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Comment by com2kid | Hacker News Reader

As one of the lead software engineers on both the original Microsoft Band and now the Microsoft Band 2, I still sort of feels surreal reading a review from a news outlet that I've trusted since I was a teenager. A lot of what I first learned about CPUs, pipelines, and memory systems, was from Jon "Hannibal" Stokes.

I am happy that the Ars review is the one that reached the front page here. I appreciate the work that all reviewers do, but I am always giddy to read what Ars has to say.

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Hi there, I have been wondering if the data collected by the band 2 can be exported in a sensible way to use the data for research. From what I have gathered there is no export functionality in the health app? Is this currently possible or planned?

You can download your personal data in CSV format via the web app--click your name in the top right and a dropdown will open with the export link.

There's also an API in preview: https://developer.microsoftband.com/cloudAPI

In addition to what Breck said, we also support real time streaming of sensor data from the Band.

Your data is always made available, go have fun with it! Everyone on the team loves seeing the different research projects created around Microsoft Band.

"As one of the lead software engineers on both the original Microsoft Band and now the Microsoft Band 2,"

One of the things that stood out in the article (and the reason I posted it) was the sheer number of sensors packed into the device. Really impressive.

Is their a division in the software between the embedded device, application and back-end?

> Is their a division in the software between the embedded device, application and back-end?

Sort of! We have multiple dev teams of course, but maintaining performance means we all have to work together very closely. A lot of tightly packed binary packet formats are used to minimize bandwidth.

Looks like a fantastic device!

I'm just disappointed that Germany will again be left out, after initial speculation in the news that we will be included this time.

Maybe the Band 3.

We do support setting the Band UI to German! :)

(I am so sad that none of the reviewers mentioned our language support!)

the problem is that its not available to buy.

sadly this is an issue with many Microsoft products, for example one of Windows 10 selling points is Cortana and yet its only available for 3-4 countries without any indication on when the rest of the world will be able to use it.

I know this might has nothing to do with your role but do you have any clue as to why the band is not available for e.g. Germany even though you support multilanguage?

At a risk of stealing this thread, country restrictions was what made me disregard XNA and XBLA Live.

Microsoft didn't care about Portugal store support.

Now I cannot get the Band as well.

So do we wait for Band 3 or go shop elsewhere?

I have ordered one from amazon.co.uk, they ship to germany, you can order with your german amazon account. It's released the on 19th november, amazon says it will arrive 20-21 november. Looking forward to it.

Well- I guess its the same than with Cortana integration us. Here in NZ we don't have Cortana and/or the band (1 or 2).

While I have "Google now" on my Android and iPhone users can use Siri. I guess Microsoft simply isn't interested in small markets. Australia (bigger market) get's the Cortana and the Band.

I bought one in the UK, and had to send it back for repair as the inside rubber fell apart (I used my Band every day, it was great). It got repaired in Germany, seems odd that they aren't on sale there.

I am trying one now. There is one obvious annoyance coming from a Fitbit; why can't the Band 2 detect when I am sleeping? The Fitbit detection is pretty accurate and the Band has many more sensors to work with. It is almost a guarantee that I will forget to mark my sleep a few times a week with the Band 2.

It detects when you are sleeping. It just does not do it instantaneously. You'll be able to see sleeps longer than 2 hours automatically recorded.

Any news for band2 and cortana on android? I think there is a closed beta for some android devices (no nexus 4 apparently), but i don't know if it works with the band.

Has Microsoft considered handing Lumia 950 + Band 2 bundles out to members of the HN community to convert them over to Microsoft land from Android or iOS?

Seriously, we're the most vocal people in the tech community you know. Consider it.

Loyalty cannot be bought.

Or at least this is not how you buy it.

I'm being absolutely serious.

Send me a 950 + Band 2, I will make it my primary phone and gadget, I will use the almighty shit out of it and publicly post about it frequently, the good and maybe a tiny bit of the bad if it's a true game stopper and needs to be fixed to further Windows Mobile adoption.

You buy loyalty by telling someone like me "We think our new phone is better than your Nexus 5 (which is considered the best Android phone ever produced), and we will prove it by showing you how well polished Windows 10 Mobile is (compared to Android 6) and that we brought our A game to hardware production by giving you a Lumia 950. This is how much we stand behind our product and our hard work." You buy loyalty by having the balls to step up and try to adopt the vocal users.

Now, otoh, if Apple approached me with a free iPhone 6S + a basic iWatch? I'd decline their offer. They have not impressed me with their new phone, watch, or iOS revision. I see no reason to switch, and since they have not shown any reason to switch I shall show them no loyalty in return.

Microsoft, otoh, has actually impressed me with what they've done, and they may be worth showing loyalty to. I just want them to prove it.

Whatever positive you will have to say about devices will be tainted by the fact that you got them for free.

Not if the agreement upfront is "I can say what I want, when I want, on any schedule I choose, on any medium or mediums I choose, to whoever I want. The good, the bad, and the ugly."

I have nothing on the line here, I don't do product reviews for a living and if Microsoft never sends me another thing ever again because they didn't like what I had to say about their products, then they have more to lose than me (mainly because their product has flaws and they'd be essentially stating the flaws aren't worth fixing, which is 100% of the problem Apple dug itself into a hole with over the past 2 years).

This is the problem for me. Why would I want to abandon Android when I have never had the ability to use their product as a daily driver? There is a massive difference between playing with a phone for 5-10 minutes and using it daily for weeks. I think the 950 looks amazing, but not enough so to ditch everything I enjoy about Android and fork over a massive amount of money.

Its pretty much this for me as well. Microsoft wants me, and everyone who I influence, as a customer? Selling me on their devices by giving me my first hit for free is a good way of doing that.

Nokia did this, they would snatch an opportunity to give out free phones when someone with enough followers complained on twitter about their existing phone. It worked very well indeed and were on the news pretty often. However, I wouldn't consider it with HN, as HN is never a realistic representation of the market. A lot are brand loyal and a lot just shit on M$ for the sake of it, it would be the Microsoft Ipad and NFL all over again.

On a side note, despite being a loyal windows phone user for years, I might jump ship this time. Microsoft seems to be turning itself into a service oriented company. They treat their own mobile market as third. Wait for years for a quality phone to be release, and when it does it is exclusive to some carrier (950 and att). All of their apps now first come exclusive to iOS and Android and much later to Windows phone (new Office, Skype etc). Everything that made Windows Phone cool (Cortana, Offline Here maps, Offline Mix Radio etc) is now cross platform. Good for consumers in general but then it also cannibalized the reason to be with Windows Phone.

Then I guess me wanting a 950 is BECAUSE of their apps is a bit ironic. I use Office365 for Business, OneNote for both personal and business, think the Band 2 is probably the best smartwatch out currently, use Skype heavily, etc.

Also, Cortana is kind of shit on Android right now. It's not ready to replace Google Now yet.

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