Microsoft Band - a Fitness Tracker from Microsoft at $199

After all the tech giants jumping into the wearables market, Microsoft didn’t want to be left behind. So they launched Microsoft Band – a wearable that tracks your steps, heart rate, and stride length, all while showing you text, email, and Twitter alerts. 

The Band looks and feels a bit like a prototype, a relatively unadorned wristband with a clever sliding clasp (so you can change how it fits without taking it off) and a 1.4-inch, 320 x 106 display on the front. There are two buttons below the display: one for waking the device, and the "action button," which you use to scroll through data or start and end a workout. I quickly paired it to my iPhone 6 via Bluetooth, downloaded the beautifully minimalist Microsoft Health app, and was off. It automatically started tracking my steps and heart rate, funneling the data back to the app every time I hit sync. 

Microsoft's plan is as simple as it is large: to be the central repository for all the world's fitness data, to develop and distribute the best hardware and the best software for helping people live healthier lives. It doesn't matter what platform you're on, it doesn't matter what app or device you use. Microsoft wants to be everywhere. The company’s plan is to eventually combine your fitness data with your work calendar, or your email, or your location, to start to turn disparate data points into actionable insights. 

The device has 10 integrated sensors – including one to detect UV exposure and a special sensor to measure stress – plus a 48 hour battery life and is designed to be as open as possible to work across all platforms. Rather than just use the accelerometer to count steps, the Band combines that data with your phone’s GPS data and the always-on heart-rate monitor to figure out the length of your strides, which provides a much more accurate measurement of calories burned.  

Microsoft Band will be available from Microsoft Stores in the US for $199. There's no word on international availability yet, but given Microsoft's aspirations for the Band to become the centre of a health revolution, expect global rollout information in the not too distant future.