Microsoft has been steadily updating its Band 2 fitness band to give it the kind of beefy functionality most consumers expect for the price tag. We've seen new features brought over to the Band 2 via updates, such as the ability to track your weight and a GPS mode that conserves battery while tracking your location, a Golf Tournament mode to perfect your golf game and Cortana voice command assistant integration so that the voice assistant is as useful on your wrist as she is on your phone, and a greater health app, along with notification customization and more exercise tiles for your physical activities.
Microsoft continues to make its Band 2 as good as it can get with a new update that brings an explorer tile. Think of this tile as a one-stop shop for all your information when you're hiking a mountain trail, for example. It provides a ton of health information that's up-to-date in the moment so that you always have the information you need when you need it. The Explorer tile is there for both hikers and bike cyclers, letting you press an action button to get started, showing you location and elevation, calories burned, heart rate, absolute elevation, rate of ascent, hydration (with reminders along the way), latitude and longitude, as well as sunset time reminders.
In addition to the Explorer tile that provides all the health information and fitness reminders you need, Microsoft has also improved its Microsoft Health app that can be downloaded onto all Windows 10 devices. The new Microsoft Health app is designed to help you access your information no matter the device, so that, even when your Microsoft Band 2 fitness band is not around, you can still show off your spectacular workout from last Saturday and brag about it to your friends. We suggest you use the new Guided Sharing feature provided in a prior update to share your achievement. You can expect to see the update appear on your device in a few days if you haven't already.
All in all, we applaud Microsoft for continuing to update its Band 2. We would love to see Microsoft bring more of this functionality to an Android and/or iOS app sometime soon, but we respect the company's decision to improve its own platform offerings first. You can check out screenshots and the company's Explorer Tile video below.
