RRP: £199 More sports band than smartwatch, the Microsoft Band 2 is still a stellar alternative to the Apple Watch. Weighing in at £200, it's not far off the Cupertino solution to end-of-the-arm communication but it offers a sweat-focussed feature set to leave Apple's ticker swearing at the start line. In fact, the Band 2's biggest fault is its attempt to be smarter than it is. Sure, it offers email alerts and ancillary apps, but don't be under any illusions: this a smart sports strap through and through. Slimmer than the first Band iteration and carrying a cell hefty enough to ape the Apple Watch's battery life by an entire day, Microsoft's movement machine packs 11 sensors inside its silicon shell including optical heart rate, skin temperature and UV monitors behind a 320 x 128 pixel AMOLED display. With sport-specific app options and the highly-addictive Microsoft Health system able to track a range of sports, including running, cycling and golf, as well as offering guided workouts, it's a properly powerful training buddy. Admittedly, it's not the choice for swimmers, as it's not waterproof but, then, neither is the Apple Watch. More troubling is the inability to use Cortana Microsoft's Siri rival if the Band 2 is paired with an iPhone, diminishing its status as a truly smart watch offering. Still, if you're after a Watch alternative that'll get your heart pumping (and measure it, too), the Microsoft Band 2 is no poor choice.
Happy-snapping worldly wordsmith. In between snapping street shots, tapping out stellar prose and having more hair-brained ideas than a barber with a bachelor's in business, you'll find him fumbling with the latest fitness fads and dreaming of a debut in F1 (he's a late bloomer, OK?).
