There was a time when it was called Nokia Sports Tracker Beta and its core dev team was affectionately known as the Sports Tracker Dudes. Ah, the memories! None finer for me than winning the grand prize in the n79 Active Edition Draw a Heart contest. But the Sports Tracker Dudes split from Nokia early last year, forming their own company in Sports Tracking Technologies OY in Finland. Shortly after that, the Nokia Beta Labs Sports Tracker project was archived, and with it so were my hopes for a better Nokia. I realized that this one little app was the only thing keeping me from switching mobile brands for the past year running. Yet with exciting things happening in Android and iPhone, especially on the sports technology arena, the seemingly then-dormant Sports Tracker dev team gave me no reason to remain brand-loyal to Nokia. Silly as it sounds now, I went shopping for a non-Nokia mobile when I saw evidence that the Sports Tracker Dudes had iPhones and Androids, themselves. (clues via Twitter and Facebook update clients) That was a full year ago, folks. Since then we’ve seen Sports Tracker come back to life and Nokia run itself aground. Now that Nokia are abandoning Symbian for Windows, it makes sense to the future of Sports Tracker that this new platform(s) announcement be made.

Is it too late? Well certainly not. But I think the Sports Tracker Dudes missed out on cashing in big for their pioneering efforts. I’ve been tracking the sports app startups and a few have received fairly large investment sums recently, most notably Endomondo’s $800K. Still, the Sports Tracker Dudes have several thousands of loyal users in the Symbian world and many more who moved on to iPhones and Androids that I’m sure will give them a go again once on their respective platforms.

In their brief announcement they said, “The apps come packed with all the great tracking features you guys love, plus some exciting additional features enabled by the new platforms”. Additional features enabled by the new platforms? Technically speaking there is only one feature I can think of that is additional to today’s Sports Tracker on Symbian and that’s ANT+. iPhone has it via plugin accessories and Android is beginning to see it in some Sony Ericsson models. Aside from ANT+, there’s really nothing new the platforms bring to talk about besides better user interfaces and experiences. Yes, I’m biting my tongue here but I cannot think of what the Sports Tracker Dudes would call “exciting additional features” based on the technical understanding I have of the current platforms. If anything, the new platforms present a few challenges:

• The iPhone, for example, wont be able to use the Polar WearLink+ BT HRM that was originally designed for use with (then-Nokia’s) Sports Tracker. For one reason or another, Apple have decided to block the types of BT connections that today’s Polar WearLink+ uses. Which brings me back to ANT+ speculation.
• On the other hand, besides a minor ANT+ debut, not every Android model has a stellar Bluetooth and/or GPS antenna track record.

It seems logical to guess that Zephyr’s HxM and BioHarness will not be made compatible with new Sports Tracker Android app. Remember, the Polar WearLink+ BT HRM was originally made exclusive for Nokia’s Sports Tracker and I’ve always thought of it as their honeypot. I welcome any corrections here but I thought the Sports Tracker Dudes got a portion from every sale of the Polar WearLink+ BT hrm. Regardless, if they have an interest in Polar then Zephyr is clearly out of the picture for Sports Tracker Android. Too bad, Zephyr make much more useful BT monitors, hands-down.

The elephant in the room for me is the name, Sports Tracker. Sure, many of us know who began using it first. But it’s not about that. SportsTrackLive.com’s Sports Tracker has been around since 2008 and Endomondo’s Sports Tracker has been around since 2007-2008. Legally speaking, I don’t know if any of these guys have a trademark going on Sports Tracker but I think the former-Nokia Sports Tracker might have a tough time keeping the name across platforms.

What I hope to see from Sports Tracker: There’s plenty of room for improvement when you look through the current sports tracker apps. That said, the now-Symbian Sports Tracker will have to pick up its development pace to match that of the current standouts. Updates from the top apps are frequent and strong. Several devs are giving great attention to making their apps compete with the traditional monitors from Polar, Garmin, Suunto, and the like. Features like intervals and training plans are gaining appreciation, while maximizing the advantages a mobile computer provides. Connectivity being a major point, the ideal sports app would bring in multiple types of data from a variety of sensors.

Good luck to the original Sports Tracker team and congratulations for continuing their pursuits of better health for everybody!

