Microsoft Band and Health

The consumer health technology field is undergoing an exciting transformation. One big impetus is mobile technology that allows your smartphone or activity tracker to collect health data (i.e. activity) from your person, and then wirelessly transfer that information to another device/location. A second key advance is cloud computing which can serve as a central repository for this health data where it can be analyzed and compared over time. New companies such as Fitbit have led the charge with a combination of devices (mainly activity trackers) and services.

The established tech powerhouses have taken notice too. In previous posts, I have described products from Apple including the yet-to-be-released Apple Watch, which possesses activity tracking and heart rate monitoring capabilities, HealthKit, a developer platform (API) for manipulating health data by third-party apps, and the Health App which organizes and displays health data on your iOS device. Google has responded with the Android Wear operating system for wearable devices, and the Google Fit platform (which is a competitor to HealthKit).

Microsoft has been late to the fray, but on Wednesday they unveiled Microsoft Band a wristband that collects a variety of health data that can be deposited in the Microsoft Health fitness tracking service:

"Microsoft Band will go on sale Thursday for $199 and be available at Microsoft’s physical and online stores. The device, which somewhat resembles Samsung’s Gear Fit, is designed to last 48 hours on a single charge and to be worn all day to track both sleep and exercise, as well as receive smartphone notifications. The band has 10 sensors to track the usual things like heart rate, as well as more novel detectors, including a UV sensor for sun exposure and a galvanic skin response measurement, which can help identify stress.

The Microsoft Health cloud-based service can crunch the data gathered from Microsoft’s Band as well as from other devices, including rival smartphones and fitness bands. A companion app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone offers a deeper look at the data."

Microsoft Health basically provides data analytics. Interestingly it can analyze data from other devices including presumably Apple Watch as well as Android Wear products. In addition, it can interface with another Microsoft product, HealthVault which is more geared towards the medical community rather than the consumer market:

"It’s not Microsoft’s first effort to play a role in digital health. It launched HealthVault back in 2007. Microsoft says the new service can plug into HealthVault, which is more focused on medical records than personal fitness data."

What caught my attention was the large number of sensors in Microsoft Band: 10.  Along with the usual activity tracker and heart rate monitor, it possesses more novel capabilities such as the UV sensor for sun exposure and the galvanic skin response to help identify stress. There is also a built-in GPS and sleep tracking functionality. Time will tell whether these extra sensors are useful or frivolous gimmicks.

The reviews for Microsoft Band have been positive for the most part, and below I present a few excerpts.

Molly Wood at The New York Times points out that not only Microsoft Health, but also the Microsoft Band itself is interoperable with iOS, Android, and Windows devices:

"The bigger surprise is that the new Microsoft Band is pretty good. The $199 band is, in some ways, a proof of concept for Microsoft, which intends for its Microsoft Health platform to be integrated with other wearables, like Jawbone, and even data gathered from devices like iPhones or Samsung Android devices.

But compared to some of the competition, the Microsoft Band is a full-featured device that might be the most flexible wearable device on the market. [...]

It can do all that with an iPhone, Android phone or, naturally, a Windows Phone."

By contrast the Apple Watch will only interact with iOS devices.

David Pierce at The Verge, on the other hand, complains about Microsoft Band's bulkiness (perhaps a side effect of having 10 sensors):

"I've been wearing it for two hours, and I'm still acutely aware that it's there. This is the first and most unavoidable thing you should know about the Microsoft Band: it's big, and it's heavy. It's not an object with a strap, like a smartwatch or a Fitbit; there's technology in every part of this rigid rubber band. It's not terribly uncomfortable, per se, it's just there. I don't think I'll ever stop noticing it."

Finally, Wilson Rothman of the Wall Street Journal summarizes: "The Smartwatch and Health App sound promising, but they’re both still works in progress." In particular, he mentions that not all the sensors are so reliable:

"But there are a lot more sensors packed into the bracelet and it’s clear that they aren’t all equally reliable. There’s an optical heart-rate sensor that, in the middle of a rigorous session with an elliptical machine, reported my heart pounding at 105 beats per minute (super chill) and at 208 bpm (close to collapse). Meanwhile, my trusty elliptical confirmed I was likely somewhere between 150 and 160 bpm the whole time. There’s GPS, which currently only draws routes of the jogs you take. It would be nice for the Band to use GPS when I’m on a bike ride. Among the many sensors, there’s a UV sensor (tap it to find out if you’re in need of sunscreen) and a galvanic skin response sensor (whose purpose is still to be determined)."

Indeed, having 10 sensors can be a liability at times: "And all those sensors also drain the battery pretty fast."

In summary, Microsoft Band and Microsoft Health are nice additions to the consumer health technology space. In the future, I would like to learn more about all the sensors on Microsoft Band and the data they collect. A big issue is the accuracy and reliability of the sensors; the data analytics are useless if the input data are inaccurate i.e.  Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO).

Figure 1. Bristling with 10 sensors, it is not surprising that Microsoft Band is a bit bulky.