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.

The guys over at the Nokia Innovations Newsdesk started a contest, “Track a Heart, Win a Nokia N79 Active”. They’re asking participants to use the Nokia Sports Tracker program, available for most Nokia handsets, to trace the shape of a heart on the earth. To enter, go to the Sports Tracker website and create an account, then join the group “Location Artists”. Install the Sports Tracker application on your Nokia mobile and start “drawing”. Your workout routes show up as a continuous line, what you do with that line can be artwork with some planning. Here’s a screenshot of my workout for the contest:

My workout page for the N79 Active contest

The planning for my entry too a couple hours using Google Earth. I first looked locally for the most natural heart shaped route, then I printed out the map for easier planning. The way the Sports Tracker application works requires your artwork to be drawn in one continuous path. So it’s not possible to stop your line and begin again elsewhere.

The way I’m using Sports Tracker nearly every day to record my training, I have become quite familiar with it’s features, mostly by trial and error. I noticed that any pause in satellite data would create a straight line (usually) to the point where the satellite signal is picked up again. I also have made mistakes by pausing the application mid-route when I wanted to register a lap instead. These issues and more were resolved a long time ago, but I thought I might be able to turn those problems into a technique for the “Location Art” contest; And it worked.

Once I planned my design, I mapped out a single-continuous route. For easier reference to my path, I saved all the key waypoints in the necessary order as landmarks within my Nokia Maps application on my mobile. I began a new workout at the first scheduled waypoint and, basically, connected the dots (waypoints) as I continued, always referring to the next landmark in my Nokia Maps application. The lines I drew which crossed over the tops of buildings and over water (though it is currently ice anyway) were made possible by pausing the Sports Tracker application at one waypoint then resuming at the next, resulting in a straight line.

Problems. After testing this technique a bit I set out for my first attempt. Sparing you the fine details, I failed. I completed the route, my heart rate high just from adrenaline, and I immediately checked the output. FAIL. My heart looked like a spider web. Not all my waypoints were successfully recorded. I just spent 4,5 hours biking 39,5km and it didn’t work. Oh, and I missed my first scheduled running workout since Christmas…Bad.

Success. The next day I headed out earlier with some ideas on how to insure a better result. Another 4,5 hours and nearly 40km later, I stopped the application and checked the output. It still was missing some waypoints that I had visited, nevertheless, the results were pretty good. Feeling rejuvenated from relief, I resumed my training program when I got home by running some hill repeats; Back to life.

No matter how I fair in this contest, I feel pretty good about having done this little project. I’m more familiar with my city’s streets and found some new shortcuts. I’ll also forever visually regard certain areas of my city relative to this project; “That restaurant is at the bottom of the seven“. Anyway, it was a rather fun detour Nokia provided me with this challenge.

Grand prize is a Nokia N79 Active, featuring the new Polar BT Wear-Link chest strap. Some runner-ups will receive the Polar BT Wear-Link chest strap, compatible with a new version of Sports Tracker on many Nokia devices. Good luck to everyone who enters!

…and here is a link to their press release: Nokia N79 Active gets your heart racing