And you need to be fairly near your device to see the AR on screen properly, so it’s perfectly playable in a normal-sized room.
We found it worked well enough outdoors as long as direct sunlight doesn’t make it hard to see what’s happening on screen. Virtual coaches demonstrate each drill and then you see yourself on screen practising in augmented reality, with on-screen targets for the ball. Persist though and you unlock new drills that get progressively trickier. It’s the soccer equivalent of when kids realised they could shake their wrists to outwit pedometers. Because so long as the ball hits the circles in roughly the right place, you can progress to the next level.
A video coach explains the ball-handling exercise, showing you how to do the footwork, then circles on screen indicate where you have to get the ball to. Rather like early videogame levels that any numpty can survive, designed to teach you the controls rather than challenge you, the first couple of sessions are very simple. Then you launch the free app and punch in your shiny new username and password, prop up the phone or tablet on the supplied stand (phones balance on it more securely than tablets) and let the camera see your DribbleUp ball. Setup is pretty straightforward, but requires you to sign up for a DribbleUp account via the website it isn’t possible via app (you can do it on a phone or tablet’s web browser though). But I do like videogames and I have a lot of time for the gamification of fitness: I get a buzz when I hit my step count, who doesn’t? And now I discover that I quite enjoy ball-control drills.
Actually, it isn’t really a smart ball: it’s more a clever app that uses your device’s camera to track the non-smart Dribble-Up ball, with its distinctive colour and markings. It isn’t the first smart football on the market. The ball-and-app combo encourages dainty footwork and hey, if they get really good, they might get signed and keep me in my old age. I have tweens and they’re welcome to use the DribbleUp Smart Soccer Ball indoors. “Play football in the living room,” said no parent ever, but I’m about to change all that.
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