Over the next few days, Microsoft will start rolling out a new update for the Microsoft Band. The forthcoming enhancements follow pretty closely with what was recently revealed by the Italian Microsoft blog site.
Here’s what Band owners can expect:
- GPS Power Saver automatically allows your band to track your hike for up to 12 hours.
- After your hike, sync your band to your mobile app to see your points of elevation and a map of your route in the Microsoft Health app and web dashboard.
- Stay hydrated, properly fueled, and get help dodging any inclement weather with smart alerts. They’ll remind you to hydrate and refuel, tell you what time the sun sets, and alert you of any inclement weather advisories based on atmospheric pressure.
- The UV monitor you know and love is enabled while you hike. It will notify you when your UV exposure is high, so you can stay covered or apply SPF while you’re out in the sun.
- Exploring on your own? Leave your phone in your pocket and turn up the tunes – skip tracks and adjust the volume on your phone’s music apps from your band’s touchscreen.
- If you want to stop for a rest or take in the view, no problem. The Auto Pause feature will automatically detect that you’ve stopped, so you can focus on your adventure.
Those who have been asking for a "walk" exercise type can also use the new explore tile to record walking activities.
Additionally, a new UWP Microsoft Health app is due. The update Health app will include:
- Sync your Microsoft Band manually to your PC or Surface through a USB cable
- Manage tiles, personalize your band, update firmware
- Live Tile will display your current step count and calorie burn.
Already available now is a couple new profiles in the Leaderboards and these will also be available in the Windows 10 for PCs version of the app. If you have the Microsoft Health app installed on your mobile device, look for People Like me (age, gender, and BMI) and People Like Me (top 25%) (daily steps and cardio minutes rank in the top 25th percentile). These new profiles have been available in the mobile app for over a week already. My wife actually scooped me on them. I was oblivious to them until she asked me about them.
When the update is available the new Health app will be available here: http://aka.ms/Q83y15
Source: Microsoft
