Microsoft Band

MJohnston

The only thing you'll be missing with Band 2 + Android is Cortana. And if you're willing to use the Cortana Beta app for Android, you can get that too - https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/microsoft-band/67689/can-now-use-cortana-microsoft-band-android

The entirety of the 'health' part of the Band works equally well on any of the 3 OS platforms.

allybhoy

MJohnston wrote: »

The only thing you'll be missing with Band 2 + Android is Cortana. And if you're willing to use the Cortana Beta app for Android, you can get that too - https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/microsoft-band/67689/can-now-use-cortana-microsoft-band-android

The entirety of the 'health' part of the Band works equally well on any of the 3 OS platforms.

Thanks, downloaded it there aswell as the health app. Think the watch is due to land today. Has anyone used the golf functionality with the band? From what ive read it isnt the greatest but i believe there have been a few updates recently.

Fingleberries

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Anybody notice a significant drop in battery life since the last update?

Yep - I wasn't sure whether it was the last Band update or the Windows 10 Mobile update, but something has taken a hit and it is killing the battery much quicker.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Yep. Seeing same drop in battery life since last update.

rgfuller

No problems with my band battery life, build version 2.0.4829.2 26R.
Currently 56% after 25 hours which included overnight sleep track and a 30 min run.
Bluetooth on. Automatic brightness. Daily heartrate on.

Also Watch mode is "rotate on."

rgfuller

allybhoy wrote: »

Has anyone used the golf functionality with the band? From what ive read it isnt the greatest but i believe there have been a few updates recently.

I've used it a few times, it's adequate, autoshot tracking is about 90% accurate, I've it paired with the taylormade site for on course shot position and extra stats post round. Not all courses are on it though.

Yggr of Asgard

Lucky you, I can't get more than 28 hours out of it, in addition it also drains the battery of my 650 very quickly now and I can see it syncing all the time (as the web interface is up to date almost every time I check it).

ablelocks

it could be the MS Heath App operating in the background - i checked my battery saver settings last week and discovered that MS Health was the app with the highest battery useage, but nearly all of it was background. So turned that off and it's way down the list now.

Yggr of Asgard

ablelocks wrote: »

it could be the MS Heath App operating in the background - i checked my battery saver settings last week and discovered that MS Health was the app with the highest battery useage, but nearly all of it was background. So turned that off and it's way down the list now.

How did that effect the functionality of the band? Do you still get notifications and regular sync?

ablelocks

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

How did that effect the functionality of the band? Do you still get notifications and regular sync?

nothing major that i've noticed - i assume it'll only sync when i open MS Health, and now that you've mentioned it I'll keep an eye on the notifications...

Yggr of Asgard

It's clearly the Bluetooth that is causing the battery drain.

I disabled Bluetooth on my band yesterday after I only got 12 hours life out of it and over the past 12 hours I only drained 2% of the battery on band.

There seams to be a problem with the latest insider build, the latest health app version and the band in which Bluetooth is using massive amount of energy on both band and phone.

Crocked

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

It's clearly the Bluetooth that is causing the battery drain.

I disabled Bluetooth on my band yesterday after I only got 12 hours life out of it and over the past 12 hours I only drained 2% of the battery on band.

There seams to be a problem with the latest insider build, the latest health app version and the band in which Bluetooth is using massive amount of energy on both band and phone.

I've found this as well. I actually had to do a hard reset on the phone as I was having other issues as well as the battery drain. Battery seemed much better yesterday on the first day of full use on the phone, but the band life was still really bad.

Going to turn bluetooth off now on it until there's a new update.

Yggr of Asgard

There is a new version of the Health App out this morning (2.3.20711.0) with no firmware update which I just installed, maybe that is bringing some sort of fix.

I have charged my band to 100% now and will see if with the new version I get a better usage out of it and report back.

The Live tile of the Health App is still not fixed.

ablelocks

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

It's clearly the Bluetooth that is causing the battery drain.

I disabled Bluetooth on my band yesterday after I only got 12 hours life out of it and over the past 12 hours I only drained 2% of the battery on band.

There seams to be a problem with the latest insider build, the latest health app version and the band in which Bluetooth is using massive amount of energy on both band and phone.