If you’re using an Android or iPhone sports tracking app with voice cues, then you know the built in text to speech (TTS) engine sounds a bit dull and robotic. Enter SVOX Classic Text To Speech (TTS) Engine, available in the Android Market and App Store. SVOX’s HQ voices are an enormous improvement over the stock TTS engines and are served up in 25 languages, some with more than one to choose from. Once installed and set up properly with your particular voice of choice, any application which uses TTS (sports tracking, navigation, ebook reader, etc.) will suddenly sound better, almost to the point of natural.

I’m using SportsTrackLive’s SportsTracker Pro for my daily running and no other Android sport-tracking app has as many convenient audio cue options. However, the more I rely upon current stats being fed to my head through earbuds, the more weary I grow of the characterless, female voice of Android. The standard voice isn’t all that bad, but it’s just boring enough so that you consider limiting it’s use over time. Until I discovered what SVOX had to offer, I didn’t realize I had the option to change my Android’s voice so easily. There’s no hacking involved at all.

Begin by installing the SVOX Classic app (free), open it and check out the voice samples before you download them. Once you chosen your narrator’s voice, proceed into Settings>Voice input & output>Text-to-speech settings, scroll down and tick Svox Classic TTS’s box. Then tweak your Svox settings and scroll back up to Default Engine and tick Svox Classic TTS. Eh, though I’d like one, I don’t have an iPhone so no instructions here. It should be equally as simple as Android’s setup is.

I’ve chosen a couple voice cues from SportsTracker Pro and recorded the outputs using stock Android and SVOX Classic TTS engines. Both samples use a UK female voice. (All SVOX voices cost between $2 and $3.)

If you run into any installation problems, leave a comment and I’ll try to help. Have fun!

Pico TTS sample SVOX Classic TTS sample

QR for Svox at AppBrain.com

November 16 is the earliest date I can find for delivery here in Sweden, with prices ranging from 495sek ($75) to 645sek ($98). The LiveView Android app is available now and sitting on my HTC Desire. The client has native support for these notifications: Text message, Incoming calls, Missed calls, Facebook, Twitter, RSS, Calendar, battery level and “Find phone”. Further extensions for notifications come from downloaded plug-ins, with the first one coming from the SportyPal’s Pro sports tracking app. Information on SE’s site says LiveView should work on any Android phone running 2.0+.

More specs include 1.3″ color OLED touch display, USB micro charger, two hardkeys and four softkeys, 15g and 11x35x35 dimensions. I couldn’t find any battery specs but I’ve read rumors from forums stating up to four days between charges. You also get a clip for clothes or other fastening and a wristband.

The main reason this device has my attention is that it somewhat answers my wish for a more complete smartphone sports tracking experience. I’ve often thought a wristwatch-type app extension may be what’s needed to give those athletes stuck on traditional sports monitors a reason to switch. That way you wouldn’t need to access your mobile, perhaps at all, during your workouts.

SportyPal’s Pro application isn’t quite ready at the moment, though. A Beta version has been available for a while now, but its feature set is not complete. Particularly, heart rate monitor integration. I had to dig deep in SportyPal’s forums for a clue to which monitor they are going with and came up with Zephyr’s HxM. An admin posted that SportyPal had entered into an agreement with Zephyr Technology and they were working on integrating the HxM. So far, the app looks good with a mass-appeal feature set for the casual athlete market. I’ll wait for a final version before I say any more.

A comment from my last post directed me to a forum where the LiveView’s weather-proofing came into question; Apparently it has little water resistance. Not good news for athletic users, obviously.

I will hold off ordering one until I hear from SE about possibly testing LiveView for review here. Until then, why not discuss whether or not this product appeals to you. I have to say, regardless if this is a winner or not, I am happy that I’m seeing an effort like this.

Link to Sony Ericsson’s LiveView product page.

