Running applications Part 2 - Using the two applications I've found.

Now I have actually used both of these apps properly, well at least a little. I present:

Vs

Right both apps tracked well, both disappointing seemed to lack a lap mode which I'm sure I may one day (as in when I'm fit again) find a use for.

When I got home Endomondo ad put three tweets up which was good. One to show you could watch my activity live and two showing my walk to school and my walk back (I broke it into two parts as there was no lap mode I could find). Run Keeper had posted nothing, this was fixed half fixed (only one activity got tweeted instead of two) when I went back into the app and pressed resend it did loose my comments on how it had gone which sucked, as I was beginning to think I wish Endomondo had that feature. 

All I did was walk to work using two different route and back so it did not give much time for my phone to regain signal but RK did not auto retry to upload my activity so I was a little disappointed by that, I wonder what Endomondo does when it has not signal to upload things with.

When I was looking at the stats on my laptop I have to say I'm gutted that Run Keeper's interface is much clearer than Endomondo's see for yourself:

RK:

Endo:

RK just has everything nice and big and easy to read, where as Endomondo you have to really look closely to see the details they don't jump out at you like they should. RK always starts to load the map in America and then moves to when your exercise took pace which annoyed me and Endo the map was always behind the Speed/ Altitude section which also annoyed me.

So in conclusion for now I have made no permanent decision as both apps still have things to improve, but Endomondo seems to focus much more on Android which I like and RK seems to be a iPhone app mainly their pro android app still does not support Heart Rate monitors. I will be using Endomondo for now as their android setup seems so much better, the app is free and does live tracking, HR monitoring, audio cues for free and coolest of all prep talks from people who can watch you live into your ear all for free which RK just does not match even in their paid app - if you subscribe to their elite service the functionality gets closer but it's a shadow of it's own iPhone app which is a real shame. I am keeing RK in mind however because of the great web interface and the fact that it works with the Withings WiFi scale to track your body weight and fat %age which is another gadget I have my eyes on once I have some cash or if they would like to give me one to review for free.

I before the scales I also want a heart rate monitor and if Polar want to give me a Polar WearLink+ transmitter with Bluetooth for free to review I'd be glad to. Or if Zephry want to give me a HxM Bluetooth Heart monitor I'd love to review that also - the holy grail would be to get a Zephyr BioHarness that measures Heart rate, Posture, Your Breathing and your skin temperature which is super but they cost $700 or something I can't afford.  

Running Monitor Application, additional thoughts

SportsTracker Pro also looked pretty good but does not seem to allow you to have friends and groups etc so that's going to be left out for now.

I think I'm going to end up using RunKeeper for now as my friend has it on her iPhone and it seems to be more plugged into social networking. When I can afford a HRM (heart rate monitor) I will look again - at maybe purchasing an app, atm I've decided to stick with the free versions because my needs are simple currently and it looks as though much is set to change in between now and me getting a HRM if I stick to running.

This might change after tomorrow when I try out endomondo as it has audio cues which may be really nice I'm not sure. Anyway I have work to do before all this so I'd better get to bed.

Running applications Part 1 - the apps, website and social networking support.

I am short on money at the moment and my problem is fitness not strength so I've decided to try running instead of joining a gym. Anyone who know's me knows that I love gadgets and I've got a pretty good phone I've decided I want to being some geeky gadgetness along with me on my runs something that can give me data on how I'm doing so I can see how to improve.

So my phone is a HTC Desire that means it runs Android and I will be focusing on what's in the android market, I do care what other people can get on the iphone too though as I might want to share/ compare stats with.

The three apps I've seen so far are

Runkeeper, which I've had installed since I got the phone but never actually used and two other apps I heard about in the comments of runkeeper on the market.

Endomondo and Cardio Trainer.

For me the price, functionality and social networking links are all pretty important.

