words // Brennan Hiro Williams
Nike unveiled several new innovations to its Nike+ ecosystem today in New York, including the Nike+ FuelBand SE, the newest version of the popular Nike+ FuelBand. Paired with the new Nike+ FuelBand App, also revealed today, the FuelBand SE utilizes new hardware and firmware to improve on the overall interactive experience put in place by the original product.
The FuelBand SE utilizes improved water-resistance and a redesigned circuit board, allowing for greater durability and flexibility. The new home button also allows for a simple double tap to bring up the FuelBand's clock.
A series of new motivational features further improve the FuelBand experience:
Sessions
“3.2.1. GO! Sessions” are a way to track specific activities throughout the day. Going out for a run? That’s a session. Hitting the gym? That’s a session. This new feature lets users start and mark sessions right on the Nike+ FuelBand or from the app, allowing a user to track exactly how much NikeFuel they earned in that specific session of activity.
Win the Hour
“Win the Hour” is your motivation partner. It uses the Nike+ FuelBand SE to track how much movement is accumulated at each hour throughout the day and encourages people to move more often by prompting users to move if they’re missing their goal. It also recognizes when goals are hit and lets users know they’ve ‘won the hour.’ Move reminders are set in-app and on-band and motivate the user to move more and move often throughout the day.
Fuel Rate
“Fuel Rate” is a new feature that tracks the rate at which NikeFuel is being earned. The Fuel Rate is measured as NikeFuel earned per minute and is a great way to see the intensity of your movement to get the right information needed to move better toward your goals. The Fuel Rate is viewed as a numerical readout in real time on the Nike+ FuelBand App and uses colors from red to green to simply indicate how you're doing. Knowing how intensely you move is also valuable information to help optimize activities throughout the day.
Groups
People like to work out and share accomplishments and competition with friends. To help this process, Groups functionality and improved social sharing tools have been added to Nike+ FuelBand SE and new App. With Groups, Nike+ FuelBand SE users can join their friends in a group and share their latest achievements, cheer each other on and even work together towards one common group goal.
Milestones
For more fun, new Milestones have been added - like one million or two million NikeFuel banners - and a host of new milestone achievements to win. Now users earn Achievements not just for their NikeFuel total, but also for Sessions, Fuel Rate, streaks, and hours won. Achievements are tracked in the new Games section and also unlock new Achievements at each Milestone reached.
The Nike+ FuelBand SE and Nike+ FuelBand App will both launch on Wednesday, November 6. A limited pre-order of the FuelBand SE is available now at nike.com/fuelband.