Today’s post will attempt to outline the available connectivity solutions for sports applications across the major mobile platforms including Android, iPhone and Symbian. When you add up the number of daily smartphone activations around the globe, we’re talking over a half-million new handsets every day. Hard to believe especially when you do the extensions for the next calendar year: 1,8 billion! While I have no statistics on the number of people using their handsets for fitness logging or sports tracking, I have read that nearly 30% of the general population are runners. Statistics…meh. Nevertheless, we can draw a conclusion that there might be a lot of folks willing, and wanting, to use their new phones to track their fitness. So before I break down our options, I want to address something that gives you an idea of what I’m trying to do with this blog: Wireless fitness/health sensor awareness.

Look, there’s definitely no shortage of good sport-tracking mobile apps out there. A few posts back I began to try out all that I could find and it didn’t take me long to get bored. Why? The same simple fact that all but a few copy a familiar format: Using your mobile’s built-in GPS hardware, they track your fitness activities and post them to a hosting website. In fact, the format I’m talking about has been in place since at least 2006 when Rungps.net launched their first beta for Windows Mobile. Shortly after that came Nokia’s Sports Tracker, amongst others, on to an explosion of iPhone and Android apps. Loads of choice, not a lot of innovation. Apps of equal caliber may have teams of developers and a PR department, while others are the result of a single, highly ambitious programmer. Regardless, the best fitness apps are those which look beyond the original format and are open to the idea of becoming a wireless hub of fitness data. It’s an idea I embrace as the future of personal health/fitness monitoring, even reaching into commercial applications for healthcare. I’ll expand on this in an upcoming post, but for now let’s discuss what sensors are out there for the general consumer, starting with how they connect.

Bluetooth (BT) connectivity is a feature of nearly all modern smartphones. However, your particular phone’s BT profiles dictate what options you actually have for connectivity. I’m not going to get into the technicals at this time, rather point out that just because your phone has BT doesn’t mean you can connect and use any BT accessory. For the sake of simplicity, only the right combination of phone, app and BT accessory will function together. For example, iPhones do not currently permit the types of connections necessary for BT heart rate monitors. Android phones will allow these connections but only with newer firmware (Android v2.x). I could go on, but at present we only have a few choices of widely available bio-sensor BT accessories. Zephyr Technologies make two consumer products in their HxM and BioHarness BT heart rate monitors, and Polar make a WearLink+ BT heart rate monitor. Each product requires an appropriate combination of handset firmware and app to function. Moreover, the different BT accessories are not interchangeable with the apps they’re intended to function with, i.e., software unique to an accessory must be added to its corresponding app.

Before I move on to ANT+, some brief BT sensor outlines for three of the most popular smartphone platforms today:

• Android Your device requires Android v2.x or to run with any BT sensors. Over the past few years, a small handfull of mobile-friendly BT sensors have been seen for consumers. Only the following are widely available:

Zephyr Technologies’ HxM and BioHarness. The HxM model captures heart rate as well as cadence, i.e., step count. It should be noted that unlike iPhone and newer Symbian, Android phones do not have internal support for cadence; The onboard accelerometer turns off in standby. If you want to record your stride count, you obtain that data via external accessory, such as the HxM. Zephyr’s BioHarness is truly remarkable with support to track your heart rate, skin temp, breath rate and posture. Zephyr makes SDK’s for these products available for devs to make them function with their apps. Those apps currently are: SportsTrackLive, Run.GPS, Endomondo, SportyPal Pro and now MyTracks (test version) for the HxM. Only SportsTrackLive and Zephyr’s own OmniSense support the BioHarness at the moment, with more apps in development. I purchased both of these sensors and found both to be smart choices, especially for Android devices, with multiple platforms supported as well. Click for my HxM review, and here for my BioHarness look.

Polar WearLink+ Bluetooth. This device captures heart rate only (no cadence) and is the same monitor that was originally made exclusively for Nokia’s Sports Tracker, introduced in a sporty Nokia N79 Active Edition bundle. I was fortunate to have been one of the very first Polar WearLink+ users thanks to a fun little “GPS art” contest i won from Nokia. This sensor performs very well with the only downsides being lack of cadence data and the need for a constant supply of coin-cell batteries. I run appx 10hrs/wk and find I need to change the battery every third week or so. The Polar WearLink+ is supported by most of the same apps that support the HxM, as its SDK is now available.

