Built-in sensors on wearable electronics like the Microsoft Band make it easier than ever to know what your workouts do for your body.
The Microsoft Band, which launched Oct. 29, has 10 of these sensors, which can tell you anything from your heart rate to how much sun exposure you’ve had to how stressed out you are. It has a touch-screen that allows you to scroll through texts, social media, see incoming calls and more, and can be synced with iPhones as well as Microsoft phones.
The heart rate monitor can measure your beats continuously, giving you a better idea of your resting heart rate, calorie burn and sleep patterns — all data that it can collect and crunch for you. It has a metric for sleep quality, a calorie counter, pedometer and GPS, as well.
But maybe the coolest thing it can do is personal training: Through partnerships with Gold’s Gym, Shape and Men’s Fitness, the band can prompt you through a preplanned workout you load onto it, then let you know how well you did. The band also pairs with the My Fitness Pal app, so you can track your calorie consumption along with your calorie burn, making the process of trying to burn more calories than you consume trackable.
Off the band, the Microsoft Health program takes the data and turns it into insight that you can view on your computer or tablet. It could be used to answer questions like: Do I run faster if I eat breakfast first? At what time of day do I work out most effectively?
