I caught wind of an update for Band 2 this morning, thanks to a Reddit post. I’ve attempted to force my Windows Phone to update by removing and reinstalling the Microsoft Health app (a Band owners secret weapon to get updates quickly), but so far, the update is only available for Android smartphones.
UPDATE - Feb 2, PM: The update for Windows Phone is now rolling out.
After finding the Reddit post, I did some digging. The update will also be available shortly for iOS and Windows Phone. There’s no promised time/date yet, but it is coming. I’ve not seen these personally yet, just provided more information about what’s included in the “What’s New” section for the Microsoft Health app. Once I get the update myself I’ll be digging deep into each one.
You might also recognize that some of these updates have been available already, specifically, Activity Reminders, Web Tile Gallery updates, and sharing workouts. These rolled out in a December 2015 update. It’s possible that somehow these weren’t available before for Android handsets, but we’ll see.
There’s one improvement in particular I think you’ll be pleased to see, and one that has been addressed from the top 10 user requests list.
According to my sources, here’s what we can expect in this update:
- Bug fixes (of course)
- Share your workout. Create custom Guided Workouts in the web dashboard, and share them with friends. (uhhh…we’ve already had this)
- Track your weight. The Microsoft Health phone app has a place where you can manually update your weight and it will sync to the Microsoft Health Dashboard.
- Web Tile Gallery. NBA scores have been added.
- GPS Power Saver. This is the BIG one. When enabled you can supposedly extend your battery life during Run or Bike activities by up to 4 hours.
- Activity reminders. Set activity reminders to alert you. (not sure what the hubbub is here – this was already available after the last update and includes 30, 45, 90, and 120 minutes)
Here’s to hoping we all see the update soon.
Incidentally, I’m told that the GPS Power Saver feature is for Band 2 only. The other added features will work fine for Band 1.
Thanks to @tiberGreg for the image.