• Symbian (mostly Nokia) All Symbian smartphones are capable of BT sensor connectivity. However, at the moment there are just two apps which incorporates BT sensors: Sports Tracker and Endomondo. Sports Tracker uses only the Polar WearLink+ BT as mentioned above and Endomondo uses Zephyr’s HxM and eventually, the Polar WearLink+ BT.
• iPhone To the best of my knowledge, iPhones do not support serial BT connections. They could be capable of this but Apple decided against it by restricting these types of connections in the firmware. However, if you own an iPhone you can make your device work with several wireless bio and sport-related sensors (more than with any other platform) with the aid of dongle-type adapters. These plug-in accessories use the ANT+ standard used by many existing products.

ANT+ connectivity solutions are exciting when you look at the variety of products you have to choose from. Garmin, Polar, SRM, Timex and Suunto are just a few of the brands with ANT+ compliant models. ANT+ also has advantages over standard Bluetooth in the form of power-management efficiency. Whereas the BT sensors mentioned above require regular recharging or a new coin-cell battery every few weeks (Polar), ANT+ sensors can go for years on the same power supply. This is true on both ends of the connection, making it a sensible choice for all of today’s smartphones. Great, right? Well here’s the thing: While ANT+ sensor choices abound, ANT+ mobile phone hardware is a lot more rare. Like Bluetooth, an ANT+ mobile phone system requires the right combination of handset, app and sensor. Presently, there’s but a few phones that are ANT+ capable. Here’s what I know regarding native ANT+ support for each major mobile platform:

1. Android Let me start off by stating that no current Android supports USB dongle-type adapters, like those available to iPhones. While this isn’t great news, I’m more keen on native support solutions anyway than to have something else plugged into my phone before every run. That said, to have native ANT+ support we need the right hardware and firmware specs. Texas Instruments is one of the first, or only, to supply chip sets for mobile phones that supports ANT+ connectivity. I say “supports” because the phone’s firmware has to be written to activate the ANT+ radio, and I have not been able to find an example of this yet. The Motorola Droid X contains the Texas Instruments ANT+ capable WiLink 6.0 chip, however it lacks the out-of-the-box firmware to make ANT+ connectivity possible. Even if you were to enable ANT+ by hack, there still isn’t an app in the Android Market that’s ANT+ ready. Bottom line, widespread Android/ANT+ solutions are going to take some time to be available. *EDIT Sony Ericsson is now the first Android handset maker with ANT+ connectivity solutions. On February 1, 2011, SE began rolling out firmware updates activating ANT+ hardware on their X8 and X10 family. No word found yet on compatible applications. ENDEDIT*
2. Symbian/Nokia Complete ANT+ solutions for Symbian smartphones simply doesn’t exist at present. Like Android, it’s possible with the right chip sets and firmware, but I can’t find any news on when to anticipate this. The rumor mill has turned on speculation that Nokia’s current flagship N8 is ANT+ capable. Even if this can be confirmed, there aren’t any ANT+ compatible apps in the Ovi Store or elsewhere to take advantage of it.
3. iPhone As previously mentioned, if you want to build an ANT+ system using your mobile phone now, then you’ll want an iPhone. Together with a plug-in accessory like the Wahoo Fitness Fisica Key ($80) and the right app from the App Store, you can use your choice of the many available ANT+ sensors already out there. From heart rate monitors to foot-pods, from power-meters to cadence sensors, the list is long of products you can bring into your system. At last count there were at least 30 different companies developing ANT+ iPhone app systems.
4. Windows Mobile Note: I didn’t include this category when I first published this piece and now I must admit I’ve overlooked a serious contributor to the mobile wireless sensor scene in Athlosoft. I personally have regarded WinMo phones marketed for business use and often forget the platform because it hasn’t been very popular recently for cutting-edge mobile technology. Turns out, HTC have several ANT+ capable handsets (chip exists, firmware needed in most cases). Athlosoft and eSymetric’s Run.GPS were the first smartphone GPS app developers I know of and they both began on the WinMo platform. I plan to follow up on this.

