The Microsoft Band is here and it is the company's first wearable device in many years since the SPOT watch. The new device is designed to be a fitness companion first and can also serve as a notification center on your wrist.
This is a new segment for Microsoft and they are positioning this device as a premier product for their new Health apps too. Health, which is likely a bigger story than this band, is a new cloud-based system that is designed to track, well, your health, by monitoring vital statistics on a frequent basis.
The Microsoft Band is only the start of the Health story for the company as other devices are able to tap into the platform if they choose to do so. In fact, UP by Jawbone, MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper are already working with Health to integrate their data into the platform.
Like so many things Microsoft is doing these days, Health is open for anyone to use from an OEM perspective and the app works on iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Think of Health as Microsoft's hub for your personal data and it's a strategic move to keep it in the health and fitness conversations.
This review is about the Band and the software that comes with it, but it's important to know what the Band is and isn't. The reason I say this is that there are two types of people who will look at the Band; those who think of this is a fitness device, and those who think this is a smartwatch.
This article is brought to you in partnership with Neowin.