Q:

Can I use the Microsoft Band SDK without a Phone or Windows 8.1 Professional?

I want to create a simple Windows 8.1 app (in VS 2013 Community) to read streaming sensor data from my Band. I can't use the Band SDK with my phone (Sony Xperia with Android 5.1.1) because I'm barred (by Google) from installing the Health app. I can't use the Windows Phone emulator in the SDK because it depends on Windows 8.1 Professional. If I try to build for the Device option with the SDK I get errors because there is no Phone to connect to. 
Is there a way to disable the code that communicates with the Phone, so that I can just use the functionality in the Windows 8.1 project? 
Or would I be best to just try to build a Universal App from scratch? 
(Nb. I am new to developing in WinRT.)

A:

You do not need a phone to develop with the Band.  You can Bluetooth pair the Band to your Windows 8.1 machine and use the Band SDK in a Windows 8.1 (WinRT) application.
(Note that, while I've had no issues pairing my Band to any of my machines, others have reported issues pairing and/or enumerating the Band via the SDK once paired.  It may just depend on the particular Bluetooth adaptor of the machine.) 

