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.