As we hit CES week, I was provided some photo memories of years past when I used to attend, and one of them was of the Microsoft Band. As I write this, it's been eight years to the day since I first picked one up, something I had to do while in the US because, at the time, it wasn't available in the UK.
I remember it well. As we were getting settled in Las Vegas, the Windows Central contingent took a stroll over to the local Microsoft Store. I needed to get a Microsoft Band, so I did it before CES got underway and wore it the whole week. It was the first tech product in a while I'd really coveted, with its initial regional exclusivity only adding to that.
I'm not really a very active person, but the Microsoft Band was just an awesome product. It was different from the other fitness trackers and emerging smartwatches; it was exciting and really grabbed attention. We got a sequel, of course, but like all amazing Microsoft products, it was destined for the scrap heap. I haven't really enjoyed a wearable since, with many being tried on my wrist and none lasting more than a few weeks. So let's remember the good times, shall we?
Different in design and truly cross-platform
For us Windows Phone nerds, the immediate draw to the Microsoft Band was that it was built to work with our favorite smartphone. But beyond that excitement, it was different. The horizontal display was far more convenient to look at compared to a thin, vertical one, and the fact it was designed to be worn with the display on the inside of your wrist was a first.
It was more comfortable to wear, more comfortable to glance at, and more comfortable to interact with worn this way. Or I thought so, at least. I wear a mechanical watch every day, but I rarely have to actually press any buttons on it; it's for telling the time and looking good. But wearables are designed to be touched a lot, and being horizontal and inside the wrist just made the Microsoft Band a dream.
It was also completely cross-platform, a feature I always enjoy. Even back then, despite being a Windows Phone fan, I carried either an iPhone or an Android phone as a secondary device. Being able to connect to whatever it was I had with me at the time was a massive bonus, as was the fact you could achieve basic connectivity and updates using a PC (or Mac). Microsoft absolutely nailed the basics of a good wearable on the first attempt. Compare that even today to the limited use of Android smartwatches on iPhone and the complete lack of support for the Apple Watch outside of the iPhone itself.
Microsoft had a good thing going here. A lot of the initial buzz may well have been from Windows Phone enthusiasts, but nobody can deny that the Microsoft Band was an exceptional product across the board. Innovative, different, brilliant.
Solid features and a great community
Naturally, it didn't take long for the developer community to get behind the Microsoft Band, and some great ways to customize your own experience soon started to appear. Some apps exposed sensors in the hardware that the Microsoft Health app didn't surface, there was (naturally) a third-party app that turned your wrist into a mini flashlight, and there were a heap of apps to add custom wallpapers.
The Microsoft Health app, the main source of collating all the data from the Band, had a sleek, minimalist design, and for someone like me that only wanted minimal activity and sleep tracking to look at, served well. Had I been more inclined, the guided workouts would surely have been useful, and I liked the chance to integrate it with Xbox Fitness, another long-lost Microsoft product.
Even the keyboard on the Microsoft Band was well executed (check it out in the video above). It really did feel like a device from the future, and one with a bright one at that.
The community really loved it, too. On Windows Central, we naturally built a lot of coverage around the Microsoft Band, but the response from the readers and in the forums was so exciting. At the time, it felt like another new platform for us to get our teeth into for years to come.
To this day, I never wanted a wearable more
We only got two generations of the Microsoft Band before the plug was pulled, and the dream was over. A third was originally planned, and we even managed to get our hands on one of the prototypes. You can check out our Microsoft Band 3 review to see more on what we could have had.
I stopped really caring about wearables after the Microsoft Band. I've tried a bunch of Android watches, and I've tried to enjoy the Apple Watch on a couple of occasions. On paper, both are better than the Microsoft Band, as are a host of other wearables from the likes of Garmin and Fitbit. But something about the Microsoft Band was just perfect.
Nothing has matched its design, and while we did have a thriving community of third-party support for it, the Microsoft Band was simple to live with. It never felt overbearing, and even for non-fitness freaks like myself, it had a welcome place in my daily life. I was happy enough just to be able to use it to pay for Starbucks!
In a perfect world, Microsoft would have revived it as the company refocused on Android after the death of Windows phones. But as we've seen, even that hasn't gone very well. Microsoft just seems destined not to exist in the mobile space, with the Surface Duo all but dead, Cortana has gone, and who knows what the future actually looks like.
But I've had fun remembering how great the Microsoft Band was, another product you could say was ahead of its time and one I know I'm not the only one with fond memories of. I want to hear your memories, though, so if you were a happy Band owner in years past, hit the comments and share your stories.
