@adidas_miCoach #SmartRun available

Hi all

The much anticipated Smart Watch from Adidas is now available for purchase:

< CLICK HERE >

At 400€ this is a serious investment compared to the Fitbit, Jawbone & Polar Loop of the world.

Product info direct from the purchase page:

Slip it on and step it up. The miCoach SMART RUN delivers an advanced, intuitive blend of coaching and performance data designed to help serious runners maximize training every time you lace up your shoes. Clean and simple, it delivers a strapless continuous heart rate, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, wireless music player, WLAN and a colour touch screen. (In order to activate, use and update this product, a PC or Mac, an internet connection via WiFi and a miCoach User account are required. In addition, the acceptance of the Legal & Privacy Terms and Warranty Information is required.)

• Real-time cardio coaching with miCoach training plans created by elite coaches; Animated strength and flexibility training; Customisable training data screens; Workout review; Watch and timer function; 4GB memory for music and data
• Coaching delivered via visual messages; For audible coaching and music a wireless headset is sold separately
• Fully integrated strap-free heart-rate sensor; GPS-based speed, distance, cadence and route; Single-button user interaction; Invisible sync to miCoach.com for automatic updates; miCoach SMART RUN requires internet access over WLAN for initial setup and data sync
• Display: 1.45” full colour transflective TFT LCD, 184px x 184px touch screen; Battery: 410mAh lithium ion, charging time max 4 hrs
• Usage: Training mode (1 second data & music) up to 4hrs; Marathon mode (5 seconds data) up to 8hrs; Casual mode (watch only) up to 14 days
• Materials: Soft touch silicon strap, stainless steel bezel, buckle and detailing, magnesium backplate; Weight: 2.8 ounces

If Adidas want to drop a test unit in the post feel free to contact me :-)

Thanks

#Fitbit Force launched by @fitbit

Hi all

Slightly behind the times here :-(

Anyway Fitbit are launching a great new product called the Force

On first inspection:

- It has a better display showing more contextual info: steps, time etc etc
- Logs stairs climbed (a nice new feature)
- Advanced techie stuff that is meant to be better at recording YOUR info

It does however come at a cost and sacrifices the waterproofness of the device. So if you are a swimmer like me I doubt if you will be upgrading to the Force :-(

Notifications (like we need more of them) will be available very soon.

This plus all the features and functions you would have seen/used with Fitbit

First reaction - meh?

Thanks

Just pre-ordered the @PolarGlobal - The killer fitness device

Hi all

So, it was never going to be long before Polar entered into the wearables :-)



This ticks all the boxes for me:

Waterproof - Yes
Real clasp so you will never loose it - Yes
Neat display
App and web interface
...and the killa, you can pair a HRM with it.!

This is the H7 that is the newest HRM from Polar:
http://www.polar.com/en/products/accessories/H7_heart_rate_sensor

Here is a neat review by @dcrainmakerblog:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/09/polar-loop-firstlook.html

Stay tuned...

Check this wearable device out @FirstbeatInfo FirstBeat Bodyguard 2

Hi all

I had a friend tell me about this company and their products: www.firstbeat.com/

This is taking wearbale smart devices to the next level... this is not just your basic pedometer, this captures so much more data.

Few words from the company web page:

Firstbeat has developed an innovative heart rate variability based analysis technology for measurement of stress, recovery and exercise. Our software products can be applied to improve performance and well-being in sports and at work. We provide  information that is rich in detail about exercise monitoring, stress assessment and recovery.

They have a whole host of product and services geared around this, whether you are a Pro, for work and wellbeing, or simply a consumer (you can pick up a Suunto with Firstbeat features included).

Anyway the product that most excites me is the Firstbeat Bodyguard 2

Technical specifications:

Rechargeable battery (last app. 6 days)
Storage capacity app. 20 days
IP class IP52
Weight 24 g
Measurement accuracy for heartbeat recording1 ms (1000 Hz)
Measurement accuracy for movement:
Sampling frequency 12.5 Hz
Resolution 8 Bit
G-scale 4G
Data from Bodyguard 2 can be downloaded directly to Firstbeat programs (analysis server, Firstbeat SPORTS)
Data download and battery charging is done directly via the USB-port

So connect this to your chest and after three days have some hugely important data not just about HR, but stress, physical activity/exercise, training effect and many more.

I'm looking to test this out in the very near future... stay tuned.

Customer Service - @FitbitSupport @MisfitWearables

Hi all

Ok, been using the wearables and thought I would look into replacement bands - as I don't see these lasting for very long.

Fitbit

Fitbit have three cool colours of bands... but do you think you can order them.?!?!?!?

Think again, Unless you live in the good ole US of A you are stuff. So I wonder how I can get them here is Sunny Finland. Its the "after sales service" like this can make or break a device. If I cannot get replacement bands and my one breaks that is it - GAME OVER.