Price: Winner Emdomondo - free with support for heart rate monitor. Runkeeper and Cardio Trainer both have free versions but you have to pay to unlock some features.

Features: Tie, but Runkeeper has promise to gain more new features. Cardio Trainer has some nice add ons for the notification bar that some may like - it keeps a total of you burnt calories over the week - but I don't want that visible at all times. Endomondo has support for a bluetooth heart monitor and audio cues without having to pay which is good. Runkeeper has the ability to share your runs live if you subscribe to the elite account which would be nice.

Social network support: Run Keeper, lets you share with FB and Twitter instantly and allows you to have street teams which is a group that lets you share stats easily which I like.

Tomorrow I will actually test Endomondo and Run Keeper at the moment I'm leaning towards Run Keeper because their website seems great.

gmail priority inbox

I really think this is a great idea,

Seems to be implemented nicely and does not mess things up to much, I really like the idea of stared emails coming up to the top of your inbox, well I do at the moment. I guess as I use the feature more it means I have to change the way I viewed the stars working and will have to file improtant but not often accessed email separately .

Previously I used stars to mark important things so if I ever needed them I could find them simply, now it seems they will be used for emails that need actioning which is much better really - but this is going into tasks territory I'd love some way of merging the two not sure if that's possible / nessasarry or how it would work and what it would look like even in it's most basic form but I feel like these two features of my google account should be more intergrated.

Exciting times - I wonder how this will work for android - I use my phone for email most and really want this feature as part of the android gmail client and I want it now :) it's already something I think is a key feature for me I never want a normal inbox again.

More magazine - shockingly contains made up lies

Ok the facts, I was asked what I thought about perfume (in general not a specific type), by people from More and I had my photo taken.

What you see in the magazine is my photograph but it is not accompanied by my comments but instead it is next to some made up nonsense a.k.a lies. I never even tried any perfumes that day, I'm disappointed to be honest. I guess you do have to take everything you read with a pinch of salt. When you read more magazine you should also take what you read with a... wait, just don't read it, it's all rubbish I speak from experience, had a good look through the copy I purchased. Save yourself the time and money. The photos are probably of real things so if you want to make a poster with pictures of under dressed women or collect a bunch of adverts (what the magazine is mainly comprised of) then go ahead carry on buying it, but if you are interested in the content you should firstly understand it's likely to be unsubstantiated gobbly-dee-gooke, and secondly take a good look at yourself and think why am I interested in this?

When I saw myself in More associated with all that made up info, it just confirmed what I've always believed. The media serves mainly to encourage wasteful consumerism and the idolatry of celebrities who have no business being famous. Here is a message to all women out there, from me, STOP reading this drivel, you are generating demand for this gibberish. Go out and enjoy your own lives stop reading about other people's. You do not need a magazine to tell you how to be more confident in bed, seriously you don't that junks only going to make you more paranoid if anything it may as well be title 'ten things to have on the back of your mind constantly when you should be enjoying life'. Lastly just be yourself, if you spent your time coming up with new ideas instead of learning about existing made up ones perhaps the world would be a little more exciting.

From a man with plenty of flaws but who tries to be honest at all times.

Sam

I'd love to be able to do a decent:

chewbacca impression!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDOVHQZjg9g This video is ace btw.

Google calendar

I've gotten stuck with something I'm sure there should be a setting to fix. If you are viewing two calendars (at the same time on Google calendar) and you are both attending the same even why can I not seem to make them merge into one?

Basically I like to view my own and my girlfriends calendars at once, the colour coding keeps this simple and its really good until we both have the same event (this would be even more annoying if even more people were attending, and I was also viewing their calendars). I'd like some way to prioritise my calendar so for even's were both attending it just does not display her's or merges them and uses two colour, or half and half. At the moment it's the only feature of Google calendar I'm not happy with because it makes events unreadable.

Any thoughts? Or even Solutions? I'm sold on everything else with Google's setup so don't want to use something else really.

Here is an example: