微软首款智能手环为何如此低调

    最近你是否看过哪家大型科技公司的产品发布会？如果没有的话，你可能错过了一场“现代马戏表演”。谷歌（Google）在发布Google Glass智能眼镜时，谢尔盖·布林和一帮特技跳伞运动员从飞机上跳下来，空降到旧金山。三星（Samsung）在发布曲面屏电视时，邀请到了知名导演迈克尔·贝，可惜大家发现他有几行台词没背熟。今年九月，苹果（Apple）付给福德希尔德安萨社区学院(Foothill-De Anza Community College District )100万美元，在那里举办苹果智能手表的发布活动。

    因此，当一款产品静悄悄地来了，没有任何热闹与噱头，反而让所有人感到惊讶。这款售价199美元的微软手环（Microsoft Band）是微软进入可穿戴市场的第一款作品，没有邀请一帮专业运动员捧场。微软CEO萨蒂亚·纳德拉并没有搞一场演讲来罗列微软手环的主要功能。微软也没有在大屏幕上弄一些计步、锻炼、心率之类的画面。只是在10月末临近的时候，简单地点了个“发布”键，然后就开始接受订单。

    这款主要戴在手腕的手环，是一个健身追踪器，手环的一面搭载了一块1.4英寸的触摸屏，另一面安装了一台心率监测仪。像其它健身追踪器一样，它也有计步、监测睡眠质量、计算紫外线暴露程度、规划健身计划和跑步路线等功能。同时，它也是一款“智能手表”，可以通过温和的震动提醒你注意。

    通过一系列手势操作和滑动，你会发现，微软手环也采用了Windows操作系统熟悉的磁贴布局(tile layout)。轻点主屏幕就会出现当天的各种指标数据，同时以虚拟化的方式显示出你的心率。

    微软手环被认为是一款可穿戴技术，但试戴了几周后（正戴、反戴都尝试过），最先让人注意到的是它“技术”的一面。我从来没有戴着它玩过攀岩，或是戴着它朝着墙或桌子什么的猛砸，但是我的微软手环已经有了划痕和毛糙。相比之下，我已经戴着我的Pebble Steel智能手表8个月了，但它看起来仍然像全新的一样。

    在评测的过程中，我曾经把它与一款Fitbit Flex腕带一起戴在手腕上，对比这两款设备的计步和睡眠监测功能。（为了保证公平对比，我每天早上都会把这两只腕带戴的位置掉个个儿）。Flex腕带要比微软手环平均每天多计出1500步，而微软手环显示的睡眠结果要更好一些。

    这些差别也是可以预期的。每家公司都有自己的一套公式，用于将人的一系列动作译解成“走路”或“睡眠”。当然，对于一款健身追踪器来说，最重要的指标是它的一致性：它的监控能力是否足够可靠，让穿戴者可以依赖它改变自身行为？好在微软手环的结果是具有一致性的，微软总部的那帮人应该感到安心了。

    我尤其喜欢的一个功能就是它可以在我走路和睡觉时记录我的心率。当我进入最高质量的睡眠时，我的心率会下降到每分钟50次左右。当我处在一天中活动最多的时候，我的心率可能达到每分钟130次。

    Have you watched a keynote from a major technology company lately? If not, you’re missing out on what I would consider to be a modern-day circus. Google once had Sergey Brin and a team of skydivers jump out of a plane over the center of San Francisco to announce Glass, the company’s Internet-connected eyewear. Samsung attempted to have film director Michael Bay on stage to introduce curved televisions, only to see him walk off after flubbing a couple of lines. Apple reportedly paid $1 million to the Foothill-De Anza Community College District where it held an event to announce its Watch in September.

    So when a product launches without any fanfare—simply appearing out of thin air in the early morning hours—it catches everyone by surprise. Microsoft’s MSFT -0.22% entry into the wearable technology market, the $199 Microsoft Band, wasn’t welcomed by a group of professional athletes. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, did not walk us through a presentation outlining its key features. There were no step counts, exercise routines, or heart rates on giant screens. Instead, as the end of October neared, Microsoft simply hit “publish” and began taking orders.

    The Band, which is worn primarily on the wrist, is a fitness tracker with a 1.4-inch touchscreen on one side and a heart-rate monitor on the other. Like some other trackers, it can count steps, monitor sleep quality, calculate ultraviolet exposure, plan workouts, and map runs. The Band also doubles as a so-called smart watch, calling your attention to alerts with a gentle vibration.

    Using a series of gestures and swipes, you move through the familiar tile layout found across the various flavors of the Windows operating system. A tap on the home screen displays metrics for that day as well as a pulsating visualization of your heartbeat.

    Microsoft’s Band is considered wearable technology, but after wearing the device for several weeks (with screen facing both inside and out) it’s clear that the “technology” part comes first. At no time did I go rock climbing or slam my wrist against a wall or desk, yet my Band has already been rendered a scratched, rustic piece of hardware. Compare that to the Pebble Steel: I’ve been wearing it for the last eight months and it still looks almost brand new.

    During my test of the Band, I wore it alongside a Fitbit Flex wristband to compare how the devices tracked step counts and sleep tracking. (To ensure a fair comparison, I swapped which wrist each band was worn on each morning.) The Flex averaged 1,500 more steps per day than the Band and generally reported a better night’s sleep.

    These differences are to be expected. Each company has its own formula for how it translates a series of motions to “steps” or “sleep.” Within reason, the most important metric for a fitness tracker is consistency: is the device’s monitoring ability dependable enough so that its wearer can rely on it to change their behavior? Good news to the folks in Redmond: the Band’s results were consistent.

    One feature I was particularly fond of was the heart rate recordings that accompanied my step counts and sleep results. When I was experiencing my best sleep, my heart rate dropped to about 50 beats per minute. On the other hand, when I was most active during the day my heart rate would peak at 130 beats per minute.