On the official Microsoft blog, Vice President Todd Holmdahl has posted a lengthy piece explaining the new Microsoft Band and accompanying Microsoft Health app. In the post, he outlines how Microsoft is leveraging data coming from the device and getting that into the Cloud to manage it and provide it to consumers through the Microsoft Health App for iOS, Android and Windows Phone.
Yesterday Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Band, a lifestyle and fitness tracker that brings the company into the wearables market full-tilt. The $199 unit not only measures your activity but includes 10 sensors that measure things like heart rate, sleep, stress levels and integrates with Cortana on your Windows Phone. Initially available only in the United States, the Band on the surface looks pretty interesting and is at a great price point when you compare other devices on the market.
Even the most seasoned Windows Phone user from time-to-time needs a little bit of help. An app is not behaving or there is a strange WiFi issue with the latest update or simply to get a suggestion on how to do something with your phone. There are plenty of blogs and sites out there to help but sometimes reaching a broader audience – a global audience – is what you need. That is where Windows Phone Community can be a huge help and frustration saver.
The Windows Phone Community is part of the Community pages from Microsoft. These self-help site cover virtually every Microsoft product and are monitored by both enthusiasts, MVPs and Microsoft staff to help you with your Windows Phone needs. The best part is that all of this is free. All you need to do is sign in with your Microsoft account to post your questions and helpfully some answers to help your fellow Windows Phone user.
The British Airways app for Windows Phone has received a much needed and impressive update today. The new app is available now in the Windows Phone Store and is free to download. The update, version 2.4 for those keeping score, brings enhancements such as live tiles and check-in for your flight via the app.
The new user experience of the British Airways app is the most obvious and notable change. It looks and feels much fresher than the previous release which was little more than a web app in a wrapper. This new version looks and functions like a modern mobile app, bringing much better navigation and feel to the app.
Microsoft’s announcement yesterday of offering unlimited OneDrive storage for Office 365 users is, as it should be, a very big deal. In effect, they have gone to the market and told everyone that not only can they offer a cloud storage solution, they can do it at a cost that nobody can compete with the possible exception of Apple or Google. I say this not as a fanboy but as a realist. Only a company with the experience and shear size of Microsoft could put into play such an audacious plan. And if you are an executive at Dropbox or Box, I would be waking up this morning worried.
The challenge all cloud storage solutions have had to this point is that it is, effectively, a one-trick pony. It does what it says on the tin in that it stores your files and photos in some way or another to the cloud. But that is fundamentally the problem. You are paying a monthly or yearly premium to simply store your content online so you can access it from anywhere. Functional, yes. Great value, no.
It has been a busy 24 hours for the OneDrive team at Microsoft. After announcing unlimited OneDrive storage for Office 365 users yesterday, they also updated the OneDrive app for Windows Phone. The update, version 4.4 for those keeping score, brings several new user experience improvements along with support for OneDrive for Business. Now, like on other platforms, you can sign into both your personal and business OneDrive accounts from the app at the same time.
Earlier today I posted an article bringing to light how serious Microsoft is about cloud computing based on their financials from last quarter. As if they actually read my post, Microsoft’s OneDrive division has just upped the game for cloud storage in a big way. If you are an Office 365 subscriber, starting today OneDrive is beginning to roll out unlimited storage for as low as $6.99 per month.
Is there really any doubt left on how good of deal this is for you?
To get this outstanding deal when it comes you need to do the following:
If you are already an Office 365 user then there is nothing more you need to do. Microsoft will be rolling out this unlimited storage to users over the course of the next few months. If you want to jump the queue and get it first, follow this link to get moved up in line.
For those of you on Office 365 for Business, the unlimited storage plan will be coming as part of a roadmap update in 2015. According to the OneDrive blog:
For OneDrive for Business customers, unlimited storage will be listed on the Office 365 roadmap in the coming days and we will begin updating the First Release customers in 2015, aligned with our promise to provide ample notification for significant service changes. In the meantime, get started using your 1 TB of storage today by backing up all those work files kicking around on your PC – with the knowledge that even more storage is on its way!
I cannot think of any reason not to give this a go. You have the latest and greatest suite of Office apps along with unlimited storage for your documents and pictures. What’s not to love?
Today was a busy day for San Francisco based Fitbit. The company announced three new fitness activity trackers – the Charge, Charge HR and Surge – all of which will be their next generation of activity trackers. All three look really impressive and will offer different levels of tracking based on your needs as a user and all three have multiple days of activity between charges which, particularly in the case of the Smartwatch-esque Surge, is important.
Along with this was the announcement from Fitbit and Microsoft of the new Windows Phone app which I highlighted earlier in a post. That update brings a lot of improvements and enhancements, particularly around SensorCore and Cortana support. It is the first one of those that is interesting in light of the recent decisions that Fitbit has made around iOS. It also makes me think that Fitbit is making a bet that Windows Phone, as a platform, is going to take off.
Let me lay a little bit of foundation for those who haven’t kept up with the state of affairs in iOS from Apple. With the release of iOS 8, Apple introduced Health Kit, an aggregation app if you will that allows you to pull information from the M7/8 motion processor built into the iPhone 5s/6/6 Plus. It also allows for integration of information from 3rd party apps such as MyFitnessPal and Jawbone’s Up. It’s this last part that is interesting as Fitbit stated multiple times in their user forums that they have no plans to integrate into Health Kit. Why is that interesting? Because during the keynote introducing Health Kit, Fitbit was the first shown. It seemed, by association, that Fitbit would be tied to Health Kit. In fact, the link to the user forums above were updated on October 8th with additional confirmation Health Kit integration, for now, won’t be happening.
So that makes the integration with Windows Phone and SensorCore very interesting because it effectively is saying no to iOS and yes to Windows Phone.