SpeedCoach Mobile and StrokeCoach Mobile are designed for use on the water by rowers and paddlers, providing athletes with real-time information about stroke rate and time, and (with SpeedCoach Mobile on the iPhone 3G) speed, distance, and direction.
Athletes can also create custom workouts of various kinds and record workout data which can then be reviewed on the device and uploaded to the web for viewing and sharing with the SpeedCoach Log application on Facebook.
Click here to see a sample practice in Google Maps, or here to see a summary chart of an interval workout, or here to see a detailed chart of stroke rate and speed during an interval.
Rowing shells of all sizes are supported as well as kayaks, canoes, and dragonboats. Buoyant, waterproof cases are available to protect your device and additional mounting accessories will be available in the near future.
Please refer to the applications page for more information about these applications or browse through the photo albums to see the applications in action.
The latest update to the StrokeCoach Mobile application has now been approved by Apple and is available as a free upgrade to all current customers. Both applications are now tested with iOS 4, but will still run on iOS 3.1.3 or later.
The latest update to the SpeedCoach Mobile application has just been approved by Apple and is now available through iTunes. Version 1.2.0 has been tested with iOS 4, but will work on iOS 3.1.3 or later. A similar update for StrokeCoach Mobile was just submitted for approval and should be available soon.
In addition to iOS 4 support, the new version also allows you to show your 500-meter pace in the Row/Paddle screen regardless of the distance & speed units you’ve chosen in the app settings. The new version also uploads check & bounce data to Facebook and the SpeedCoach Log application will be updated to make this data available in the near future.
An update to SpeedCoach Mobile was submitted to Apple for review last week. This update was built and tested using iOS 4, and includes a couple of minor new features. (A similar update for StrokeCoach Mobile will be submitted soon.) In the meantime, there are no known significant issues with the current versions of SpeedCoach Mobile and StrokeCoach Mobile on the new iPhone OS.
The only known issue with the applications on iOS 4 has to do with multi-tasking. If the application is terminated by pressing the home key, iOS 4 will leave the app running in the background. If you then change the app settings, your changes won’t be seen until the application is truly terminated and restarted. To force the application to terminate completely, double-click the home key and press & hold the application icon. Then, click on the small “x” badge on the icon to remove it from the app switcher.
Nielsen-Kellerman just announced the Cox Box Mini (coming soon), a small, personal audio amplifier that’s compatible with existing Cox Box wiring. This looks like a great solution for coxswains who use the SpeedCoach Mobile application. This combination of products eliminates overlapping features, moves easily between boats, and is very compact.
The “lineups” feature suggested recently by Miles Galloway in the SpeedCoach Log forum on Facebook is now operational. This is designed to save time for coaches when they enter the details for a practice. Instead of tagging each athlete in the crew individually, coaches can now select from their list of saved lineups to populate the athlete list with just a couple of mouse clicks.
To create a new lineup, go to the “Lineups” tab, type a name for the lineup, and enter the list of athletes. When you press the “Create” button, the lineup will be added to your saved list. Saved lineups can be modified or removed using the links provided there.
For added flexibility when entering practice details, you can also edit the athlete list after selecting a lineup. This is handy when someone from a lineup is absent for some reason and must be replaced with a sub. Just delete the missing athlete from the list, add the sub, and save. The saved lineup isn’t changed, but the details for that practice will show who was actually in the boat that day.
I don’t speak the language, but Google Translate does a pretty good job of translating this review (and discussion).