There is a great deal more than heart rate monitors and power meters on the horizon when it comes to using our mobile phones with wireless sensor technology… a lot more. The next generation Bluetooth, called Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (BLE), will be competing with ANT+ across more than just mobile platforms, with a wide variety of wireless sensor products for both consumer and commercial use. Ecosystems using BLE and/or ANT+ protocols in conjunction with mobile phones will permit the streaming of wireless sensor data, enhancing our sports-tracking experiences and assisting in the real-time monitoring of personal medical statuses and record keeping. For ANT+ to compete better in the mobile phone arenas, it needs more support from handset manufacturers. If that support doesn’t widely arrive before BLE does in mobiles, then BLE would have an apparent advantage over ANT+, given the ubiquity of Bluetooth in handsets today. BLE sensors are coming, but ANT+ sensors are easy to find right now. Just don’t plan to use them with your mobile unless it has an Apple and an ANT+ adapter on it. Sure there are other mobile platforms where we could see new wireless sensor solutions in such as Meego, Win Mo 7, Bada, Blackberry and Palm. But as things stand today, only the iPhone and Android markets offer a rich variety of competing health and fitness management apps. And it’s those fiercely competitive developer environments which are producing the most innovation, strengthening their platforms even further.

Please leave your comments, arguments, corrections and so on, below. Perhaps we can get the attention of handset and wireless sensor manufacturers so that the development decisions they’re currently making might better reflect consumer demands.

Here is Google’s live link: http://www.google.com/mytrackstour

…one for HighRoad Sports live data: http://highroadsports.com/velostream

…and SRM’s TdF live page: http://www.srmlive.de/Data/Telemetry.html

Very soon, Google’s MyTracks sports tracking application will be updated to support both ANT+ and Bluetooth devices, making MyTracks one of the most versatile apps in its category.

Back to the headline… Exciting news surrounding Tour de France coverage! Google and High Road Sports have entered a collaboration, together with partnerships from HTC and SRM, to bring spectators of the Tour de France closer than ever seen before.

High Road Sports announces a new technology and marketing collaboration with Google Inc., supported by partners HTC and SRM, that brings a worldwide audience further inside the experience of racing in the Tour de France.

Fans and viewers will be able to follow Team HTC-Columbia riders in real time with speed, heart rate, power output and other data provided by SRM, presented and enhanced with Google’s leading applications – Google Maps, Street View, Google Earth, Android, and My Tracks.

As the title sponsor of Team HTC-Columbia, HTC has worked closely with SRM, Google and High Road’s technical team to develop HTC Legend smartphones that operate with HTC Sense with Android™ 2.1. These smartphones will collect real time racing and location information and transmit it wirelessly to Google’s servers.  The phones run Google’s mobile application ‘My Tracks’ which reads the racing data directly from the SRM sensors on the bike.   Racing information is then enhanced with Google’s leading applications and made public to all interested viewers and users via API’s made available by Google.

Google is encouraging Press, TV and web developers to take the data and build rich applications that make use of the data at this year’s Tour de France. The read only API can be accessed through the contacts listed below.

“I’m thrilled about the opportunity to leverage Google’s My Tracks application to deliver real-time racing information to fans watching the Tour de France,” said Dylan Casey, Product Manager at Google and former professional cyclist with the US Postal Service team. “This is a unique, engaging way to help cycling fans all around the world get a sense of what the riders go through during each stage of the race and follow the performance of the world-class riders on Team HTC-Columbia. We’re fortunate to work with such great partners – High Road Sports, HTC, SRM, and ANT+ – to make this possible.”

“Professional cycling is such an advanced technical sport and we’re excited for Team HTC-Columbia to be embracing innovative wireless and location-based technologies like Google’s My Tracks and HTC smartphones to deliver unprecedented rider data to the team, media and cycling fans around the world,” said John Wang, chief marketing officer, HTC Corporation.

“Google and HTC are ideal partners to further develop the sport of cycling and present it to a worldwide audience in an engaging way,” says Owner of HTC-Columbia Bob Stapleton. “The interest of such innovative partners  is very encouraging and we look forward to continuing to develop this project in the future.”

Source: High Road Sports

I purchased my Android mobile with Google’s apps and services integration as the main draw. The announcement above is exactly what I had been hoping for; Mobile sports tracking is about to get center stage attention.

