![]() Also new is Microsoft Health Cloud API Preview, which offers RESTful APIs to enhance app experiences with real-time user fitness and health data. So why not leverage the ubiquitousness of the Health App and the Band's internet connectivity to bring cloud data to the Band? Band Web Tiles make it super simple to deliver glanceable information to Band users, from virtually any data source accessible on the internet. Every user of the Band invariably uses the Microsoft Health App – natively on each mobile platform. No longer do you need native mobile apps simply reuse your web data to build experiences on the Band. One of the most exciting features is the new support for Web Tiles. Recent UpdatesĪll that changes with the recent updates to the Microsoft Band and Health developer platform. While there are Xamarin bindings for iOS/Android SDKs to take your apps cross-platform, this is far from easy for developers. However, you have to build native mobile apps for each mobile platform to build compelling companion Band experiences. The SDK can be used to create personalized, interactive Band tiles using custom layouts that contain text, icons, buttons and barcodes. The Microsoft Band Developer SDK is extremely powerful, allowing developers access to the full API canvas to build compelling apps for the Band. While all these sensors give tremendous power to the developer, building apps for the Band is marred in the same complexities nonetheless. The Band is loaded with sensors - an optical heart rate monitor, accelerometer, GPS, ambient light sensor, skin temperature sensor, UV sensor, capacitive sensor, a microphone and a galvanic skin response sensor. The Microsoft Band sits squarely in between being a fitness wearable and a smart watch. While you still need to go native, it is encouraging to see wearables have their own operating systems and apps that can stand by themselves, instead of the near constant dependence on the corresponding mobile platform. You'll see Apple trying to distance the Apple Watch from the parent iPhone in the next installment of Watch OS 2. This challenge isn't going entirely unnoticed however. As a result, developing for wearables is often native app development, and developers need to know the native SDKs, programming patterns and aim to get the corresponding UX right. Sure wearables are fun, very personal and present opportunities for enticing user experiences, but developers now have to consider extremely small screens, reconsider app content and UI, on top of the challenges of going cross-platform with mobile apps.Īnother pitfall with considering developing for wearables comes from the fact that wearables are intrinsically tied to the corresponding host mobile operating system. The PromiseĪs much as consumers like wearables, it presents yet another ecosystem that developers have to support. This article walks you through how to add web data to your Band through Web Tiles. All you need is a standard data endpoint and a little web skills if you want to get fancy. Not only is the Band one of the few wearables that work cross-platform with any phone you own, it is also surprisingly easy to add custom data to your wrist as a Band application. If you are a fan of the Microsoft Band however, there is some reason to rejoice. While developers are still grappling to go cross-platform with native or hybrid mobile apps, out come wearables from Apple, Microsoft and Google - each catering to their respective platform and each with its own development paradigm, in addition to unique UX guidelines. But wearables can also be disruptive in the Mobile space. Wearables are unique, fashionable, productive and always connected, helping us live a digitized lifestyle. It was intended for use with the 1st gen Band but as the SDK has been built to work with any Band device, it will work the same way for the Band 2 also.Wearables are awesome and they are everywhere. If you're looking to write the application to interact with your phone in the background, you can take a look at a sample I created which will do this for you. Microsoft provide in-depth documentation for developing with the Microsoft Band which you can take a look at here: You can create your own tiles which have custom layouts, but as the Band doesn't have any persistent storage as it's intended to be a data tool, you'll have to send the data you're wanting from the Band to the connected device and manipulate from the UWP app there. You'll essentially need to a write an application with UWP for your connected device (Windows PC, Phone etc) and interact with the Band through that application using the Band SDK. So building applications for the Microsoft Band is unfortunately not using the UWP app model.
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