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You need to calibrate your Microsoft Band: Here's how

If you have a Microsoft Band, there is a chance you have not calibrated the device. That's because the team behind the device has made the assumption that you will use many of the features of the Band out of the box and this will calibrate during its typical use.

If you are like us, and you are trying to maximize the battery life, you may never turn on the Band's GPS. This actually presents a problem as the Band uses GPS data along with your height, to determine 'what is a step'. But for us, we never turned on the GPS which means our Band was never properly calibrated.

In our conversations this week with the team behind the Band, they said that the first time you turn GPS on and exercise or walk around, it uses this data to help determine what a step is for your personal device. In short, it helps to calibrate the device and accurately record your steps.

So if you have not turned GPS on (which you can do by selecting the Run tile, then starting a run), you need to do so now to make sure your device gets accurately aligned to your true step motion.

This calibration was not talked about when the device launched but the team wanted to point this out as the data we posted in our Band review showed discrepancies with what a FitBit One reported versus the Band. We will need to re-test the Band for accuracy now knowing that our device was not calibrated correctly as we had never turned on GPS until after we tested the step counts.

If you have found that your device step count is 'off' from what you would expect, make sure you have turned the GPS on and gone for a walk or run; it looks like this will fix the problem.

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