Microsoft has finally jumped into the wearable space with its first device called Band powered by the all-new health and fitness tracking platform, Microsoft Health.
The race to the finish line is going to be interesting. Microsoft, the world's largest software company, has finally joined its rivals in a fierce competition to dominate the wearable space. The software giant's latest move into wearables isn't surprising as it was widely speculated for months, but certainly adds more weight to the existing competition led by Samsung and other tech companies. The Microsoft Band allows users to keep a track of their fitness and health.
To power up the first wearable, the Redmond-based company developed its own platform called the Microsoft Health. It is described as "the new security-enhanced cloud platform that stores and analyzes" all health related data captured by the Band's sensors. The Band can perform all major tracking activities like monitoring pulse rate, tracking sleep quality, measuring calories and more, Microsoft said in a blog post, Wednesday.
In addition to the fitness tracking capabilities, the Microsoft Band is also capable of showing a wide range of notifications on its display, including email messages, calendar reminders, phone calls received, text messages, social updates (such as Facebook and Twitter), weather and finance. Users can count on the display's clarity as it boasts 310x102 pixel resolution.
As for the sensors, the Band packs 10 of them to track heart rate, sleep and GPS among other unique functions such as UV exposure and wearer's galvanic skin response to measure stress. As reported previously, the heart rate sensor will run actively at all times. The device responds to voice commands with Cortana integration.
Another important release alongside the Band is Microsoft Health, an open cloud platform for health and fitness related data. The software giant has also opened its new platform for Android and iOS as well as Windows Phone users with a Microsoft Health app. The company has already announced new partners at the launch that will support Microsoft Health. They include UP by Jawbone, MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper. The Band gets guided workouts from Gold's Gym, Shape, Men's Fitness and Muscle & Fitness for a better personalized assistance.
Microsoft Band is priced at $199 and available in limited quantities for buyers in the U.S. starting Thursday.
