Microsoft inadvertently leaks 'Band' fitness wearable in new app, reveals 'Microsoft Health' [update

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 54
    shsfshsf Posts: 302member

    A Fitness "band" from an also run...

     

    Some purple, with a lighter shade of purple and white typeface, and yet more purple on the band (with a moronic hexagon pattern) with the same white typeface. The time and date is also off centre leaving a big chunk of unused space, what the hell is the point of that?

     

    The only thing that seems remotely interesting is the sign out on the bottom left, yes please!

     

    (Unless they've actually achieved the "band"'s levitation as the graphic implies)

     

    Whatever did Nokia do to them to try to zunify and kill it? They'd come up with some great phones a few pretty good designs for them too. 

  • Reply 22 of 54
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post



    $199? Lol no.

    Haha pardon me while I laugh at the Apple Watch's $349 price tag

  • Reply 23 of 54
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by RadarTheKat View Post



    at what angle do I have to hold my forearm to read the display on this thing? I don't think I can turn my arm like that. Fail!

    First of all looking at the bottom of your wrist really isn't that hard. You should try it.

     

    And secondly it can also be worn on the top of the wrist like a regular watch

  • Reply 24 of 54
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    I'm seeing a lot of comments on tech sites that this is what Apple should have done. Ha! If Apple had announced a plastic fitness band people would have laughed it off the stage and we would have seen comments everywhere with people saying "that's it?" I won't be surprised if at some point we do get a fitness specifc device (perhaps in partnership with Nike) but Apple's first wearable was never going to be a cheap plastic fitness band. Everyone and their mother are doing fitness bands these days. Heck, even Acer has one.
  • Reply 25 of 54
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    rogifan wrote: »
    I'm seeing a lot of comments on tech sites that this is what Apple should have done. Ha! If Apple had announced a plastic fitness band people would have laughed it off the stage and we would have seen comments everywhere with people saying "that's it?" I won't be surprised if at some point we do get a fitness specifc device (perhaps in partnership with Nike) but Apple's first wearable was never going to be a cheap plastic fitness band. Everyone and their mother are doing fitness bands these days. Heck, even Acer has one.

    [@]NasserAE[/@] was saying something similar. MS is definitely getting a pass here. Even the similar looking Samsung device was scrutinized more.
  • Reply 26 of 54
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    [@]NasserAE[/@] was saying something similar. MS is definitely getting a pass here. Even the similar looking Samsung device was scrutinized more.

    Good point. If something like this had come from Samsung or LG or whoever it would have been greeted with a collective "meh" by the tech press. But ever since Ballmer left the tech press has been on Microsoft's bandwagon.
  • Reply 27 of 54
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    It appears that Ben Bajarin got time with this device. He's quite bullish about it on Twitter. Basically said the hardware is a means to an end and it's all about data/cloud. Kind of implied that this is what he wished Apple would have done. The thing is Apple isn't really a data company and cloud is not their strong suite. Though with all the recent hires from the health field I've got to believe Apple has more health related stuff they're working on than what we've seen with ?Watch so far.
  • Reply 28 of 54
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    I'm seeing a lot of comments on tech sites that this is what Apple should have done. Ha! If Apple had announced a plastic fitness band people would have laughed it off the stage and we would have seen comments everywhere with people saying "that's it?" I won't be surprised if at some point we do get a fitness specifc device (perhaps in partnership with Nike) but Apple's first wearable was never going to be a cheap plastic fitness band. Everyone and their mother are doing fitness bands these days. Heck, even Acer has one.



    Oh give me a break. You really think anyone would dare laugh Tim Cook off the stage?

     

    Everyone on this site knows that even if Apple did unveil a simple fitness band they'd find some way to make it new and people would clamor over it all the same.

  • Reply 29 of 54
    Is Microsoft getting mocked for requiring a Windows Phone to work with it? After all, critics wouldn't shut the hell up about Apple Watch [top of the bill over them all] when it was revealed.
  • Reply 30 of 54
    spoopspoop Posts: 10member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post



    Is Microsoft getting mocked for requiring a Windows Phone to work with it? After all, critics wouldn't shut the hell up about Apple Watch [top of the bill over them all] when it was revealed.

     

    No they are not, because the Microsoft and works with any smartphone

  • Reply 31 of 54
    shsfshsf Posts: 302member

    Yeah, I read his comments on twitter too, I put them in the broad category of having a very eloquent behind.

     

    MS's band is rubbish, much smaller players have some stuff out that look better and function better. It's an ugly superfluous device and it's going the zune way, quicker than the zune, and that's some achievement...

     

    I don't know what on earth this guy means by data and cloud, it's a frigging fitness band, and as another poster said, everyone and their half brother have one out already. 

     

    Of course the apple watch is going to be a health monitoring device, apple will redefine the watch notion for the this era, it's their most personal device yet, everyone should nb these words. But they 'll get it just right before it's out the door. For the time being they implemented the first few steps correctly:

     

    Make is customisable and personal.

