Last week I gave you Part 1 in my breakdown of the Nike+ Hyperdunk 2012. While the first part focused on the Form of the shoe, today’s installment focuses on the Function of the shoe.
The Nike Hyperdunk+ introduces the world to Nike’s newest digital effort by connecting the shoe and the user with their online Nike+ platform. This is the first time that Nike has ventured outside of the running category with their Nike+ experience. What was said to be underdevelopment since 2006 when the Beaverton based company unveiled the technology to runners around the world, the Nike+ Basketball experience takes what running does and pushes it even further to connect with the basketball community like never before.
I had the opportunity to experience each Function of the technology during the wear test at the World Basketball Festival last weekend. Nike Ekin’s walked us through three stations that highlighted the capabilities of the shoe and then they let us loose as we tracked our stats during pick-up games.
Station 1: PAIR YOUR SHOES
In the first station we received our sensors. The sensors were already paired with iPod touches to save on time so we were able to instantly see what the technology could provide for us. Once the sensors were inserted into the midfoot, just underneath the insole of our shoes; we were able to watch on a large flat-screen our foot pressure. It was really unique to see how live the interaction was, for instance if you lifted your toes or your heels it was tracked and visually showed you on the pressure mapping. You can see the exact same thing on your personal iPhone or iPod touch as well. So it wasn’t something unique that was created just for the event. Next we did two drills that were quickly turned into competitions amongst us.
The first drill was our foot speed. The system tracks how many steps you take, how fast you take your steps and what your average speed is; so naturally we raced to see who could do the best. We raced the first to 100 steps. I lost but it was cool to see how fast I am going and what my average was.
The next drill was testing how high our vertical is. We were allowed one step and then we jumped and pulled our knees to our chest. This drill was by far the most humbling of the experience is it let me know that I have no chance in hell of ever dunking on a regulation hoop but it was great to see my max high out of three jumps. It gives me something to strive to be consistent with or improve on.
During these drills we were also showed that the system keeps track of your fuel points. So even if you don’t have a Nike Fuel Band it tracks what your fuel was for the day on the court.
Station 2: TRACK YOUR GAME
The next station really showed what the capability of the technology is. Once your shoe is connected to your mobile Apple device you can leave the device on the sidelines as the sensors in your shoes track your movement and then reconnect with your device once you are finished playing.
They ran us through basic basketball drills that provided us with a variety of movements and opportunities to explode and take off. They would have us start at half court dribble hard to the foul line and then shake a defender and explode to the hoop for a finger roll or they would have us pass into someone at the elbow coming off of a screen and catch a pass on the wing for an open jump shot. We ran about fifteen minutes worth of drills like this and then stopped to see what the system tracked.
Once we connected back to our devices the sensors loaded our game info to the Nike+ Basketball App and then visually displayed our game stats. You could see how many steps you took, what your average vertical was, how quick you are and how much you hustle. If you tip your phone to horizontal it then breaks the stats down into a graph that tracks what you did over the amount of time played.
The most unique part to me was is that it tells you how much you were walking. I will be honest I am not the best basketball player on the planet so the interest of improving my vertical is minimal but to see that I am walking 60% of the time is eye opening and definitely will motivate me to run harder every time on the court from this point on.
Station 3: SHOWCASE MODE
The final station gives you the opportunity to create your own game highlight with the Showcase Mode inside the App. This mode allows you to film a 30 second video and upload it to you YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to show the world what damage you did on the court that day.
This station was by far the most fun because everyone opened up their creativity, as we were able to showcase our best dunks. Nike provided us with three hoops to choose from: 7-foot (middle school reminiscing), 8-foot (high school fun time) and 9-foot (high school competitive time). I chose to go with the 8-foot and see what I still had. I managed to get in a couple of windmills during the first 20 seconds and saved my best dunk, the under the baseline reverse 360 Vince Carter dunk from the 2000 All-Star game; for the last ten seconds. You are probably thinking I am lying here, I guess you will never know as the Ekin’s couldn’t send us our Showcase Mode highlight because it wasn’t connected to any mobile network.
Source:
http://www.brettgolliff.com/nike-hyperdunk-wear-test-part-2-function/