I'm not seeing that much of a drain - i charge overnight so at 11pm last night, there was still 29% charge in the band (mind you, it's not getting that much use either!)

which insider build are you on - i'm on the release preview build

Yggr of Asgard

ablelocks wrote: »

I'm not seeing that much of a drain - i charge overnight so at 11pm last night, there was still 29% charge in the band (mind you, it's not getting that much use either!)

which insider build are you on - i'm on the release preview build

14388 (fast) but I have this problem since the last 5 builds and 3 app versions.

Yggr of Asgard

Bad news, new version did not change the drain.

I was down to 36% at 2300 yesterday night, disabled Bluetooth when I went to bed to ensure I get sleep monitoring and now I'm down to 1% at 08:30.

Either the band is damaged now or there is an issue in which the band does not charge correctly and displays incorrect battery levels. I can't believe it burns 35% without Bluetooth monitoring 09:30 hours of bedtime.

Yggr of Asgard

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Mine wont get a full day anymore so I don't think you have a faulty band.

Thanks, are you pairing to a windows phone or apple/android?

I'm thinking of temporary pairing the band to my iPad just to see if it's an issue of the combination of Windows 10 phone and band. Not ideal solution but at least something to narrow the issue down.

Yggr of Asgard

Ah well, need the band today to work fully, so tomorrow I will pair it to the iPad and see if that helps.

I suspect it's Win10 and the Windows App causing this as you can't set the sync interval (unlike on other platforms).

Fingleberries

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Mine wont get a full day anymore so I don't think you have a faulty band.

Mine went this way recently (paired to Win 10 Lumia 950 on Fast Ring) - Would barely get 12 hours out of it, when the week before it was easily 24 hours.

I had to go into the Health App and turn off the Notification Centre Tile, even though I only had two apps sending notifications. Ever since then, it has returned to normal battery drain for me.

Yggr of Asgard

Fingleberries wrote: »

Mine went this way recently (paired to Win 10 Lumia 950 on Fast Ring) - Would barely get 12 hours out of it, when the week before it was easily 24 hours.

I had to go into the Health App and turn off the Notification Centre Tile, even though I only had two apps sending notifications. Ever since then, it has returned to normal battery drain for me.

Thanks for that suggestion, I'm going to give it a try and see if that helps in my case too.

But I still think there is something wrong with the firmware.

While I usually charge to 100% this morning I only managed to charge to 85% and went off to do a walk. Just now I wanted to continue to charge after enabling Bluetooth again to test the new settings, and the band tells me I'm having 92% charge. So instead of burning battery I gained battery while walking?

quad_red

Band 2 is now 150GBP on Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search/ref=gbps_tit_s-3_8647_6cf9efb0?hidden-keywords=B01600EFHC|B00HQ9C9PM|B01600EHRA&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_p=981978647&pf_rd_s=slot-3&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_i=gb_main&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=5843F23CB88QHKJE3ZYN

Fingleberries

Yggr of Asgard wrote: »

Thanks for that suggestion, I'm going to give it a try and see if that helps in my case too.

But I still think there is something wrong with the firmware.

While I usually charge to 100% this morning I only managed to charge to 85% and went off to do a walk. Just now I wanted to continue to charge after enabling Bluetooth again to test the new settings, and the band tells me I'm having 92% charge. So instead of burning battery I gained battery while walking?

Yep, there's definitely something in the firmware / BT integration with WP10 Fast Ring builds. This was a workaround that got me back to having a watch that I can rely on for at least a day.

Yggr of Asgard

With disabling notification center I got 19 hours battery life out of it, better but still not good.

So either I'm going to use it as a slightly intelligent watch or leave insider build.

Yggr of Asgard

So I went ahead and paired my band with an Apple Device and no more battery drain on both band and windows mobile.

And on the band that is despite now getting even more notifications as the apple device has more apps sending notifications.

I also noticed that notifications for e-mails and messaging are coming faster than on my windows phone, also the band is syncing more reliable towards the web interface, even with sync set to 10 minutes intervals.

Clearly the problem is Bluetooth and Windows insider build.

I might just get used to the Apple Device.....



.

Yggr of Asgard

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Noticed that my band has started to split. Time to return it, I bought it from Amazon and they wont take it back. This will be fun :pac:

If you go to https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-band/en-gb/support/troubleshoot you can request support there and they will give you an address in the UK to send it to for replacement.

