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!

Mobile World Congress 2011 was a huge success from my perspective. The entire event I was surrounded with some of the most important and influential companies and individuals in mHealth today. Most notably were they who made up my partnering team from Qualcomm Health and Zephyr Technology. My role was simple: Demonstrate the “remote physiological monitoring” capabilities of Zephyr’s BioHarness for up to 10 hours a day while engaging in what would be hundreds of fascinating discussions about the future of mobile technology in healthcare.

Having used numerous mobile wellness solutions since 2006, involved with the testing and proving of familiar and failed alpha/beta projects across multiple OS platforms, I can say I have a lot to share when it comes to pushing innovation and the future of mHealth. What began as a way to consolidate my gadgets and fitness logs by taking advantage of the powerful computing and networking potentials within a smartphone, has now become an full-fledged launch toward a brand new career in the burgeoning world of mHealth. I’m a mobile tech geek and fitness freak of the highest order; This is my space.

I had a prime opportunity at this year’s MWC to better comprehend mHealth’s bigger picture and forward vision. Sure, my sports tracking tools are more dynamic and robust than ever. New wireless health sensors are coming from several sources, facilitating data collection that is not merely more complete and convenient than ever before, but more economical and far-reaching as well. The same technology pioneered in my mobile wellness apps is now bringing organized medical records and diagnosis to those who’ve never previously had access. Connecting doctors and patients without object to space and time. From disease control to pre-natal care, mHealth’s impact in medicine is revolutionary and… this is only the beginning.

My Qualcomm Health neighboring partners within the MWC Embedded Mobile House (EMH) provided me with an abundance of mental fuel to keep my physical stamina a non-issue while on the bike. The time virtually flew by as we proudly compared our individual solutions, sparking conversations from a never-ending queue of visitors through the EMH. I spoke at length with every kind of entrepreneur, from doctors to national ambassadors. From easy to conceive concepts to the most extraordinary ones. All the while I was kept company and mentored by Qualcomm Health’s brilliant executive team. Speaking of them, I extend special thanks to Don Jones, Clint McCellan, Grant Kroeger, Vicki Smith, Elaine Winans and Jamie Eisinger for their priceless support and experience of this year’s MWC. Of course, I wouldn’t have been there in the first place if not for Asher Gendelman, VP of Marketing at Zephyr Technology. If you ever have the privilege one day to work with any of these visionaries, you will be impressed.

All of my fellow Qualcomm Health partner exhibitors gave me something valuable at MWC, but none more than the encouraging words of a fiercely spirited CEO of Great Connection Inc.’s, Åsa Nordgren. Check out http://www.greatconnection.se/ for her touching mHealth innovation.

Where do I go from here? For RunningDigital.com, it’s still about mobiles and fitness with plenty to write about and products to review. I haven’t yet been able to intercept the interviews I gave to the likes of Bloomberg TV, BBC and CNN. When I do, I’ll surely post them here. Until then, here’s an EMH tour with a brief spot with me on my demo bike.

Zephyr Technology’s HxM heart rate and cadence sensor has been an important tool in my arsenal for several months now. It consistently provides the quality data I need and it proves mHealth (Mobile Health concept) works well in Android. Zephyr’s available HxM SDK is being used by more and more developers to add the HxM’s unique functionality into their apps, allowing developers to incorporate the HxM how they see fit while giving consumers the flexibility to use the HxM with any mobile/app combination they want. In fact, no two apps or consumers may use the HxM is exactly the same manner. One dev may decide that only heart rate data is enough, while another includes heart rate stats to a caloric expenditure algorithm. Not every app takes advantage of the HxM’s cadence data, yet some use it to approximate indoor training distances or stride efficiency. It’s all up to the dev how the data gets used for their particular application package, with end-users ultimately benefiting from a range of apps to choose from to suit their needs. Zephyr’s use of standard Bluetooth here is also an asset, considering Bluetooth’s global ubiquity and giving mHealth its widest reach.

