Filed under: iPod Family
Long-awaited Nike Amp+ remote wristband finally on sale
Has it really been nearly a year since the Nike Amp+ wristband remote first appeared on the pages of Men's Health, teasing us with its polyurethane smugness? Sure, back in August the FCCians caught wind of it, but no joy for shoppers... until now. (Nike Store requires Flash, FYI)The futuristic wrist remote (vaguely Logan's Run-looking to me, but I am not an industrial designer) shows the time in bright red LEDs which also double as indicators for the iPod controls immediately below. Snazzy!
If you're using your iPod Nike+ Sport kit for its intended purpose, exercise/running, the Amp+ can also provide immediate voice feedback on distance, calories burned, workout duration, and all that other stuff that runners find somehow motivational.
If you or someone you care about picks up an Amp+, let us know.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Christina Warren said 8:53PM on 10-05-2007
It was not a good idea for me to click on the Nike site -- no, I have no interest in the Amp+, it's a cool idea but looks too masculine and I have the smallest wrists ever, so it wouldn't work even if it was available in baby pink -- but now that clicked on the site, I'm having a hard time stopping myself from ordering $200 worth of Nike+ clothes that I don't need (I do have one of the shirts for the now old Nano, and it does indeed rule, but a long sleeve shirt, a tank top and a pair of pants is probably overkill) because of my duel obsessions with both cute workout clothes (I have a Bebe Spot credit card and I don't even work out that much - it's a sickness) and technology.
Seriously though, if they make one smaller and in pink (or light blue) - I'm in. I don't like wearing my regular metal watch when I run and the remote control would be that much better.
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starwxrwx said 9:02PM on 10-05-2007
Actually it comes in four colour combos - two black on the outside (grey/red inside), one blue (lighter blue inside) and one army green (orange inside).
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PK said 9:06PM on 10-05-2007
Minor point, Michael:
I think you're wrong about the LEDs - if you go to the Nike site it states "LED displays time of day and icons for iPod® nano controls when activated by the remote." If the LEDs supplied the controls for the nano, there'd be no need for the raised buttons below the watch display. As far as I can tell, those buttons are how you control the nano - the LEDs just display the watch mode (clock or nano) and do *not* provide touch-sensitive controls.
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Michael Rose said 9:20PM on 10-05-2007
PK, you may be right -- I'll amend the post. Too bad though.
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PK said 9:32PM on 10-05-2007
Michael -
I agree - that would be a pretty sweet feature. So sweet, actually, that I'd probably go out and buy some shoes and a nano just to try it out...
Note to Nike: If you can somehow devise a way for those LEDs to be touch-sensitive controls for a nano, you may find a bunch of new techie customers.
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Christina Warren said 10:17PM on 10-05-2007
Yeah, I was looking at the color choices - red inside and black outside says "this is for a man" as does the green/orange (and that's usually one of my favorite color combos - I'm wearing an orange Lacoste baseball cap as I type this - but not for wrist wear)and the lighter blue is better, but I'm absolutely positive the thing would never work on my wrist.
Oh - and no iPod controls? OK - well, I'm out. I'll stick with the clothes and pants (yeah, I caved and got a hoodie and a pair of pants for winter) - the shirt I already have has its pocket on the side and the controls are very easy to press while jogging or at the gym - plus the regular iSport shoe thingie can scream stuff at you if you slow down.
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DO said 10:44PM on 10-05-2007
Now if we can get the Nano receiver to work with the iPhone, we would have some way of remotely controlling music when using third party headphones.
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Michael Rose said 10:53PM on 10-05-2007
Christina, there are iPod controls -- they're below the LEDs. My mistake was in thinking that the LEDs themselves were touch-sensitive controls, but there's a control ring below them.
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Christina Warren said 10:59PM on 10-05-2007
Ahh, my bad. Well, if they come out with a chick model, I'm in.
