Microsoft Band First Impressions

It's been a busy couple of days, but I'm finally up and running with Microsoft Band, the software giant's first wearable computing device. I'm interested in Band for a number of reasons, but after years of experience with several health and fitness trackers, I'm excited to try one that appears to do virtually everything and will improve over time.

Setup is a bit tedious. You have to charge the Band, which requires sticking a magnet-like connector on the USB-based cable to the back of the device face. Then you have to download and install the Microsoft Health app on Android, iPhone or Windows Phone (I chose Windows Phone, of course) and, in my case at least, fill out some health-related info like weight and height. (The app connects to your Microsoft account, of course.)

At this point, the Band is supposed to pair with your phone. I couldn't get this to work, at all. Reset the app. Rebooted the phone. Nothing.

So I installed the app on my iPhone. Surprise. That worked. Sigh.

But at least it worked. I'll get it going with Windows Phone later. For the short term, today at least, the goal is to just get up and running with Band—literally and figuratively—and see what this thing can do.

A couple of early observations. I'll try to skip past the superficial stuff you may have read elsewhere.

It's big and heavy and bulky. I thought it would be, and even though I got the biggest version, it's a bit tight on my enormous wrist. Not necessarily uncomfortable. But tight.

There's no "at a glance" mode. One of the cool things about Android Wear is that when you lift your wrist to look at it, the screen comes on. Microsoft Band doesn't do that, at least not by default.

There is, however, a watch mode. It's not enabled by default, but you can turn it on and Band will display the time and date. I assume this is off for battery life reasons, but I can't imagine not wanting this turned on.

The screen orientation makes it hard to use. Because the screen is long and goes across your wrist, when you look at it, it's perpendicular. On my Fitbit, the small display is correctly oriented. I wonder if you can change that.

The default display is attractive and useful. It's perpendicular, but you get a nice big clock and a smaller item of information: Steps, by default, but you can switch to other views and leave it on a favorite, like heart rate.

You can swivel the Band around so the display is on the inside of your wrist. And the heart rate monitoring—which is one of the device's many key features—works either way, which is nice. But my Band is so tight, I can't swivel it while it's on my wrist. I can with my Fitbit. But if you do wear it like that, the display is more naturally readable.

Controls. The screen supports touch, so you can swipe to those tiles and other screens, and tap buttons and messages and so. But there are two hardware buttons, too: Power, which is in the middle, and Action, which is used to do things. On the default display, you can use this to change the secondary item between steps, date, calories burned, heart rate, and more.

Sleep mode is not automatic ... yet. The Band, like my Fitbit, will monitor your sleep quality, which is an incredible feature. Sadly, the Band, like my Fitbit, will not do so automatically: You need to remember to tell it you're about to go to sleep every night. That's dumb, and you'll just forget—or fall asleep—and stop tracking it. But Microsoft tells me that auto-on sleep mode is coming. So this is going to get way better in the months ahead.

And ... wow. Honestly, it's a bit overwhelming. So expect me to check back regularly with more information about how the Band works, and what you can do with it. This one is going to take a while.