When Microsoft released the Software Development Kit (SDK) for Microsoft Band in February it was intended to encourage developers to begin building apps for Microsoft’s popular wearable.
Some developers had figured out how to make apps work with the Band even before that happened and since the SDK was made available we have seen the number of Band related apps double in the Windows Phone Store.
I jokingly tweeted a couple of weeks ago that someone needed to develop an app for Band that would trigger the camera on a Windows Phone and today I learned one has been built. Now, this was not built because of my tweet, but it is great to see developers being creative with working with the Band and Windows Phone.
Band Camera Control for Windows Phone uses voice commands to trigger a picture from your phone using the rear camera. All you have to do is install the app on your phone and then from your Band just press the Action button and use one of the following voice commands:
Camera take a photo
Camera take 3 photos
Camera take a photo in 10 seconds
Camera take 3 photo in 12 seconds
Note: The max photos that can be taken using this app is four due to a platform limitation.
The app uses Cortana to process your voice commands so your phone must be using Cortana for this app to work properly.
If your camera is locked the band will prompt you to unlock it and then continue with the picture command. This should not be an issue in most cases as we normally unlock our phones to take pictures anyway.
Of course, having your phone on a stand or selfie stick of some sort will make this app truly useful as it is not efficient to hold the camera in your hand and also tell it to take images through your Band.
I think a future update to this app should include the ability to trigger the camera by tapping a Band tile on your wrist instead of having to use Cortana. That would give everyone a vocal and silent option for taking the picture. By the way, with the Band Camera Control app installed on your phone, you can also use the same voice commands directly with Cortana there and skip the Band interface.
Here is what the phone UI looks like when you tell your phone to take a picture:
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