cross-posted from: https://mstdn.social/users/tekkie/statuses/112037167186333009
Image description: Installation progress bar running for software upgrade of the Under Armour running shoes
(Originally published earlier today on mstdn.social)
this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2024
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Based on no investigation, I would guess this is a running shoe. The app will track steps, distance, pace, mile times... all the stats joggers care about. Yes, there are apps to do all of this anyway, but I would assume with these shoes, you get much more accurate stats. There's certainly no way UA has this in every shoe, and the people paying however many hundreds of dollars for these shoes are doing it specifically because of this feature. This isn't Internet is shit, this is UA making a useful product for a smaller market base.
Pedometers only measure steps taking. Not the distance of each step, your cadence, any uneasiness in your footing, or even more advanced things like wind resistance.
If you're just someone who goes for walks and doesn't care then a pedometer is fine. But if you're serious about it you want something in/attached to your shoe to measure those things.
I think I would love to use some shoes that track how uneven my gait(?) is and if I need mismatched soles to correct it. An uneven walk can ruin hips.
My co worker has something he clips onto his laces for runs. I’d suggest something like this vs shoes that need to be thrown away in a year.
His device is like 5 years old, runs on a CR2032, and still works flawlessly. Not sure what the battery life is like if you’re using it every day for casual walking since it’s designed for exercising.
Steve Jobs: We’re proud to announce the iPhone!
You: isn’t this why we invented fucking CAMERAS and PHONES and PDAs and GARMIN
Combining the thing you run in and the thing that tracks your running seems kind of obvious to me for the small market of people who wear specific shoes only when doing runs they want to track.