MyTracks already combines a number of Google services to make it stand out in a competitive category. Google Docs, Maps, Maps Editor, and Google Earth all seamlessly integrate with the MyTracks application. Together with support for ANT+ and Bluetooth devices, you can immediately expect heart rate data to be added, as well as the potential for all sorts of new vital statistics to add to your recorded workouts.

Thanks to Rodrigo from the MyTracks team for the alert on the news!

This post will continue to receive updates as the Android ecosystem changes often. Please read my review of Zephyr’s HxM Bluetooth heart rate monitor.

Features to look for in a sports tracker

1. Easy access to data during your workouts. Pace, distance, time and heart rate should be easy to read on a single screen.
2. Map access during outdoor workouts. Preferably, maps should cache to SDcard to save on data costs. The latest Google Maps affords limited caching now, which most sports tracker apps use. A couple others incorporate offline maps from a variety of map sources.
3. Wireless sensor compatibility for data such as heart rate, breath rate, temperature, blood pressure and so on. The only wireless standard presently compatible with available Android handsets is Bluetooth. You’ll need to be running Android 2.1 and higher, as well. The field of available Bluetooth sensors is small, but it’s packed with quality. Zephyr Technology’s HxM and BioHarness heart rate monitors offer the best features and have SDKs allowing developers quick integration with any app. Polar makes a reliable WearLink+ Bluetooth sensor for an alternative option.
4. Data should be importable and exportable. Standardized .gpx, .kml and .kmz file types can be used with a variety of 3rd-party services and software, allowing you to analyze your workouts with greater detail as well as keeping all those hard-earned workouts together on your hard drives.
5. Direct uploading to a web portal companion which allows you to dig into the data and analyze your workouts how you see fit. Using a variety of metrics, workouts should be organized in a log, preferably in a calendar for ease of access.
6. Options for mobile data usage. You should be able to run the app and record your sessions in Android’s “Airplane mode”. Mobile data is needed to acquire uncached map tiles, to use A-GPS and to synchronize your workouts with the web portals. Sometimes a mobile connection isn’t possible or expensive with roaming. A-GPS brings quicker GPS fixes but is not necessary.
7. Configurability. From how often waypoints are recorded, to satellite sensitivity, to user details and lap statistics. The best fitness apps have precise methods of calculating energy spent using min/max heart rate by way of extra configurability options.
8. Voice feedback. Plenty of options here makes for a winning concept. Properly configured, you might not have to touch or even view your mobile between start and finish. You should be able to choose the data you want to hear and how often it’s announced, allowing your eyes to remain focused on the trail.

(note: When looking for a sports tracker, remember that GPS accuracy has little, if nothing, to do with the app itself, especially long established apps like these below.)

Tracker apps supporting wireless health sensor(s)

