In this review, Nike+ Running, the Android Application that allows you to Map your runs, track your progress, and post your results to Facebook and twitter.
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| Nike+ Running: Get more from your run |
POINT OF VIEW ARTIFACT REVIEW
PERSONA - Victor's persona, goals and scenario on Google Drive
Victor Dimitry - “I like breathing.” |
| Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
- 35 - Male
- College graduate
- Full-time desk job
- Lives in mid-west
Typical Mobile Tasks
- Text/SMS
- Tweet
- Web search
- Calls
- Music/Audio books
Victor was smoker for over 10 years and he was paying the price for his habit both financially and physically. When he decided to quit, he took up running, which is laughable looking back at the early days since his “runs” consisted of 2 mile walks with short jogs interspersed. Including stretching, it would take him the better part of an hour to exercise. At first he was listening to “angry music” to motivate him, but at the end of the runs he was just tired and angry, so he started listening to audiobooks on his Android phone to exercise his mind as well as his lungs. During the winter months Victor ran on an indoor treadmill and liked the constant pace the machine essentially forced him to run at once he found the sweet spot for his pace. Victor went back outside when the temperature warmed up, but other than how he felt, he had no measure of his pace until the end of the run. He was surprised no-one had created a free App that would allow someone to keep track of their runs short of manually keeping a log.
SCENARIO AND GOALS
Victor and Nike+ RunningWhen Victor heard about the Nike+ Running app for Android, he downloaded it immediately. Some of the additional features like sharing the run location and run stats seemed trivial at first but he’d try it out anyway.
PRIMARY GOALS:
- Listen to music or audiobooks while running
- Receive updates on pace
- Log each run and time
SECONDARY GOAL:
- Share run details on Facebook and Twitter
REVIEW CRITERIA
Eight Criteria for Hand-held Evaluation (full version)
- ORIENTATION CHANGE
- BACK FUNCTIONALITY
- DATA RETENTION
- WEB 3 CLICK-CONVENIENCE vs TASK SUCCESS
- ENVIRONMENT
- THUMBABILITY (full version)
- ACCOUNT INTEGRATION
- SERVICE INTEGRATION
RESULTS
1. ORIENTATION CHANGE - Excellent
3. DATA RETENTION - Excellent
Nike+ handles ACCOUNT INTEGRATION with Facebook and Twitter and allows control of how much information to share such as run location on a map. Account sign-in settings are retained so when the run is complete, the run may be shared with a very short message then tapping post.
4. WEB 3 CLICK-CONVENIENCE vs TASK SUCCESS - Excellent
5. ENVIRONMENT - Excellent
One of Victor's goals involves feedback about distance, time and pace. Audible run details about the run time, distance, pace, time an/or distance are provided with a Text-to-Speech voice at the intervals defined by the runner. If an audio program is playing, the volume is lowered slightly while the speaking takes place.
6. THUMBABILIY - Excellent (smaller screens)
7. ACCOUNT INTEGRATION - Excellent
8. SERVICE INTEGRATION - Excellent
- Entered data retained: ✓
- Fields positioned logically: ✓
Primary screens are locked to portrait, but the settings screens reflect orientation change. The run, may be set as portrait, or landscape for those who may not be holding the device in their hand as the run, i.e. running stroller or attached to arm.
2. BACK FUNCTIONALITY - Excellent- Does it go where you think it should? YES
- How many levels deep? 1 or 2
- Undo/Hide or Close? Undo/Hide
The back button operates at the screen level which returns to the previous screen or information grouping. When completing a run and sharing the details on Facebook or Twitter, the application sometimes requires several presses of the back button to exit the application.
- Re-type values: NO
- Re-enter account info: NO
Nike+ handles ACCOUNT INTEGRATION with Facebook and Twitter and allows control of how much information to share such as run location on a map. Account sign-in settings are retained so when the run is complete, the run may be shared with a very short message then tapping post.
- Mobile 1 or 2 TAPS: ✓
- Information “chunked” into logical screen blocks or sequential steps: ✓
- Logical options available on each screen one tap away: ✓
5. ENVIRONMENT - Excellent
- Indoor/Outdoor: ✓
- Hot/Cold: ✓
- Day/Night: ✓
- Seated/Standing: ✓ Standing
One of Victor's goals involves feedback about distance, time and pace. Audible run details about the run time, distance, pace, time an/or distance are provided with a Text-to-Speech voice at the intervals defined by the runner. If an audio program is playing, the volume is lowered slightly while the speaking takes place.
- Other than typing, the application can be operated with one hand: ✓
The thumability of the application is going to be largely determined by device screen size. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a large screen, so thumbability is a stretch, but on smaller devices like the Nexus One, the Nike+ Running is very thumbable.
- Log required to post to Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: ✓ Facebook/Twitter
- Seamless: ✓
The account integration is seamless since the application retains sharing preferences and account credentials.
- Service (GPS/BlueTooth/Wi-Fi) options are launched/activated as needed: ✓
- Seamless: ACTIVATE AND RETURN
Nike+ Running doesn’t support music on the test device, so the track had to be started in an application, then the runner had to return to Nike+ to start the run.
SUMMARY
Nike+ Running met Victor's goals in his usage scenario. The application has additional features not reviewed because they were not affiliated with Victor's goals.