Misfit

Also the Misfit shine I have worn exclusively on the sportsband I have worn the band as i don't really like the clasp it comes with and feel I will loose it.

Ok the band is ok, but its not for every day use.  Even after 4 weeks (and thats plenty of swimming pool visits) I feel its going to break. And if it does then I bet I will loose the Shine.

So I think I should get a replacement, they are only $19.99... but on check out they slap a $25 postage fee.

I'm NOT paying $44 for a rubber band. So should the band fail me the Misfit Shine will get lost, NEVER to be replaced.

#Jawbone, this is where you could take a leadership position.!

Runtastic + Sony SmartWatch 2

Hi all

Bit of a busy day with all the new stuff coming out.

Next up is the Sony SmartWatch 2

Thing here is that Runtastic integrates to it.

Nissan - Where did this come from

Hi all

Who saw this one coming..???

Nissan Nismo

Sort of makes the Samsung gear look like a play toy.!

Samsung Gear - Was it worth the wait..??

Hi

Just in case you was on Mars last week this happened:

Samsung watch

As far as expectations went this wasn't what I was expecting. Where was the flexible / curved display..??

Think the only notable part is that is has a pedometer... but I don't see Fitbit quaking in their shoes.

TEST TIME for the Wearable Smart Devices

Hi all

I've been testing all these Wearable Smart Devices over the past few days with different types of activities. I actually wanted to post this last week, but the Misfit Shine sent out an update. Just as well as they were not looking good for the accuracy of their device :-0

So hear are the results:

	Fitbit Flex	Jawbone UP	Misfit Shine
Thursday 29th Aug
Swim 30mins (hard)	379 cal	332 cal	563 points
Elliptical 30mins (hard)	428 cal	510 cal	1037 points
Total steps for the day	10247	11033	10618 Steps / 2097 points
Friday 30th Aug
Elliptical 30mins (hard)	429 cal	440 cal	929 points
Total steps for the day	10016	10993	9548 steps / 1466 points
Sunday 1st Sep
Run (just a short one)	274 cal	342 cal	548 points
bike ride (25Km)	739 cal	639 cal	571 points
Total steps for the day	16498	16491	11208 steps / 1625 points
Monday 2nd Sep
Swim 30mins (hard)	382 cal	332 cal	772 points
Elliptical 30mins (hard)	430 cal	467 cal	1014 points
Total steps for the day	12919	13035	12254 steps / 2368 points

So before we dive into what all this means, we need to run through how we got this data.

For the Jawbone UP you cannot use this in water to you have to manually enter in the activity, so 30 min swim is 332 cal.

Fitbit Flex you can wear in the pool so it does measure that there is activity, but you also need to enter the type and intensity of the session. This gives 382 cal so quite a bit higher.

Misfit, well where do I start. You can view days as "points", "steps" and "calories", but activities only as points. Sooooooooo you would think you could mathematically work out the relationship between them, well "fugetaboutit". All logical comprehension goes out the window and believe me I have tried :-(

Anyway Misfit is waterproof and if you (remember to) sync it for swimming then for 30 mins you are presented with 563 on Thursday and 772 for Monday..!!!!

Also since Fitbit Flex does not have a start / stop feature for ALL activities you need to go to the app and log the activity - which could be hit and miss if you don't really know what intensity you went at.

Jawbone UP is pretty good in this respect as you do have a start / stop function for activity... but you still have to go to the app to log the event and intensity.

Misfit Shine you have to have you iPhone / iPad with you to change the activity before you start it, which is pretty odd "User Interface".

The results

OK, so here is what I think happened :-)

Total steps for the day is really close no matter what device you check:

	Fitbit Flex	Jawbone UP	Misfit Shine
Thursday steps	10247	11033	10618
Friday steps	10016	10993	9548
Sunday steps	16498	16491	11208
Monday steps	12919	13035	12254

The ERROR here is with Misfit Shine on the (only) day I went for a bike ride. Just to reinforce that if you check Sunday out I got 548 cal for a 21 min run and then JUST 571 for a hard 25Km ride lasting 52 mins..!! @Misfitwearable you need to improve cycling. You have improved swimming and for that I thank you but now fix the cycling :-)

As far as the calorie consumption goes it really depends what you enter in to the Jawbone UP and Fitbit Flex apps.

Just as a litmus test I have a few calorie counts from apps that use a heart rate monitor (HRM).

When I use Adidas miCoach:

1. For the 30min elliptical training I get 398 cal, so both Jawbone and Fitbit are higher.

2. For the 25Km bike I get 811 cal, so both Jawbone and Fitbit are lower (but see below).

3. For the 21 min run I get 343 cal, Jawbone had 343 - Game On!

Just adding in the Sports Tracker, for the 25Km bike I get 698 cal, which is in the middle of Jawbone and Fitbit.

