One of the first announcements Microsoft made at its NYC event this morning was for the follow-up to its Band wearable. It’s as if the company wanted to prove right out of the gate that it’s not letting this whole wearable thing pass it by. This second-generation model features the same name as the original, but is improved-upon in a number of different ways.
First, the design has been generally improved. It sports a great-looking curved screen, which happens to be Gorilla Glass 3. As with the latest Lumias, Surface, and of course Windows 10 in general, this second-gen Band supports Cortana, and could very-well prove to be the most useful product for it.
For mountain climbers, the addition of an eleventh sensor should intrigue you: it measures elevation. Of course, that could also prove useful if you happen to jog up too many sets of stairs at your work, in lieu of using the elevator. Other sensors include heart rate, accelerometer, gyrometer, GPS, light, temperature, UV, capacitive, galvanic skin response, and microphone. Ooh, my Band sense is tingling.
This second-gen Band will last for up to 48 hours on a single charge, which is good news for those who might forget to charge it overnight. If that does happen, it can be charged from 0 to 100 in an hour-and-a-half.
While the main focus of Band is fitness, it can also be used for some smartwatch-like tasks, such as checking email, calendar, or other notifications.
Available for pre-order right now, the new Band can be had for $249.99.