If you spent any time near your smartphone this weekend, you should have noticed a Microsoft Health update roll through. Updating on the weekend is rare, but it’s possible that Microsoft marked the update has ready-to-go on Friday but the servers didn’t catch up until Saturday. Also, I've yet to see an update come down for Windows smartphones, PCs, or iOS. This update seems to have been targeted specifically toward Android devices.
At first glance, the update appears to be just a bug fix. And, according to Microsoft, yes, this updated version is partly intended to fix even more Android handsets that are having issues with battery drain when the Microsoft Health app is running. The last update provided fixes for some, while this one provided even more. However, for even more Android users, this issue still exists. The Android ecosystem is a challenge. There are so many Android versions and revisions and so many users that rarely apply updates that creating a fix that solves issues for every device is an almost impossible task. Microsoft is on a path to resolve all issues, but I’ll bet some glaring issues will remain with a minority of Android devices.
But, digging deeper into this weekend’s update, there are at least two new features. Though they are minor, at least one of them should help with battery drain issues.
First up is a new system notification that your Microsoft Band has reached full charge.
Secondly, and this is the piece that should help with battery drain, is a new option to modify the synching schedule.
Located in the Preferences menu, you can alter the schedule to 30 minutes, 1 hour, and 4 hours. This should help with battery drain forcing the app to sync at longer intervals. I have verified that this option now exists for both Android and iPhone - just not Windows Phone/Mobile.
Find something else in the weekend update? Let us know.