1. SportsTracker Pro www.sportstracklive.com This excellent app has been my favorite for nearly a year. Highly configurable with superior quality options and graphics. Currently the only app to support Zephyr’s BioHarness, supporting also Zephyr’s HxM and Polar’s WearLink+ heart rate monitors. A very active development team provides excellent customer support. The Pro version is $10 and is needed for wireless sensors and social networking features, to name a few. Should appeal to most athletes, especially those wanting a lot of configurable functionality. I love the “Big” screen option and all the voice cues Sports Tracker has.
2. Endomondo www.endomondo.com Lots of good features in a great looking, minimalistic app. Missing some important configurability more serious athletes want (limited voice cues, only basic caloric calculators), but sports some fun and innovative options others don’t have (Pep-Talk allows a friend to send a voice message to cheer that you hear during the run). Very active development team but they do take their time rolling out promised features. Free and paid versions. You should choose Endomondo if you want out-of-the-box readiness and don’t want to be bothered with advanced options.
3. Run.GPS www.rungps.net No other sports app has as many tools or been in development longer. The most configurable and missing nothing, you’ll want to read the user’s manual and stock up on patience before starting the 14-day trial. One you have it set up though, Run.GPS offers the most technically well-rounded sports apps, albeit in a somewhat outdated UI. Offline maps and detailed training reports are highlights here. Should appeal to more advanced athletes for serious training. Different price points from free to over $50.
4. SportyPal www.sportypal.com Like most other sports trackers on this list with origins pre-dating the first Android phones, SportyPal has been around for a long time and has always been a good app choice. Today’s versions offer up basic but solid functionality, modern and thoughtful interfaces and at least one exclusive feature via a plug-in for Sony Ericsson’s LiveView watch. Though I can’t seem to find the LiveView function worthwhile in the least. Free and Paid versions. Should appeal to those who want an app to “just work”. SportyPal Pro brings Zephyr HxM compatibility.
5. RunKeeper runkeeper.com RunKeeper is popular, very popular. Easy to use, good looking interface, lots of different services to subscribe to, available on iPhone and Android, RunKeeper has an evangelical following and probably the best marketing department. So how’s the app? Good, but point-for-point it just falls short on the features I find most attractive and depend upon everyday. Free and paid versions with an expanding range of paid services and subscriptions.
6. MyTracks REMOVED FROM RECOMMENDATION* http://mytracks.appspot.com/ MyTracks is a Google project and is produced by devs in their “Spare time”; 20% of the dev’s time is allocated. Of all the apps offering wireless sensor compatibility, MyTracks might be the most disappointing to me. In fact, besides unofficially supporting Bluetooth heart rate sensors in the HxM and WearLink+, MyTracks might have lost more features than it gained over the past year. Over the same time, MyTracks projects and promised features had me very excited. For example, MyTracks Tour de France project incorporated ANT+ wireless protocols, never seen in Android, to stream data from all sorts of wireless sensors. To date, the devs are still talking about what’s coming. So how’s the app? Raw but good. You’ll see data that many sports trackers don’t include, in a basic interface that brings out the Android geek in you. It’s unfinished, but I include it because it’s worth trying and keeping an eye on. Free.(UPDATE: I cannot recommend using MyTracks for the following reasons; 1) The app does not yet support wireless sensors 2) As of Feb 01, 2011 we lost the ability to upload map data. I understand how tough app development can be but this team has fallen way behind the competition.)
7. CardioTrainer www.worksmartlabs.com Definitely one of the most popular Android apps, CardioTrainer just added heart rate monitor support in February 2011. I’ve yet to try it out with my hrm, but I’ve tested it out a few times in the past. CardioTrainer appears to have RunKeeper’s business model of providing an app or service for every possible fitness and diet need.
8. Athlosoft www.athlosoft.com I have to apologize for having forgotten about this pioneer of mobile sports tracking. I remember Athlosoft and Run.GPS both with mobile sports tracking solutions in 2006 and 2007 and very nearly gave me the best reason to buy a Windows Mobile phone, the only mobile platform Athlosoft works with. Even if you wont consider a WinMo phone, check out their website for a look at probably the most complete solutions for any athlete training with a mobile.
9. LegLogger www.leglogger.com New sports tracking app with Zephyr HxM support. Will report back on this one soon.

Gallery

Other health and fitness apps

OnTri www.ontri.com

Heart Rate Monitor androidheartmonitor.com For use with Zephyr’s HxM, it does exactly what you think.

Wireless sensors (Bluetooth)

1. Zephyr Technology’s HxM and BioHarness The HxM is the best heart rate monitor for most Android owners offering reliable, medical-grade sensors, rechargeable batteries and adds cadence data. The BioHarness is the most sophisticated wireless bio sensor available anywhere, for any mobile platform. Prices are $99 and $710.
2. Polar WearLink+ An excellent heart rate sensor but it lacks rechargeable batteries and a cadence sensor. I used my WearLink+ for over a year before switching to Zephyr’s HxM last year. It performs flawlessly but you will go through a lot of coin-cells, which are difficult to switch out. Price starts at $95.
3. Frwd B Series Heart Rate Monitors for Mobiles (discontinued distribution outside of FINLAND) www.frwd.fi
4. Kyto Electronics Heart Rate Monitors (Bluetooth) www.kytocn.com model HRM-2805

Oh, the iPhone. In the year leading up to Apple’s iPhone launch, all those who knew me as “that Nokia dude” asked me if I was going to get one and what my thoughts on it were. Made sense, I’ve also remained a Mac user over the years. Well, armed with knowledge from a vast community of ardent Nokia/Symbian loyalists, I knew better. My answer always politely leaned, “The iPhone is a cute effort but I’ll stick with Nokia, thank you”. Why? Simple: Nokia is the largest, most innovative, most user-friendly… A company with a reputation for these and a lot more points was surely baking an answer to the iPhone that no loyal customer would want to miss out on. Nearly four years later it’s clear that I was wrong. For all the Nokia/Symbian fanboys that taught me to laugh at the competition, sorry, the joke was on us. The iPhone, love it or hate it, changed everything and Nokia is now choking on a contrail of silicon dust that’s not just coming from Apple’s charge forward. Nokia are still good, they just aren’t doing anything market-leading to earn my business. Time to try the competition!