If your browser redirects you to the Irish webpage, just look at the bottom of the page and change to UK there, support is only in a limited countries and UK is the nearest, but you can put in your Irish address without a problem.

ablelocks

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Noticed that my band has started to split. Time to return it, I bought it from Amazon and they wont take it back. This will be fun :pac:

surprised at this - my band one got the peeling rubber syndrome and Amazon offered to replace or refund immediately. I'd ask them again on it, usually they are very good to deal with on issues like this.

ablelocks

LIGHTNING wrote: »

How did you manage this? When I go to the refund/replace section it just tells me to feck off

I assume you're talking about the return or replace button when you view the order - I think that's only for returns within the first month or so.

I went thru help/need more help?/contact us/select,enter order details/click contact by phone and then you enter your number and they call you back.

I explained the issue, they first offered to replace but I said what's the point if it's a known issue and the same problem might happen again - refund offered straight away - I didn't have to push or argue for it.

(I only had the band 1 for 3-4 months though)

MJohnston

LIGHTNING wrote: »

That worked a treat thanks. Sending it back for a full refund. Real shame I really like the device

You'd have gotten a replacement through Microsoft service, but even still - if you have a full refund, was it for the price you originally paid? If so, you'd pick up a new replacement for cheaper!

MJohnston

Dunno how much you got it for in the flash sale, but they're currently £148 on Amazon which is a big reduction from RRP.

Fitbits work very well with Windows mobile, and are probably the only other fitness bands I'd consider anyway.

Yggr of Asgard

I used a Fitbit on windows mobile and windows desktop before I got my MSFT band and it's actually working quite well and with the last update they have done some nice features in it.

You still don't get call notifications with Fitbit and windows, but otherwise the tracking features work great.

ablelocks

LIGHTNING wrote: »

^ Yeah its a full refund but I got mine on a flash sale on Amazon so I didn't pay the full price. As much as I want another one I am not going to get one. Problem is its probably the only smart watch/fitness band that works on Windows phone. So I have no idea what to replace it with

i read somewhere that MS had changed the polymer that was used in the strap to stop the tear issue - newer bands shouldn't have this problem if that is true. can't rem where i read it tho'....

also, keep an eye on the amazon warehouse, particularly if they have another 20% off sale. I think I saw the band going for about £118 sterling in the last warehouse sale.

Yggr of Asgard

Has anybody on Fast Ring seen an improvement in battery life of the band since the last update?

I'm still on my Apple Device but would like to go back if it's fixed or improved.

Thanks

Yggr of Asgard

So with the latest windows for phone insider build supposed to have fixed Bluetooth battery issues I bit the bullet and synced my band 2 again to my windows phone.

Result is that my phone after 10 hours of usage is now down to 44% and my band claims it's down to 31% from a full charge.

I only had medium activity (some run and explore) and an average amount of notifications, so by the looks it still is draining both phone and band battery.

Synced the band back to my Apple device and suddenly the band claims it has 48% charge left (no I did not charge it in the meantime).

So clearly there is an issue with the insider build, health app and the band together reporting wrong battery level's and draining more than it should.

Synced to my Apple device I'm getting solid 40 hours of usage out of a battery charge.

I really like my windows phone but not even a day usage for the band is just not good enough.

MJohnston

Just a question - did you ever charge your band using one of those portable power bricks?

Yggr of Asgard

MJohnston wrote: »

Just a question - did you ever charge your band using one of those portable power bricks?

Nope, wall socket or Laptop USB port only.

ablelocks

MJohnston wrote: »

Just a question - did you ever charge your band using one of those portable power bricks?

can this cause issues? I haven't used portable charger, but do charge my band from an Anker multi-charger unit.

MJohnston

I don't know but I suspect it might. My Band's battery metre went all wonky after using one, and I can't spot any other potential cause.

Yggr of Asgard

My wonky battery life is only with my windows phone, have you tried it together with another device (apple/android) just to test it?

MJohnston

Sorry I was referring to the old Band v1 there, my v2 is still working fine, though I charge mine every morning anyway, so I don't know if I'd notice shorter battery life.

Yggr of Asgard

Well my band's battery has become useless even when connected to an Apple device now after I connected it for a while to my Windows Phone.

I got it at argos and they told me that they can't replace it as it's no longer stocked in my size and they won't get any new ones in. Now I have to go into an argos store and see if they will give me my money back.

Funny enough Microsoft told me that the band is not available in Ireland and hence they can not replace it for me either. If Argos is not giving me my money back I see if I can try Microsoft via Parcelwizard or Parcelmotel.

But what will I get as replacement? Another band via Amazon or a Fitbit Blaze (even if it does not have GPS and does not do that many notifications on windows).