While the HxM is one of the best and most versatile sports accessories to own, Zephyr’s flagship product, named BioHarness, sets a new benchmark in the mHealth concept. Referred to as a “lab on a strap”, it provides a wireless link to several critical points of physiological interest. Heart rate, skin temperature, breath rate and posture simultaneously stream over Bluetooth to remote monitoring systems, used for everything from personal fitness tracking in controlled environments, to the tracking of entire first-responder teams in hazardous ones.

For example, in Chile recently where trapped miners captured the world’s attention while awaiting an incredibly sophisticated rescue operation, Zephyr Technology was called upon to monitor the miners’ vitals using BioHarnesses. Each miner took turns wearing one of several monitors throughout the rescue which provided real-time physiological data to tactical teams on the surface. Medical evaluations and responses were subsequently made and better dispensing of medical prescription down to the miners became possible. This was an awesome validation for the BioHarness thanks to its precision, adaptability and perhaps most importantly, mobility. Fortunately, all the miners surfaced in good condition with one emerging fit enough to run in the New York City Marathon just a few days later.

When I asked Zephyr if I could test a BioHarness for a RunningDigital review, I had planned to cover it with a similar approach as the HxM review I wrote back in June. You know, open the box, rate the quality of the hardware, try it out, take some pictures, make some app recommendations and write it up. Since then, Zephyr supplied me with BioHarness case-studies, abstracts, validation articles and news media to pour over while I awaited delivery of a test unit here in Sweden. What I discovered was that this is one of the most thoughtfully engineered and researched mobile products available today. What’s more, the BioHarness works without compromise over a broad spectrum of application, providing data in the field only possible before with static equipment in a lab. Remote vitals monitoring; Remember that.

I’ve now been using the BioHarness every day for a month and can say what’s most forward in my mind is: I need to buy this test unit, period. In a single word: Fantastic. Indeed if you’re thinking of adopting, or already have, the concept of mHealth into your fitness or safety-monitoring ecosystems, and especially if you own an Android device, Zephyr’s BioHarness completes the picture in a way no other product or combination thereof can. With it you can extract data previously possible only in labs to analyze and prove your training plan.

Wearing the BioHarness is comfortable for extended periods of time if required. The sensor module is understandably larger than any I’ve seen before but it’s well placed and completely unobtrusive. Like the HxM, the BioHarness contains a rechargeable power supply that seems to last forever. I kept mine topped off between uses, but a two hour trail run only saw a 12% drop in battery level determined via a mobile application graphic. Nearly all of the monitoring I’ve done thus far has been with SportsTrackLive.com’s SportsTracker Pro Android app. Zephyr also offers a nearly complete (Beta) Android app of their own called OmniSense. With it you can monitor up to seven BioHarness-wearing subjects within Bluetooth range. My BioHarness works better than any other soft strap heart rate monitor I’ve previously owned, exceeding my expectations throughout form and function. I really don’t want to perform a single workout again without it, so… I will begin publishing a series of BioHarness followup posts. Next week I’ll share my visit to Bosön, a professional sports complex of the Swedish Sports Confederation and training home to our national teams and athletes. In other words, I had access to all the traditional physiological monitoring equipment needed to test the precision of the BioHarness against.

Wrapping up this segment, there simply isn’t anything on the market that can do what the BioHarness does. It goes beyond any other heart rate monitor, offering what amounts to a portable physical statistics lab. For athletes, rescue personell or homebound patients, the BioHarness provides solutions never seen before and makes a brilliant case for the future of mHealth.

*The folks at Zephyr have issued a special 5% discount code for readers of RunningDigital. Copy and paste RunningDigitalBHBT into the appropriate field when ordering. Click here to order.

Before I proceed I want to applaud the innovative effort that LiveView is. I think a device like this has good potential that requires further development from SonyEricsson, and ideally from other manufacturers. LiveView is an early-adopter product and there’s no mistaking it, feeling entirely like a market tester with hints of compromise on many facets of my user experience. Here’s my take:

Hardware
While LiveView is certainly not a toy, if you compare it’s basic look, construction and UI to any Android 2.1+ device, then it sort of feels like one.