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djscott said 11:06PM on 10-05-2007
Pardon my ignorance: Does an iPod receiver come with the watch or will I need to buy the Nike+iPod Sport Kit to enjoy this remote control goodness?
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Michael Rose said 11:17PM on 10-05-2007
DJscott -- I believe you have to buy the Sport kit separately.
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Leonard Nimrod said 11:29PM on 10-05-2007
All this and it can't even monitor your pulse rate. THis will certainly keep me from being a slew of these thing for myself and people I know.
How great would it be to have your iPod keep track of how much how heart rate improved overtime or at the very least let you see what the current rate it?
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bobm said 1:08AM on 10-06-2007
I'm going to get one for my b'day next month. Reading the comments on Gizmo and Engadget it seems like lots of people are down on this but it's just what I need for my running.
It would be interesting to have a poll to see how many people use the nike+ system, I haven't seen any numbers but really like the integration from end to end.
bob -- 58 runs - 154.6 miles - 9'43" average
yeah I'm slowing down with age :-/
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hughj said 5:21AM on 10-06-2007
More Blake's 7 than Logan's Run, I would have said.
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JS said 9:28AM on 10-06-2007
I have the current sport kit, which I happily use with my last-gen Nano. Great technology.
Re this watch, though: the current sport kit provides feedback on distance, calories, etc (via the headphones, of course), so I don't know what this post means when it says that the watch does.
I suspect that this watch ONLY adds wrist controls for the iPod. There'd be no reason to add voice feedback when the current sport kit already does that.
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Paul said 9:55AM on 10-06-2007
I bought the amp+ yesterday. I went to the Apple Store at the mall - they hadnt even heard about it. Two doors down was the Nike store which had them in stock.
I'm not sure if this is going to be a problem or not yet, but I couldnt get my 3G Nano (the Fatty) to recognize the watch. I am wondering if Apple has to release a new update to the Nano for this to work...
Has anyone gotten it to work with a new 3G Nano?
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Paul said 9:57AM on 10-06-2007
JS,
The watch provide remote control to the Nano. So if you click the button on the side it gives you voice feedback through your headphone just as if you clicked the center wheel of the nano.
I plan on using this in the winter and have my nano safely in a pocket. That way everything in controlled by the waterproof watch I can wear outside my jacket.
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sam said 10:37AM on 10-06-2007
is this thing rechargeable? if not, how long does the battery last?
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dappleganger said 2:07PM on 10-06-2007
Sweet!
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Jonathan said 12:15AM on 10-08-2007
So, wearing one of these watches now with a 2G nano and a 3G nano next to me (also have the 1G nano, but not with me... I'm a sucker for these sort of things). Specific questions answered below, but in general:
It controls the iPod well with the buttons below the "screen", both in Nike+ mode and normal.
The screen is *not* on the whole time - most of the time you can't see the LEDs, and you have to press the time button on the right to see the time scroll. I think this is pretty cool (and presumably helps battery life)
#1 I have baby wrists too, and when I got it out the pack I was about to turn round and take it back. However, it shows you how to easily take off the clasp and trim the strap to preset notches to fit all wrists no problem- fits great now.
#3-9 The dial you can see controls the iPod - you don't actually want it touch sensitive, that'd be a nightmare when running and you just want to be able to grab your wrist. Some of the confusion may come from the fact that the control you pressed flashes across on the LEDs above the dial (which is the state shown in the picture above).
#10-11 You do need to buy the sports kit - good news I think, as half the customers buying these will already have them
#15 As #17 Paul says, the watch just has a button on the side to voice over your workout progress, like pressing the centre button on the ipod currently does - think that's what they meant.
#16 Mine worked great with the 3G ipod; I've updated to 1.0.2, see if that makes a difference. Otherwise check for the manual insert "If you don't see the "Remote" option", I had to follow that to get it to work.
#18 Not rechargable, standard watch-style battery. No idea how long it will last (see comment at top about the screen going off though)
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