bunch of apps to add health funds. personalized screen.
The Microsoft Health app, the main source for collecting all of the group’s data, had a sleek, minimalist design, and for someone like me who only wanted minimal activity and sleep tracking, it worked. well served. Had I been more inclined, the guided workouts would surely have been useful, and I appreciated the opportunity to integrate them with Xbox Fitness, another long-lost Microsoft product.
Even the Microsoft Band’s keyboard was well executed (watch it in the video above). It really looked like a device from the future, and a shiny one at that.
The community really loved it too. On Windows Central, we’ve naturally built a lot of coverage around the Microsoft Band, but the response from readers and forums has been very exciting. At the time, it seemed like a new platform that we could build on for years to come.
To this day I have never wanted a laptop more
We only had two generations of the Microsoft Band before the plug was pulled, and the dream was over. A third was initially planned, and we even managed to get our hands on one of the prototypes. You can check out our Microsoft Band 3 review to learn more about what we could have had.
I stopped really caring about wearables after the Microsoft Band. I’ve tried several Android watches and tried to take advantage of the Apple Watch on several occasions. On paper, both are better than the Microsoft Band, as are many other wearables like Garmin and Fitbit. But something about the Microsoft Band was just perfect.
Nothing matched its design, and even though we had a thriving third-party support community, the Microsoft Band was easy to live with. It never felt overwhelming, and even for fitness enthusiasts like me, it had a welcome place in my daily life. I was pretty happy to be able to use it to pay for Starbucks!
In a perfect world, Microsoft would have revived it by refocusing on Android after the death of Windows Phones. But as we saw, even that didn’t go very well. Microsoft just seems destined not to exist in the mobile space, with the Surface Duo almost dead, Cortana gone, and who knows what the future will actually look like.
But I had fun remembering how great the Microsoft Band was, another product that could be said to be ahead of its time and one that I know I’m not the only one with fond memories of. However, I want to hear your memories, so if you were a happy group owner in the past, hit the comments and share your stories.