The hard key actions are not solid and don’t feel like they’re made to last. To power the unit on and off, as well a waking it from sleep mode (which happens in seconds), you need to press the left hard key. To fire off each notification’s functions, you need to press the left hard key. I mention these basic user moves because you will need them every single time you want to get use out of the module. With that in mind they should be easier to press, larger, softer and should definitely be water resistant. Instead, the hard keys were a bit of pain to constantly have to fuss with and I got no sense that this is a device I would want to use where moisture was a factor. Again, with the approach that I’m using it with a sports tracking app.

The screen should be larger and with better resolution. As it is, it’s just okay. Everything is clearly visible, all the way down to the minuscule text within the Twitter, Facebook and RSS feeds. However, for a device that’s presumably going to keep me from checking my mobile as often, then I shouldn’t be reminded that I’m staring into a compromise. It’s a tiny screen that doesn’t need to be much larger than it is, given what it does. But a larger screen with better resolution would make this feel more like a part of a user experience enhancement, rather than a reminder that I’m too lazy to grab my mobile that remains within 10 meters of the module.

Accessory wise, the included wrist band is nothing more than a temporary solution while you shop for a better one. The module comes with a clip attached for fixing to anything from clothing to the book you’re reading. You can remove this clip and pop the module into an included watch frame, fixing it to appropriately sized third-party watch bands you can get at malls using two spring pins, also included.

Software

LiveView becomes functional with your Android 2.1+up device with two apps available in the Android Marketplace; LiveView and LiveWare. The LiveView app provides connectivity options to the module and the LiveWare app brings search and support for compatible plug ins. Out of the box, you get support for these notifications: Incoming/Missed calls, Calendar, Twitter, Facebook, RSS and Text msg. You can set up polling frequency and exactly which notifications you want to see and disabling those you don’t. Twitter and Facebook messages are shown one at a time and you have to scroll down to see most messages in full, as well as to activate a “send to phone” command where your Twitter or Facebook app on your mobile is launched, taking you directly to that message. For most Twitter/Facebook users this seems totally impractical unless you choose to see only direct messages. None of the LiveView’s notifications are searchable and you only see messages that arrive from the time you connect, i.e. there is no call and message history to find. Again, each time you receive a notification, you have to wake the screen, select the service and open it.

SportyPal Pro Integration

I don’t want to do a review of the app at this time, rather focusing on the SportyPal Pro LiveView notifications. However, I will say that this new app version works nicely; Reliable functionality, pleasing graphics and competitive feature-set. Zephyr’s HxM integration was a cinch to set up and performed well. Moving on to what gets displayed on the LiveView, you get a set of screens to scroll over, including one screen for heart rate stats. The problems I had with this experience were: To see SportyPal Pro stats you have to wake the screen, choose the plugins folder, choose SportyPal Pro, then cross-scroll to your desired stat. This means you’ll be making a lot of button presses on your run. This is not the accessory I’ve been wishing for to complete my sports tracking experience.

Overall impressions

Many mobile phone sport trackers, like myself, have talked about this idea of adding a watch accessory for convenient access to running stats for a while now. The idea being that our mobiles are far more capable computers than traditional wrist-top monitors, offering access to maps and navigation, real-time uploading, media for entertainment (I’m addicted to audio books), voice cues and the important lifeline in case trouble arises. Moreover, the ecosystems of mobile sport tracking are modular, with each component interchangeable and transferrable. That said, our mobiles aren’t so good in bright sunlight, access to functions can be awkward and can’t be worn in a way for easy access to stats. Traditional monitors are still the best choice for the elite athlete who needs immediate access to raw data. The LiveView idea potentially bridges this gap between traditional monitor and sports app and, again, I’m happy to see SonyEricsson’s attempt here. Unfortunately, this first-generation of LiveView has quite a few problems.

Bugs

If you’re planning on purchasing LiveView, note that the Android development community is showing interest in it as well. From app devs planning to add their own LiveView plugins soon, to creative hackers looking to do entirely new things with it. For now, there seems to be more problems than solutions. Most importantly, the connection between phone and LiveView seems to fail with regularity. Sometimes reconnecting is as simple as a press of the right hard key, other times a hard reset of the module is required (hold left hard key down for 20 seconds).