MJohnston

We're probably about 3 months away from Band 3 tbh, so factor that in! I was absolutely able to get a replacement Band 2 direct from Microsoft, as was my wife, both delivered to Ireland. Ignore that one support rep and get it escalates, because they're wrong.

Yggr of Asgard

Thanks MJohnston, I will get onto the support again.

Otherwise I think I will look at a Garmin, they have loads of functionality and seam to work with Windows Phones too.

Yggr of Asgard

I seam to have found something to increase my battery life on both band and phone following the "if it don't work, reinstall routine".

1. Pair the band to the windows phone via the app
2. Sync
3. De-install Health App on the phone
4. Re-install Health App on the phone
5. Reconfigure the band via "Manage tiles" only (while claimed to be active in the sliders, in the details they were not)
6. Do a manual sync when needed

A drawback of this is that while notifications work as normal the band is no longer syncing automatically, it has to be done manually in the app.

However my battery life is excellent so far, I last did a full charge yesterday at 11:12 and used it for loads of notifications, 40 minutes of GPS run and loads of walk and now it's just down to 67%. So over the last 22 hours it only lost 23% which is in line what I had before the insider builds.

I give it a couple of days to see if this fixes it until they finally bring out a new Health version, but otherwise I have to exchange it.

Looks like the issue is that the app sync constantly with the band draining power like mad. Which also would explain why on an Apple Device (where it's only syncing in intervals) the battery usually last way longer.

Yggr of Asgard

Well after weeks of trying and everybody else having success with the latest updates, I still suffer, so I'm brining the band back to Argos for a refund (they say they can't replace it because there is no more stock).

A nice Microsoft support person told me to than buy the band in the Microsoft store where it's on for 149.99£.

They also say, that there are 2 major reasons that could lead to my issue.

That I charged via a wall socket adapter and that this might have lead to battery issues, recommendation is to use a USB port.

Or that due to the band not fitting correctly (it fits me fine but I lost some weight in part due to band making me work out so I'm now using it nearer to the clasp) some leads in the band have become broken and hence the battery is not longer working correctly. My symptom of having mysterious power gains (i.e. I charged to 50% but 2 hours later it reports 80%) might be down to the leads being bend depending on how and where on my arm the band is.

So new band will be ordered one size down and only charged on a USB port.

Davy

MJohnston wrote: »

We're probably about 3 months away from Band 3 tbh, so factor that in! I was absolutely able to get a replacement Band 2 direct from Microsoft, as was my wife, both delivered to Ireland. Ignore that one support rep and get it escalates, because they're wrong.

Some reports now saying that the Band 3 wont be released

BraveDonut

Band 3’s future in doubt as Microsoft disbands its Windows 10 team

https://mspoweruser.com/band-3s-future-doubt-microsoft-disbands-windows-10-team/

Yggr of Asgard

It's a shame because I found that the band (when it works correctly) is a superior device.

I found the GPS more accurate than other devices and it's just so easy to use, not to mention the fun I can have making sure that all my windows devices have the same background.

There was recently a test on TV about the accuracy of fitness trackers and the band came out on top for steps/calories burned etc.

I purchased a new one yesterday to replace my broken one instead of going with someone else more modern because I like the simple but effective band.

MJohnston

Yeah, really disappointing news, I'm hoping it's just that they're keeping leaks tight and they are actually working on something, but that may be wishful thinking.

I mean, the Fitbits look nice, but the one killer thing Microsoft had was the Band's software - they were constantly adding new features and making it better. Most of the Android watches look rubbish (and I don't use an Android phone so they probably wouldn't work well anyway), and the Apple Watch isn't even on my radar.

Oh well, my Band 2 hardware warranty runs until 2018 or something like that, so I'll keep getting replacements until then if a new one doesn't come along!

BraveDonut

The main thing for me is the golf app.
I already had a golf GPS watch, but the band made it redundant as it covers my golf requirements and gives so much more

Yggr of Asgard

I just came back from my afternoon walk/exercise and my new band synced immediately to my windows phone and showed me how crazy I was on the web while telling me that it still has 20% power left after 24 hours since the last charge. Plus because Microsoft Health is linked to myfitnesspal and healthvault I know know I can effort that extra slice of pizza I was hoping for. I'm going to miss this if this hardware dies.

Someone opened a petition to keep the band alive: https://www.change.org/p/microsoft-do-not-cancel-the-microsoft-band