Conclusion to all this will be in the next post :-)

The death of Wearable Smart Devices..?? @movesapp @Fjuul_Mobile

Hi all

Very interesting article by @hamishmckenzie on the subject of using apps (Fjuul and Moves) on our mobile devices to track our movement instead of using Jawbone, Fitbit, Shine or Fuelband.

iPhones app: Fjuul and Moves

< READ HERE >

The best point for both these apps are that the apps are free and anyone can get into the "tracking" game. If you previously wanted to get into the game you had to shell out 100€ to get either the Jawbone, Fitbits, Shine and Fuelband.

However the battery drain on the iPhones will be the Achilles heel... no-one wants a dead phone at any time of the day or night. Even if these apps are lightweight on the battery that anxiety of having a dead battery would be too much for me.

Updates to @Jawbone UP and Fitbit Flex @FitbitSupport

Hi all

Few updates this week.!

Jawbone released 2.8 that has more control of your food library , streamlined flows around alarms etc and performance enhancements. What is going to be nice to test is the "trouble shooting" on the actual band.?!?!

Meanwhile over at the Fitbit Flex camp the 1.8 updates are really focused to the "social" aspect and include:

Messages with friends improved
Checking out friends profile
Making more new friends

There is am improvement to sleep patterns, graphics and also notifications about the system status - so if the APIs are down.

Will have to test these...

Update to @MisfitWearables Shine - Improved accuracy

Hi all

Misfit Shine received the 1.0.2 update earlier this week that included a MOST welcome improved accuracy for swimming and bike rides.

I had mentioned earlier that the accuracy was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out when it comes to swimming. Within the app it claims that a 25 min swim would give you 1000 points, in reality you got the following:

34 mins = 146 points
42 mins = 171 points

Anyway since the 1.0.2 update a 32 min swim now gives you: 563.

Still not the 1000 points I am after, but a huge improvement from 146..!!

Props to Shine for getting this out, but a few more tweaks to go before you can say this is accurate.

@Jawbone @FitbitSupport @MisfitWearables Features of Up, Shine & Flex

Hi all

Here is a quick summary between the Jawbone Up, Misfits Shine and the Fitbit Flex:

	Jawbone UP	Misfits Shine	Fitbit Flex
Catch phrase	Know yourself better	The world's most elegant physical activity monitor	Make fitness a lifestyle with Flex™
Battery duration	10 days	Change 3-4 months	5 days
Sync connector	3.5mm plug	Bluetooth 4.0 (LE)	Bluetooth 4.0 (LE)
Pairable devices	iOS & Android	iOS	iOS / Android, viewer avaliable to WP8
Waterproof	Water resistant. Not advise to expose to water for prolong periods	Yes	Yes
Visible indicator	No	Yes	Yes
Activity start / Stop	Yes / Yes	Yes / No	No / No
Measures sleep	Yes and deep sleep	Yes and deep sleep	Yes and deep sleep
Interfaces with other apps	Run keeper, Map my fitness, My fitness pal, Withings, IFTTT, Wello, Notch.Me, Sleepio, Lose it, Carepass, Tictac & Gynpack	Nil	Lose it, Run keeper, Map my fitness, My fitness pal, Endomondo & Spark people

More stuff in the next post

@Jawbone @fitbit @MisfitWearables - Let The Games Begin

Hi all

So enough blogging about Customer Services, let's actually start the comparison of these "Wearable Smart Devices":

The three I are testing are the following:

Jawbone Up Since June 2013
Misfit Shine Since July 2013
Fitbit Flex Since August 2012

Short history: Smart devices (Windows Phones, iPhones & Android) are a mass consumer product and have the ability to play music and capture your GPS position. This capability led to a plethora of "Tracking Apps" that monitored positioning info, speed and most offered the ability to measure heart rate. If you have all these you can easily determine the amount of calories burned.

However it is not really advisable to use these apps just to collect calories burned, since running the GPS all day would eat your battery of your device. So how could you capture the basic calories burned data and do in it such a way?

Enter the Wearable a Smart Devices. These are small devices that measure movement, if you can measure movement you can break this down into steps covered, calories burned and sleep.

Each one of the devices I have has its merits and drawbacks. To get you started here is a nice comparison between Jawbone UP and Fitbit Flex:

Comparison: Jawbone UP & Fitbit Flex

Detailed comparisons in the next post

Look what the postman delivered - Fitbit Flex

Hi all

Now it three in the house.! Got a really good deal on this Fitbit Flex... although it has been "pre-loved" the large strap is unused :-)

Next post will be a comparison

Jawbone UP - Customer Services

Hi all

I should be posting about the fantastic Jawbone UP, but I will jump right in and talk about my experience with their customer services team. Since I believe you can always tell a company but how it handles problems.... its not just sell, sell, sell, its should be support, support, support. Especially when you are launching a brand new device.

