Gizmodo review of Smart Running Shoes #WearableWednesday
Gizmodo’s Victoria Song tried out a pair of Under Armour’s new HOVR running shoe. The sneakers boast an number of tech features including a built in chip for connectivity:
At a recent briefing, Under Armour emphasized all the tech and research that went into making the shoe. Things like a “soft yet responsive” foam, high-abrasion rubber in the heels, gender-specific construction in the sockliner, as well as tighter mesh and 3D molded heel counters. As far as I can tell, after about six miles of running, the marketing gobbledygook isn’t all bluster—the Infinite shoes are quite comfortable to run in. And, visually, I don’t hate the ombre pink-and-orange mixed with black mesh design.
But I was much more interested in the connected aspect of the shoe. The right shoe of every pair of HOVR shoes contains a chip that connects with the Map My Run app (also owned by Under Armour). With it, you can keep track of metrics like distance, pace, splits, cadence, and stride length. Impressive, but not all that special considering you can track those metrics with an Apple Watch, Garmin tracker, or Fitbit. More intriguing was the promise that these shoes would be able to work on treadmill runs, as well as provide personalized gait coaching.
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Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!