GADGET REVIEWS Just another GADGET NEWS

LAS VEGAS — TomTom and Nike have teamed up to make the Nike+ SportWatch GPS, a smart-looking wrist-mounted running computer that also doubles as a watch.

The SportWatch has built in GPS, of course, which offers much better distance accuracy than a pedometer (although it will also pair with a shoe-based Nike+ Sensor) and also lets you see your routes later after uploading to the Nike+ site. As you run, you can choose between various customizable data views. The high-contrast display will show time, distance, pace, and calories burned. You can also access a history of your previous runs, import your personal records from Nike+ and even hook up a heart monitor.

When you plug the SportWatch into a Mac or PC (via USB) it will automatically upload your data and you have access to the new TomTom-powered maps, showing elevation details as well as the route and distance. The watch also has a few rather odd “motivational” features that could prove more annoying than inspiring. For intance, there is “recognition (or Attaboys) for personal records”, and “Post-run acknowledgement and encouragement”. The thought of a watch giving me a virtual pat-on-the back is embarrassing more than anything.

The SportWatch will go on sale April 1st, price to be decided.

Nike and TomTom Unveil Game-Changing Nike+ Sportwatch GPS [Nike]

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Source:wired.com

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Remember the Nike+ run-tracking dongle for fitness nerds? Well, remembering it is pretty much all you’ll have to do from now on, as it just became obsolete: Nike has all but replaced it with software.

Available now in the App Store, the big change in Nike+ GPS is right there in its name. The new app uses the GPS radio in compatible iDevices to track your runs and plot them on a map, and also uses the accelerometer in the iPhone to record your pace. Because it uses the accelerometer to track your steps, it also works with the iPod Touch, although no maps will be displayed as you run. You could even use it on the iPad, although you’d look pretty stupid.

One of the best parts of the whole Nike+ setup is the online tracking of your progress, and that now comes to the local app, letting you browse previous runs and then also sharing them with the existing Nike+ site. In fact, the only possible reason you might still spend $29 on the Nike+ shoe-dongle is to use it with the iPod Nano (the new, squared-off Nano still works with the Nike+, despite being shorn of many other functionalities).

The price for this software-only solution? Just $2. I suggest you take the $27 you just saved and spend it on beer and burgers. You earned it.

Nike+ GPS [iTunes]

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Source:wired.com

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The Swimsense from Finis is like a bike computer for swimmers, only instead of counting wheel-revolutions, it counts strokes. The new wrist-mounted computer is waterproof (of course) and contains a motion detector which detects “stroke types, records the number of laps swum, total distance, calories burned, lap time, pace and stroke count.” Phew.

The smart part is that motion-sensor, which uses accelerometers to detect what kind of stroke you are swimming based on your arm movements, differentiating between the stately breaststroke, the blind backstroke, the all-conquering freestyle and the flailing, rescue-me-please-I’m-drowning butterfly. Combining this info with settings for the pool-length and your weight, age and gender, the Swimsense then presents a breakdown of what you have done in an online workout viewer. All you do is upload the data via USB.

My swimming is pretty much limited to splashing from the li-lo to the pool-bar, but the more sporting mermaids and mermen out there can add this to their Christmas list: the Swimsense will be $200 when it launches for the 2010 holiday season.

New Product: Swimsense [Finis Blog. Thanks, Jennifer!]

Swimsense product page [Finis]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews