Smart phone for fitness heads

Brian?

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I only want an iPhone for the GPS MapMyRun running thing, even though the last time I ran was 8 months ago.

Get a palm pre instead. Much better phone.

Barry.Oglesby

briankeating wrote: »

Get a palm pre instead. Much better phone.

Not to take this totally off the fitness topic but do tell. I'm upgrading next month.

Brian?

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Not to take this totally off the fitness topic but do tell. I'm upgrading next month.

I got one a few months back, tis mighty. It doesn't have the range of apps that the iphone does, but lets face how many of them are actually any use.

As a phone though, its much better than the iphone. Qwerty keyboard, can run multiple apps at once, syncs brilliantly with gmail and installs a removable drive on a PC so there's no poxy software needed on your PC.

Not to get too nerdy, but the OS on it is savage. Based on Linux. My 4 year old nephew was using it after 5 minutes its so well designed.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/03/palm-pre-review/


If you just want the fancy apps, get an ipod touch. Which is basically the iphone, without the phone and decent storage for music.

Barry.Oglesby

Hmmm, okay, I can actually dig the Linux thing I spent a good portion of my working life making Linux based servers and it is superior in every way. I run iTunes for my iPod anyway so I won't have the download issue.

I have to say though I'm pretty modest with my phone needs. Good battery and able to take a good beating are my two main requirements beyond phone and email. Mind you, GPS would save me having to buy a sat nav, and some of the accelerometer apps on iPhone might come in handy for my training, but they'd be a laugh more than anything.

Brian?

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Hmmm, okay, I can actually dig the Linux thing I spent a good portion of my working life making Linux based servers and it is superior in every way. I run iTunes for my iPod anyway so I won't have the download issue.

I have to say though I'm pretty modest with my phone needs. Good battery and able to take a good beating are my two main requirements beyond phone and email. Mind you, GPS would save me having to buy a sat nav, and some of the accelerometer apps on iPhone might come in handy for my training, but they'd be a laugh more than anything.

If it's battery life you're after, the palm pre and iphone are both pretty poor. i get 2 and a bit days out of my palm pre. But I do spend a lot of time running apps, checking emails, making calls etc.

Khannie

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I only want an iPhone for the GPS MapMyRun running thing, even though the last time I ran was 8 months ago.

It is quite cool. I hate running too but the novelty factor was very high.

briankeating wrote: »

As a phone though, its much better than the iphone. Qwerty keyboard, can run multiple apps at once, syncs brilliantly with gmail and installs a removable drive on a PC so there's no poxy software needed on your PC.

The only advantage I see there is that you don't have to install iTunes. The iphone has an on-screen qwerty keyboard (in fact, you have the option of customising it). Larger screen. Can run multiple apps at once (you're a nonce if you don't jailbreak it) and has built in email support (including, but not limited to, gmail).

briankeating wrote: »

Not to get too nerdy, but the OS on it is savage. Based on Linux.

The iPhone OS (and MacOs!) is based off Unix also. I have mine running an SSH server so I can copy files onto it over wifi without even connecting a cable. I have a nice shell installed which the geek in me LOVES. I can shut down all the computers in my house on my phone from bed. Win.

It has drawbacks though. I don't have a windows or mac machine (there are 4 computers in my house and they all run linux) and so if you do want some of the apple specific features you're a bit shafted. Battery life is moderate if you're using it for browsing / videos / GPS and I use the browsing and videos a lot (total win for the train commute).

My next smart phone (likely 2 years from now) will probably be android based because apple don't like giving me control over my phone.

This is horribly off-topic. I may just move it to its own thread.....

Khannie

Oh, if you're upgrading next month I'd seriously look at some of the newer android based phones. I'd consider an iPhone and Pre too, but something android based would be top of my list at the moment.

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely LOVE my iPhone. It is an unbelievably useful piece of kit. I'm just more put off by being locked in by apple than most might be.

Barry.Oglesby

Opinions on the google phone then? It's unlikely I'll get it but still...

I actually love running Khannie I just can't do it anymore The last time out I couldn't walk for 4 days and I doubt I've improved with age. But I'm hopeful. Mapmyrun is fairly cool (the site that is) and if I do manage to get back out, I'd like to be setting PRs

iTunes is a colossal pain in the hoop by the way, and it really would put me off buying Apple again. Example, my iPod is +2yrs old, which makes it a veritable dinosaur. When iTunes 9 came out, my iPod stopped syncing, apprently because it's just old. For a good 3 months everytime I wanted to add a track I had to put it into disk mode and sync it that way (something which took me a week's dicking around to figure out) until they revised the software a bit (they weren't in a huge hurry since it only affected older iPod Classics) and now it works okay, but occasionally when I sync it, I put my headphones on and there's no music on the player at all. Cue me syncing again until it gets it right.

Give me my old Creative copy/paste/drag/drop anyday.

Khannie

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Opinions on the google phone then? It's unlikely I'll get it but still...

Didn't do too much digging on it to be honest. I didn't have any choice at the time myself and was more than happy to get an iPhone for myself. The geeks in work were *very* excited about
this though. I mean *very* excited.

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

I actually love running Khannie I just can't do it anymore The last time out I couldn't walk for 4 days and I doubt I've improved with age.

Ouch

iTunes is a colossal pain in the hoop by the way

Yeah, if you don't like iTunes I'd say definitely have a look at the android phones. The Pre might be worth a look as well, but that legend I linked above does look the business.

d'Oracle

I can report that Android has two running app thingies.

I had a look at the Android market.

Brian?

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Opinions on the google phone then? It's unlikely I'll get it but still....

I have yet to meet anyone who owns a google phone, I'm wondering is that damning in itself.

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

iTunes is a colossal pain in the hoop by the way, and it really would put me off buying Apple again. Example, my iPod is +2yrs old, which makes it a veritable dinosaur. When iTunes 9 came out, my iPod stopped syncing, apprently because it's just old. For a good 3 months everytime I wanted to add a track I had to put it into disk mode and sync it that way (something which took me a week's dicking around to figure out) until they revised the software a bit (they weren't in a huge hurry since it only affected older iPod Classics) and now it works okay, but occasionally when I sync it, I put my headphones on and there's no music on the player at all. Cue me syncing again until it gets it right.

Give me my old Creative copy/paste/drag/drop anyday.

This is the main reason why I won't buy Apple. How hard is it to make something that plugs into a USB and works straight away? Not very if you look at every other phone/mp3 player/removable hard drive/usb stick on the market.

Just what every fitness thread needs, an anti-Apple rant.

Brian?

Khannie wrote: »

The only advantage I see there is that you don't have to install iTunes. The iphone has an on-screen qwerty keyboard (in fact, you have the option of customising it). Larger screen. Can run multiple apps at once (you're a nonce if you don't jailbreak it) and has built in email support (including, but not limited to, gmail)

I know the iphone can do what the pre does when you jailbreak it, but in the name of jaysus, why do you have to jailbreak a device to get it to be as functional as it should be straight out of the box?

tagoona

Sorry to butt in with your discussion of really high end and expensive phones.
I got hold of the Nokia N97 there recently. For 100E.
You can download some decent apps for it.
The GPS is quite good and it now does free gps navigation while you're in the car, unlike the iphone which needs a data connection to update google maps.

As for the fitness part, the nokia sportstracker is quite good, uses the gps and can be paired with a HRM as well.
I'm using to track my tri. training.

Another phone for consideration anyway

d'Oracle

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Give me my old Creative copy/paste/drag/drop anyday.

Or Iriver.

Before anybody did anything, Iriver did it first.