Important news concerning our digital services

cosme.costa

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in Important news concerning our digital services:

I bet there are better services than the current MC route implementation. You can use any service to get a GPX file sent directly to the Suunto app. From experience and feedback it’s actually faster than just the MC web (due to multiple syncs needed), also in the forum, we have covered a bit how to do this without a web provided ONLY by Suunto

Sorry to disagree a little bit here, sure you are right that there are better services for route implementation, and we can send the GPX file, but lot of people like to have centralized functions. I mean, some people want, at least simple working function, and if you tell them that for a route planing they have to make the route in one web platform, later send it in some way to the phone and there import it, some people will give up. Now in MC you can plan a route, sync it, you have it in the watch and run. As an example, my father in law has a tom tom for monitoring his walks but he would like to have a more advanced watch with route following, but if I tell him what he would need to do to import/plan a route he will say that he do not want the watch. Of course, he and lots of us we would like plan a route in a big screen, not in a mobile and as per now, if we want a big screen we need MC or external services.

As I have said in other posts if Suunto wants to use external tools its ok but Suunto should tell us which is the recommended one, make the integration with it and of course make that is free for the features that we already have in MC.

On the other hand and returning to the big screen, this should be a must! Have a web/desktop app is a must, as it is be able to upload moves with cable. As an example, 3 months ago I got a firmware update in my phone that broke the Bluetooth for three months, I was only able to upload moves with cable and with my work phone, but not everybody has access to two phones.

After saying that, I have confidence that in the next 18 months Suunto will put all the efforts and do a great job that won’t leave anybody hanging.

Robert Rundqvist

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Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@Robert-Rundqvist that what exactly is your problem or asking? I am a bit confused here.
Would it be nice @cosmecosta as well, to have a service to service integration or parsing of all routes?

@Robert-Rundqvist with the Suunto app, you can keep copies on the icloud or drive of your GPX routes and open then on demand with the app.

cosme.costa

What you are going to do with the people that has more than one watch, as @jseguir has said in another post. Will we be able to link more than one watch to the app??

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@cosmecosta Just to be specific, we are partnering with other services to be able to send routes to your watch directly from the service it self.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@cosmecosta I hope yes for multiple watch support.

I cannot answer all questions on this moment and please do ASK for what you need here, or at any other channel. Your voice is heard.

Robert Rundqvist

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pcjmfranken

So let me get this right: My Ambit S2 which is still in perfect working condition, still gets regular use on my kayak excursions (as a navigation and GPS recorder tool) and cost me no less than € 350 at the time of purchase, will be rendered as useless as, or probably even more useless than a brick by 2020?

How can anyone in their right mind think this is acceptable?

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@pcjmfranken When did you buy your watch?

As far as i understand the announcement your watch will continue to work as it was but you will not have sync with Suunto’s digital services.

However this is an early stage to panic, I bet suunto might do something about the A2 users.

jthomi

@pcjmfranken I think and @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos also wanted to say that after 2020 “hopefully” there will be a solution for those devices, I just can’t believe they will be useless after that period of time. Its still 1,5 years to the shut down date, so I would relax now. And please vote in the other topic for the website interface!

Here: https://forum.suunto.com/topic/1730/web-interface-for-suunto-app

TLDR
Enhancing the app is one thing, abandoning the web interface and delegating core functions to “partners” is not good.
Two years ago, suunto launched the spartan line with missing functionality compared to previous models.
Suunto promised that in the future there will be feature parity…
Now, suunto launches a new (mobile only) platform with missing functionality compared to previous platform.
Suunto promised that in the future there will be feature parity…
Does this sound familiar?

pcjmfranken

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos About 4 years ago. The sync with the digital services is pretty much essential to the use of this watch. Without the services there’s no way to plan new routes ahead of time, update the apps, change the watch layout, add new modes, etc.

@jthomi I understand and that’s exactly what’s wrong with all of this… “hopefully” doesn’t cut it. Voted btw, the web interface is far superior and easier to use to any app. Thanks for the link.

jthomi

@pcjmfranken
I totally agree with you, don’t get me wrong. I was always hoping and rooting for a web interface, and like @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said above, our voice here is and will be heard.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@Yannis-Belouris just out of curiosity, when the Spartans and the roadmap was out did Suunto not cover it’s roadmap/feature party?

gest83

@Yannis-Belouris I kinda thought the same thing… if you take a look at the “feature suggestions” section, ther are tons of ideas & wishes, some older than a year. In my opinion (and lot of others too) these are seen as “base functionality”…

Isn’t it that history is always repeating itself?

Mike Green

I have upvoted several of the previous comments but will summarise my particular key areas of concern as an Ambit2 owner.

If there is no laptop/desktop service (web-based or local application) provided, my Ambit2 become largely useless for the primary functions for which I purchased it, which include navigating routes on mountains (about half my usage) and when cycling. This, within the context of continued use of the watch, is disastrous.
At the point of decommissioning Movescount, I am stuck with all my sports mode screen customisations as they are. At best, very annoying.
I would be unable to record new activities - this makes the watch ‘dead’ for the other half of my usage (cycling).

I know three other users of Ambit2s, all of whom bought their devices precisely because there was no need to mess about with tiny phone screens for anything, as with some competitors.

Whilst my particular issues with functionality would be partially resolved if my watch were one of the Bluetooth enabled devices, I would still very probably not elect to buy a Suunto watch in the future if there is no laptop/desktop interface for all functions as I have zero interest in introducing a dependency on a phone and would not even consider a watch/recording/navigation solution which did not have a ‘big screen’ option for configuration / data analysis / route planning.

Whilst I think moving to a ‘mobile only’ provision of service is an appalling and retrograde step, I would be satisfied with a transition to a solution where a stabilised, web-based configuration site was provided for existing Ambit2 watches and routes could be synched to the Ambit2 via a third party. (Though I have to say that at the current time I think Movescount’s mapping and catalogue of routes is the best on the market.)

If the migration goes ahead as planned, and quite apart from persona inconvenience and cost, I really do not relish apologising to the numerous people who I have recommended Suunto to specifically due to the existence of Movescount $:-\$

valdis830

@pcjmfranken I have iPhone 3, 4, 5 at home. Each one cost me between 300-600 € and they are perfectly functioning paperweight. Maybe one day I can sell them to an antiquarian. Nothing is eternal dear friend. In 2020 your Ambit will be more than 7 years old. A considerable age for a precision device. Maybe it will be the day when you should consider keeping it as a nice memory and buying something modern:)

pcjmfranken

In addition, as a web developer, I really don’t understand why the new app couldn’t have been built as a progressive web app. An app that works as a website on big screens and behaves like a native app on mobile devices. The best of both worlds and easily doable for a company as big as Suunto.

Unfortunately it’s probably too late for this now.

@valdis830 Really? paperweight? Locked out of iCloud?
Unable to make a call? Cannot download apps for iStore?
I honestly do not know the answer? Has apple disabled them?

pcjmfranken

@valdis830 I think it’s pretty clear that the world is moving away from this planned obsolescence nonsense. Why throw out something that still works fine?

In addition, your older iPhones are still usable which this watch won’t be with Suunto’s current plans.