    Make it great and watch looking.

    Include a basic fitness sensor with the heart rate sensor, which, provided it works right, and I am sure it will, does away with straps on your chest and the rest.

    Open up a health kit sdk and an apple watch sdk to bring devs on board to start getting creative with it. 

    Of course provide the cloud and ecosystem integration so the device fits in. 

     

    I think they are looking for or actively pursuing a way for it to charge via another apple device when you are in proximity with it, but they also have to take care of the health aspect of all that. It's not easy, I am sure, but we all know who's getting the great product out the door at the end of the day. And even as is, the apple watch looks and functions just fine. AND it's in fashion, they are entering another segment and disrupting it...

     

    Even if MS releases their usual run of the mill, also run, crap, can they at least put some friggin effort to not make them look so pedestrian and uninspired too??

  • Reply 32 of 54
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Is Microsoft getting mocked for requiring a Windows Phone to work with it? After all, critics wouldn't shut the hell up about Apple Watch [top of the bill over them all] when it was revealed.
    They shouldn't even compare the two devices. MS Band is just a nondescript piece of plastic with sensors that is used to collect health related data. Nothing like ?Watch. Two completely different products.
  • Reply 33 of 54
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    shsf wrote: »
    Yeah, I read his comments on twitter too, I put them in the broad category of having a very eloquent behind.

    MS's band is rubbish, much smaller players have some stuff out that look better and function better. It's an ugly superfluous device and it's going the zune way, quicker than the zune, and that's some achievement...

    I don't know what on earth this guy means by data and cloud, it's a frigging fitness band, and as another poster said, everyone and their half brother have one out already. 

    Of course the apple watch is going to be a health monitoring device, apple will redefine the watch notion for the this era, it's their most personal device yet, everyone should nb these words. But they 'll get it just right before it's out the door. For the time being they implemented the first few steps correctly:

    Make is customisable and personal.
    Make it great and watch looking.
    Include a basic fitness sensor with the heart rate sensor, which, provided it works right, and I am sure it will, does away with straps on your chest and the rest.
    Open up a health kit sdk and an apple watch sdk to bring devs on board to start getting creative with it. 
    Of course provide the cloud and ecosystem integration so the device fits in. 

    I follow Ben's Twitter account and from what I can tell he's recently spent time in Redmond at Microsoft. Not surprisingly a lot of his Microsoft related tweets lately have been very bullish.
  • Reply 34 of 54
    shsfshsf Posts: 302member

    Well, I wish him all the best and I hope he had a good time there, what with these mirror glasses of his, he looks like he had to spend a lot of time next to a photocopier at Redmond. Too bad MS has degraded to copying bit players to get a product out the door. At least when they were copying apple they got a few things right.

     

    Maybe they 'll be late to the game again and come up with the zune personal necklace or something, i.e. the apple watch on a chain around the neck instead of on the wrist, or the ms glass monocle, if they go with the second rate guys once more. 

     

    I wouldn't go near Redmond btw, seems like they are into some serious reality mirage in terms of what they should be doing as a software/hardware/systems company. :)

  • Reply 35 of 54
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    Is Microsoft getting mocked for requiring a Windows Phone to work with it? After all, critics wouldn't shut the hell up about Apple Watch [top of the bill over them all] when it was revealed.

    Well since it will sync with iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and OSX why would they get mocked?
  • Reply 36 of 54
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,749member

    This is very sad. Microsoft does not even pretend to come up with its own product ideas anymore.

     

    What's next, Microsoft Pay?

     

    Probably.

  • Reply 37 of 54
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    DOA, just like the rest of their mobile platform.

    I can't even LMAO anymore because this non-strategy is approaching HP WebOS/Blackberry levels of inexplicability.

    New CEO just like old CEO. 2014 MS mobile penetration just like 2010 MS mobile penetration.

    *waits for wholesale cancellation of entire Windows Phone platform*

    That ^^^ is in the mail.

    No markethshare, no profit, no consumer interest.
  • Reply 38 of 54
    shsfshsf Posts: 302member

    ...and they 'lll kill nokia too, which started out of nothing and managed to create some great phones with their own technology, until that dreadful day windows phone os came their way...

  • Reply 39 of 54
    badmonkbadmonk Posts: 1,333member
    yawn... Nokia is looking more & more like a victim of ritual sacrifice...

    the good news is that if Balmer was still in charge it would have been a butt plug.
  • Reply 40 of 54
    gumbigumbi Posts: 148member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post



    Is Microsoft getting mocked for requiring a Windows Phone to work with it? After all, critics wouldn't shut the hell up about Apple Watch [top of the bill over them all] when it was revealed.



    It doesn't require a windows phone - it works with iOS and Android.  The only windows phone specific feature I'm aware of is the Cortana integration.

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