Anyway the way I wear the small cover on my Jawbone is with the silver side towards the skin. Well after a good few sessions sweating the silver cap started to perish:

So I tweeted out to @Jawbone got a reply to email them and within a few days had a few replacements sent out to me (FedEx!).  The lovely Jawbone customer advocate "Marika" was a pleasure to deal with, she even contacted me after they arrived to make sure I was happy.

...its doesn't take much to make people happy does it..??

Next post will be a review of the Jawbone UP

Misfit Shine - Customer Services

Hi all

Looks like Jawbone UP will have to wait until tomorrow :-) sorry guys.

I thought I should continue my story about shine since two of my customer requests have been attended to.

1. First up was the username fiasco I had. As much as this pains me to say this, it was #User Error. Yes the idiot in front of the app. Won't bore you with the details but I have created the wrong username from my usual one. I usually have a "_" in there but for this time I had a "."

I will eat humble pie and lots of it. Shine customer service rep "Ted", many thanks for letting me know the right username :-)

2. One main grumble I have with Shine is that I believe it is inaccurate when in swim mode.

34 mins = 146 points
42 mins = 171 points

So I tried swimming but not starting any activity and got these results:

Normal mode (swimming) 42 mins = 171 points
Normal mode (swimming) 32 mins = 144 points

In the app it says 25 min swim = 1000 points.

Good news is that Shine customer service rep "Kate" is working on that for me.

I will leave the post there and update in further posts.

Next post will be about the Jawbone UP

Misfit Shine - The honeymoon is over

Hi all

I had planned to have a nice roll out of posts over the next few days, going through both Jawbone UP and Misfit Shine: what was in the box, set up, use, supporting app and general feedback...

...however after only 11 days the Misfit Shine is now a dead piece of metal.

But before any ranting. let's go back a few months.

As soon as read that the Misfit Shine was waterproof and that you could use it for tracking swimming I knew I had to have one. OK, it's only working on iOS - I can handle that. You could have told me it was made out of unobtainium and cost a fortune - I still wanted this "bad boy".!

So order placed and I took delivery on the 7th August from the FedEx guy. All was good, all was very good :-)

Over these past 11 days I have suffered with the Misfit Shine, I will put myself out and say this device is woefully inadequate, in the following areas:

1. Inaccurate
2. User Interface (UI)
3. Software

I will post on each of these areas so you get the full picture.

However all this was eclipsed when this morning when I went to sync my Misfit and it turned out the app on the iPad and logged itself out.

So I went to log in with my credentials only to be informed that my details were incorrect, but that's not a problem as I could retrieve the password. Which you would think would be easy..!!

You receive an email and click on the link that opens a Safari window... and guess what nothing happens. I actually tried this four times and got the same result every time. What do they say about repeating the same action and hoping for a different outcome - Genius?

So I just happen to test it out on the PC and I was taken to one of those "warning pages" where the location is not trusted, obviously Safari was blocking this. So downloaded and installed Chrome and repeated clicking the link. This time I was able to get to the site and then reset my password. Nearly there I thought.

Signing in back into the app I was asked my details and then to sync the Misfit Shine... when I did this I was informed that my device was locked to another account and it had to unlinked. I was nearly in tears at this stage.!

So now I have a completely dead Misfit Shine and if I don't get a reply from their customer service this "bad boy" is going back for a full refund.

I'm not sure how many people are reporting stuff to Misfit, but I logged an email with them on the 16th and got number 25975 and today (18th) logged another with the number 27240, which means in 2 days they got a little over 1200 emails... hopefully not all moaning like me :-)

Real shame this post is a bit negative, but lets hope I get some feedback from Misfit tomorrow.

Next post will be about the Jawbone UP

Open for business.!

Hi all

Thought I will kick off with an introduction.

I'm Dean, work for Nokia Music and apart from music and sports, I also love to dabble with techiestuff.

I would say the first time all these things (Music + Sports + Gadgets) came together was with Sports Tracker on the Nokia Symbian devices back in the day when Jussi Kaasinen kicked it all off in 2010.

Always been a user and promoter of is service as it was so easy to use: great performance with my Nokia device (Nokia 700) with Music and GPS and just simple to use.

However in the past few years companies and app developers alike have been falling over themselves to develop apps on smart devices. From the heavy weights that support cross platform app: Endomondo, Polar etc. through to the bedroom developer and the simplest of GPS apps.

OK, so I thought I should better check out some of the "New Kids On The Block", but instead of testing just apps (software), I thought lets jump right in and test some of this new fangled hardware.

Yes, I'm talking: Jawbone Up and the MisFit Shine.!

I'll leave the 1st post there and post on the Jawbone Up in the next post. I aim for at least one post a day :-) (lets see how long that lasts LOL...)