The Lechal smart insoles work as a fitness tracker and aids in navigation as well
In The Wizard Of Oz , Dorothy owns a pair of magic slippers that help transport her from Oz to her home in Kansas. Imagine getting hold of a set of magic shoes, that would guide you to your destination without you having to hit Google Maps. The Lechal smart insoles, which translate to “let’s go” in English, have been crafted by an Indian company that does not use magic; instead, it provides navigation via vibrations on your feet.
Lechal insoles use haptic feedback and GPS technology to keep you going in the right direction. It’s the latest addition in the age of wearable technology, where a clutch of devices, from Fitbits to smart T-shirts, sensors that provide you instant information on your workout routine, your calorie intake, heart rate and so forth, seem to have overrun the planet. The Lechal insoles are essentially a pair of rectangular wearable pods that can be attached to the soles of your shoes. It works with an app that you can download on your phone. The app calibrates with the pods and helps you track steps and aids in navigation.
The pods come with a charging docket. The battery life of the pods is almost a week of regular usage—quite impressive in this day of energy-sucking apparatus. The product is an add-on to the device that was initially created to help visually-impaired people navigate city roads.
Once we got rid of our irrational fear of getting electrocuted, we discovered that the pods are rather helpful. The map feature on the app helps you pick a destination and gives you the estimated distance to the place. Once you manage to sync the pods with the app, it will use mild vibrations on your feet to aid you in navigation. So imagine yourself walking down a road. Now you need to turn left—your device will vibrate on the left foot. It takes a little getting used to, but you do, eventually.
In our review device, the navigation was fairly functional and worked well, vibrating slightly, depending on the direction. Unlike a Fitbit, that you glance at every once in a while to check your exercise status, this is much more helpful, as it remains inside your shoe and offers less scope for distractions. However, the syncing process was a tad less satisfactory. Often, the Android version of the app would stop syncing and start searching for the pods. At times, we were forced to bring the phone very close to the soles for syncing.
Another issue we faced was that the insoles seemed too large for our shoes and the pods often got disconnected from the soles. The thickness of the insoles also took some time to get used to. We eventually junked the insoles and attached the pods to the soles in front of the laces.
As far as wearables go, the Lechal insoles are not very expensive and are fairly decent for regular usage, though I could not see much help in navigation, apart from offering help in directions. However, one would hope that the company will add more features and make the insoles a little less thick for simpler use, apart from crafting a user-friendly manual as well.
Getting smarter
Smart shoe is an insole that is placed into a pair of shoes. The pre-programmed insole is able to connect to a smartphone via bluetooth and an application in order to select a destination and navigate the user.
Lechal insoles use haptic feedback and GPS technology to keep you going in the right direction. It’s the latest addition in the age of wearable technology, where a clutch of devices, from Fitbits to smart T-shirts, sensors that provide you instant information on your workout routine, your calorie intake, heart rate and so forth, seem to have overrun the planet. The Lechal insoles are essentially a pair of rectangular wearable pods that can be attached to the soles of your shoes. It works with an app that you can download on your phone. The app calibrates with the pods and helps you track steps and aids in navigation.
The pods come with a charging docket. The battery life of the pods is almost a week of regular usage—quite impressive in this day of energy-sucking apparatus. The product is an add-on to the device that was initially created to help visually-impaired people navigate city roads.
Once we got rid of our irrational fear of getting electrocuted, we discovered that the pods are rather helpful. The map feature on the app helps you pick a destination and gives you the estimated distance to the place. Once you manage to sync the pods with the app, it will use mild vibrations on your feet to aid you in navigation. So imagine yourself walking down a road. Now you need to turn left—your device will vibrate on the left foot. It takes a little getting used to, but you do, eventually.
In our review device, the navigation was fairly functional and worked well, vibrating slightly, depending on the direction. Unlike a Fitbit, that you glance at every once in a while to check your exercise status, this is much more helpful, as it remains inside your shoe and offers less scope for distractions. However, the syncing process was a tad less satisfactory. Often, the Android version of the app would stop syncing and start searching for the pods. At times, we were forced to bring the phone very close to the soles for syncing.
Another issue we faced was that the insoles seemed too large for our shoes and the pods often got disconnected from the soles. The thickness of the insoles also took some time to get used to. We eventually junked the insoles and attached the pods to the soles in front of the laces.
As far as wearables go, the Lechal insoles are not very expensive and are fairly decent for regular usage, though I could not see much help in navigation, apart from offering help in directions. However, one would hope that the company will add more features and make the insoles a little less thick for simpler use, apart from crafting a user-friendly manual as well.
Getting smarter
Smart shoe is an insole that is placed into a pair of shoes. The pre-programmed insole is able to connect to a smartphone via bluetooth and an application in order to select a destination and navigate the user.
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