Microsoft has announced today that the Microsoft Band (which is still currently only in the US with worldwide expansion coming soon) will be getting its first huge update adding a variety of new features and bringing the sought-after developers SDK. Developers can get the SDK bits right here but only currently for Windows Phone and Android support with iOS being added later. The update has only just released and will roll out over the next few days to Windows Phone, Android and iOS.
Here’s the full list of new features on the Microsoft Band with today’s update:
- Bike Tile: This tracks users rides both indoors and outdoors on a road or trail. There’s a variety of features including the heart rate monitor specialized for biking activities, elevation tracking such as elevation gain, distance and duration plus calorie burn is now viewable in the Microsoft Health App. GPS users can map their ride on the mobile app and share it to friends via email. Speed analysis tracks current and average speeds on both the app and Microsoft Band. Recovery allows users to see an estimate of how long it will take their body to recover from the ride in the mobile app. Web Dashboard integration will be added in the future.
- Guided Workouts: Five new guided workouts have been added to the portfolio including Indoor Bike Tabata Sprints, Indoor Bike Hour of Sweat, Indoor Bike Total Body, Indoor Bike Pyramid, and Indoor Bike Intervals.
- Quick Read: Option to scan incoming texts, emails and other notifications. They are displayed in a large font sixe and allows users to read words while in motion without scrolling. (Band scrolls itself with large font for visibility).
- Virtual Keyboard and Voice Replies (Windows Phone 8.1 Exclusive): Users with Windows Phone can use the virtual keyboard to reply to texts using Microsoft’s World Flow technology. Voice responses are also possible using Cortana.
- Integration: Microsoft HealthVault users and MapMyFitness users can sync all of their Microsoft Health data across both of these services. Just use ‘Connected Apps’ in the menu of the Microsoft Health app.