So last month I broke form, went against my sensibilities and decided to buy a mobile not made by Nokia. I bought an HTC Desire. Before it was delivered, regret was everything I feared. Touch-only UI, “new” OS, buggy apps, poor multi-tasking, less-than-Nokia quality… I was leaving free(not) Ovi Maps and my beloved Nokia Sports Tracker for Frozen Yogurt with little green robots from Google. What was I thinking?

My HTC Desire arrived and within 15 minutes I felt like I was using a device I might have dreamed about as a little kid lost in sci-fi novelette fantasy. From purely my user experience, this mobile corrects and exceeds every standard Nokia had set for me. A month of use later and exploring the Android community, I have to say I’m thoroughly thrilled with my Desire. In fact, the only thing negative my new mobile has brought about is my attitude toward Nokia and it’s die-hard community of “Stick with us, a fix is on the way!” loyalists. I realized yet another lesson in life: Brand-loyalty makes fools of us. Save your loyalty for family, friends and… perhaps football:-) Am I an Android fanboy now? For now, yes. Google has taken what Apple revitalized and made it friggin’ exciting!

Why am I writing this post in a blog about running? My mobile is a part of my training and I use it to track my performance and health. Required tools to do these things are not only offered in the Android Market, but in a competitive one with many capable applications and accessories. With what I’m after, Nokia/Symbian really offered just Sports Tracker and Endomondo. You may perhaps debate Google’s part in a closed-versus-open argument when it comes to OS development, apps and tools. With what I’m after, Android gives me access to all the things I want, NOW, without a wait; Something Nokia/Symbian simply cannot do at present.

Nevertheless, my only wish in making this switch to Android is that I could have Sports Tracker along for the ride. I was really hoping to see their talents in the Android Market, nearly a year since leaving Nokia. An Android Sports Tracker presence would be all-benefiting.

My next few posts will highlight my Android running companion in all of its parts. Reviews of the latest sports software and services to available heart-rate hardware. Sport-friendly accessories will get coverage too, such as headphones and comfy arm-pouches.

If you’re in the market for a new mobile, I hope you get the chance to try before you buy. HTC, and Android, are doing some incredible stuff right now.

Beginning with platform support, Jussi said that in addition to today’s release we should expect new versions for all S60 mobiles in the coming weeks. He says, “We are now giving all necessary attention and support to S60, as there are millions of existing users out there to serve.” The STT team wants to be sure all of us who have been there through the years are taken care of first. He also said that other platforms will be supported at a later time, but refrains from any details or promises as those versions are still in development.

Moving on to user data Jussi explains that, as promised, great care has been taken to insure no loss of data, aiming for a totally seamless transition to the new service. This includes user name, profile, settings and all details of your workout history. The STT team had hoped that the new website would be ready for today’s release version, unfortunately its not quite ready to launch. Soon!

The next bit of news surely leaves us with a lot of questions; Polar heart rate monitors. Jussi only says that the STT team includes the heart rate features in the new versions to provide continuation to exisiting N79 Active users, “…who have changed their primary device to a touch model (and there’s quite an impressive number of them- based on the huge number of folks who have contacted us recently).” We’ll just have to wait for more STT/Polar news.

Jussi and the rest of the team are thrilled and thankful for all of the loyal Sports Tracker users who have been longing for news and support. He said his inbox has thousands of emails in it (naturally impossible to reply to them all) but is continually energized and touched by all the comments of support for Sports Tracker. Especially those of you who were inspired to become active as a result of using the app/service for the first time.

Jussi and I will stay in touch to bring you more information and updates as they become available.