Hasta La Gadget!

Extending watches with apps is one thing if you’re building for a smartphone companion with a traditional, developer-centric app model. It’s quite another when it’s a GPS watch, and athletes are building their own apps — yet that’s what Suunto has managed with a 2.0 firmware update to its Ambit outdoor watch. The revamp uses a simple web interface to let us build free sports apps based on criteria as simple as distance and speed through to more specific measurements like heart rate and pressure. Adding predictive routines and arbitrary values allows for situation-specific code we might not get elsewhere, whether it’s estimating the finish time of a marathon or guessing just how much post-run beer is possible before the guilt sets in. On top of the new software platform, the 2.0 update brings a handful of major extensions from Suunto itself, including support for ANT+ and Foot POD sensors as well as an interval timer. The apps and upgrades help justify a relatively steep $500 price for the Ambit by turning it into a Swiss Army Knife for the wrist; when features are dictated more by imagination than a developer’s whims, they might just save the cost of an early hardware replacement.

Continue reading Suunto Ambit update lets athletes build their own GPS watch apps

Filed under: GPS, Wearables

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Source: Suunto (PDF), Movescount

In a real first for a GPS watch, Suunto has added a mapping feature to their Ambit smartwatch via a free update. The watch previously supported GPS tracking, waypoints, and training functions but this upgrade adds a live map to the mix, allowing hikers and runners to pinpoint their location on a trail or course.

From the Suunto website:

Another upcoming update will add Suunto foot pod and ANT+ accessory compatibility along with improved training instruments like interval timers. It will also support “community-crafted” features uploaded by users to Suunto’s support site.

This is a real first for these sorts of watches. First, this update is wildly compelling and that it comes free, after the watch has been on the market for a few months. The watch itself is pretty cool, as evidenced by this in-depth review and it’s fascinating that it can be upgraded via software to unlock new features.

The community features are also compelling in that they allow groups of people – runners, bikers, onanists – to upload various readout settings and programs. All of this, of course, inside a package the size of a silver dollar. The watch itself is $500 and these updates will be free at Movescount.com in September.