Final thoughts

LiveView probably isn’t the sport tracking solution I thought it might be. For that, I think we need an always-on option for the screen with a focus remaining on sport tracker stats. We also need the SportyPal plugin to at least provide starting and stopping of the parent app, ideally with a lap marker command. I’m not sure what SportyPal is planning to charge for this app version, but they should consider to keep it free while in beta (currently on 30 day trail). Out of the box, the only feature I found in LiveView that seemed practical was remote media player control. The rest of LiveView’s features makes me question why I wouldn’t just go to my phone in the first place.

Not recommended for sports use. Software updates and new, innovative plugins will be key factors in LiveView’s survival. SonyEricsson and other mobile manufacturers should explore this idea further. There are millions of casual athletes using their mobile phones with sport tracking apps right now.

*I planned on adding a followup video but I’m having LiveView connection issues. I’ll add that video to this post if I can get it working again. In case you missed it from my last post, here’s my LiveView first look.

-Update-
My initial impressions of this little accessory include slight disappointment. It may partly come from the fact that my HTC Desire has set the bar high enough that using anything else feels like a compromise. No, I wasn’t expecting the LiveView to do anything more than advertised, but I had hoped such a tiny device would at least feel solid and durable. It’s just okay. For one, the screen resolution should be better for such a size. Also, the hard keys don’t always respond; Multiple presses with varying degrees of pressure gave inconsistent results. That made the device feel a bit cheap.

I’ve had it connected and receiving notifications all day reliably. However, after an hour or so I lost any desire to read my messages via the module, reaching for my handset instead. Bottom line, LiveView is supposed to be an experience enhancement. As a notifications alerter it’s good, but I’m lost on why anybody would want to actually read their messages on it. Your phone has to stay within 10 meters of LiveView anyway.

Nevertheless, the reason why I got excited over this device in the first place wasn’t for a Twitter/Facebook/RSS reader, it was for better access to my sport tracking data from my handset. Testing its worthiness in this area will be the focus of my full review, and I’ll begin using it tonight with SportyPal Pro app.

To end this device intro on a positive note, the LiveView module works as a media controller pretty well. I use my handset to play media in my home entertainment system fairly often. Using the LiveView module I can wirelessly control my handset’s media player and volume. Cool feature!

In my field testing I’ll focus on usability and durability during my running. Check back by week’s end for the results!

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!

A look over the WearLink for Nike+ spec sheet and pricing details reveals versatility and value. With a MSRP of $69.95, you’ll get a heart rate transmitter for your iPod Nike+ set-ups that’s compatible with existing Polar hardware using familiar coded 5 kHz transmissions.

No word yet on what impact, if any, this might have on Sports Tracking Technology’s popular Sports Tracker app. Many a Sports Tracker fan knows their app was the first to officially partner with Polar Electronics using a nearly identical Polar WearLink transmitter back in January 2009. It was an extremely limited offering in three international markets that sent unlucky but ardent Sports Tracker fans into an eternal holding pattern which remains in effect for Nokia owners.

Having been one of the lucky few to get my hands on one, I can say the WearLink transmitter performed like any Polar product I’ve owned and gave me good feedback for over 200 runs over the past year. The Polar for Nokia product, as it was called, differs from the latest WearLink for Nike+ in that its transmission signal is limited to the Sports Tracker app on Nokia handsets. Other than that, the two have seemingly identical spec sheets.

The only disappointing feature carried over is the Polar WearLink’s use of Lithium “coin” batteries. Perhaps Polar re-engineered the product for better power efficiency, I don’t know. The Polar for Nokia WearLink gave me less than three week use between changing batteries. On an added note, the actual process of changing those batteries was not so easy; The battery was difficult to remove once the door was removed.

Nevertheless, this Polar/Nike+ offering will allow millions of iPod users to economically rediscover, or rededicate to, their fitness routines like never before within their handsets using heart rate data.

Have a look at Polar’s site for more information.

*EDIT* This post originally stated iPhone support which is incorrect. See the link above for all current supported hardware. Thanks.*EDIT*