Microsoft Band SDK update- with Windows apps support and interactive tiles

I can’t believe I’m blogging from my phone- I’ll have to clean this up later :)

The Microsoft Band SDK was updated 2 minutes ago with ask the goodies we wanted yay!!

Update is for:
Windows Store Apps (yes!!)
Windows Phone

so it should work fine with universal apps
iOS
Android

We have now also:
Rich content tiles - we can have barcodes and icons!
We can have buttons! (can’t believe I’m that excited about a button)
We can listen for tile and button events
Access to new data- calories
Windows phone background support
iOS remote or local notifications

Plus bug fixes I assume.

Release notes:
04/30/2015: Band SDK update for Windows Phone, Windows, iOS and Android. New features:
•Allows creating rich content for Tiles, via custom UI pages that can include Text, Icon, Button and Barcode elements
•Allows applications to handle Tile and Button events
•Provides real-time access to Calories data
•Allows connecting to the Band from Windows Phone background tasks, removing the limitation from the Preview release
•Allows iOS Apps to register Tiles for remote or local notifications

Comments

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Mike C

4/30/2015 9:21:35 AM

I know it's a completely different use-case than the "personal assistant tied to your smartphone" that Microsoft is promoting, but could you imagine hospitals using these for patient wristbands?  You've got patient identification, location, and vital stats monitoring all rolled into one!

Iris Classon

4/30/2015 5:14:02 PM

Reply to: Mike C

Yes absolutely (aside from initial cost). Use of for example NFC to measure blood pressure some and glucose levels. Bands used are used for elderly people living alone, motion tracking for hands free navigation, and so on. In other words, we are using sensors and devices more and more. 
In Sweden we have something called FAR- Physical Activity Prescription, and tracking data is known  to be motivational and at the same time we would benefit from getting more accurate data so we know what works and what doesn't. Since the patients are in the risk zone it would be great to measure galvanic skin response, heart rate and skin temperature. 
I like your idea, and that the data is in one place.The sleep data could be used so nurses would know when the patient is sleeping or active (if at risk of falling out of bed). Since several bands can connect to a device they could be monitored from one place (within range) with high risk patients. So many ideas, so much fun :))) I wish they had added NFC, but its still a fantastic device!

cesar

11/22/2015 8:12:04 AM

hi iris, how are you? im trying to develop a app for microsoft band for windows phone, im using visual studio 2013 and 2015, and i couldnt get started, any help?

Last modified on 2015-04-30