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Can I run with my Desire?

P

Papex

Newbie
I'm sure I can find some running kit for my Desire, so I can wrap it around my arm. And I would love to use the GPS and perhaps purchase a bluetooth heart rate monitor.
But before I do all that I would like s straight answer: will it be able to stand the constant shock from running?

Anybody got any experience taking the phone out on a run?
 
I've not taken the Desire out yet (suffering with problems in my feet at the moment), but I've run regularly with other smartphones for the past few years and had no problems. I don't think the shock is the biggest issue (especially if worn on your arm as any shock should be well dissipated there) but I'd be careful that whatever case you have doesn't end up getting too sweaty (sorry for lowering the tone of the discussion!) as I reckon this is a more likely route for problems to arise from.

I've personally prefer a waist belt that I use for carrying gels and water too (I find armband ones irritate me after a while) and use bluetooth headphones to avoid the need for wires. I haven't tried a bluetooth heartrate monitor out as I still use my old Garmin 305 for tracking my runs and heartrate, but use my phone as my MP3 player and in case of emergency.
 
I run regularly with my Desire. I use Cardiotrainer to map my route and record each run. I bought a Belkin iphone armband after seeing a post on these forums about it and it works pretty well.

I run the earphones down the sleeve of my t-shirt and to the phone that way. you can change tracks on the touch screen pretty easily and it functions perfectly.
 
I use Runscape, its free, links to their website and has all the functions I need. I'm training for a 10k and it's invaluable.
 
its only hdd devices that suffer from shock or suffer badly. like iPods. anything with sd memory should be fine... hth
 
Thanks for the replis. Does anyone know if any other bluetooth heart rate monitor than the Zephyr works with the desire?
 
Have had no problems so far, but an app to add would be buddy runner. Shows everything you need .... except heart rate... if you find one that does work please let me know
 
The app "Heart Rate Montor" by Fuzzymonkey works with the HxM bluetooth heart rate monitor. The app is free but natgoyou do need a bluetooth chest strap. You can purchase one with a $5 discount from within the app. It only does one thing, heart rate monitoring, but does it well.

It runs in the background so that you can use it along with any other running app. In addition to displaying the heart rate, it speaks the heart rate so that I can keep my heart rate in the right heart rate zone.
 
I wrote a review of the Zephyr HxM at RunningDigital and I'm loving the product. I'm a long time user of traditional HRM products (Polar) for endurance sports and fitness testing. Now, I'm all about making my Android into a fitness computer.

Last year I was the first of a few to get Nokia's N79 Active Edition with Polar's BT HRM. Now on an HTC Desire, I'm trying out and reviewing similar systems and discovering all sorts of new equipment and possibilities. Zephyr's BioHarness is amazing!

My first full Android app review will be on SportsTrackLive.com's Sports Tracker, using Zephyr's HxM, which will post late tomorrow.

-David
 
Nice thread guys!
Sorry Papex that this is turned into a more then " Can I run with my desire" thread but Desire does it very well. I run every day up and down the mountains. I use runkeeper.

Now back to the reason why I post in this thread:

So the best bluetooth heart rate monitor in the market are:

....
 
@loveandroid,

Zephyr's HxM. I use one and it works great. Rechargeable, offers cadence, and works with a growing list of Android and WinMo apps. I wrote a review on it at my blog.

Polar makes a BT hrm that works only with SportsTrackingTechnology's Sports Tracker, available only on selected Nokia devices. I've had one for the past 18 months and it works like any other Polar hrm, but again its proprietary meaning, unless SportsTrackingTechnologies develops an app for Android the Polar product will be useless to you.

You may be able to find one for Kyto Electronics that I believe works with Run.GPS's app in the Market. One more choice from FRWD , but I can't find availability outside of Finland.

Remember, just because it's BT doesn't mean it will work unless the app's dev has made it compatible.

-David
 
@Marklikestea,

MyTracks is a very good tracking app and I love the exporting of workouts to Google Docs.

MyTracks is officially adding support for hrm via BT and ANT+ soon. Presently no phones have a compatible ANT+ chip onboard but an ANT+ BT adapter will be surfacing soon. MyTracks modified HTC Legends with ANT+ chips for their Tour de France project, going on now with team HTC Columbia and a couple other riders.

-David
 
RunningD said:
@loveandroid,

Zephyr's HxM. I use one and it works great. Rechargeable, offers cadence, and works with a growing list of Android and WinMo apps. I wrote a review on it at my blog.

Polar makes a BT hrm that works only with SportsTrackingTechnology's Sports Tracker, available only on selected Nokia devices. I've had one for the past 18 months and it works like any other Polar hrm, but again its proprietary meaning, unless SportsTrackingTechnologies develops an app for Android the Polar product will be useless to you.

You may be able to find one for Kyto Electronics that I believe works with Run.GPS's app in the Market. One more choice from FRWD , but I can't find availability outside of Finland.

Remember, just because it's BT doesn't mean it will work unless the app's dev has made it compatible.

-David
Click to expand...
Are you finnish? This joke is timeless :D

Good help that post. :)
 
It works fine, mine has done many miles running, walking, cycling(road and mountain) and sitting down. Sportstracklive is good and the heart rate device from Zephyr is good too, when it works. I hope 2.2 fixes all the c$*p that goes on when I exercise for more than two hours!
 
@willow15,

Apparently there's significant issues with the BT stacks, especially on those with Sense UI, that makes connection problems for serial BT. Supposed to be fixed in 2.2. I'm running MoDaCo's r4 ROM (Froyo) and it appears fixed.

SportsTrackLive's devs came up with a brilliant solution to the problem by using a separate app that fixes the Android/Sense bug.

@diggedy,

I was told by a SportyPal rep that hrm support is in the works.
 
Installed sportypal on my desire and it's a superb little app. It tracks speed, distance elevation, kmh/mph, sectors, max speed, loads of different activities etc etc etc and then uploads everythign and overlays with google maps. I cycle to work and run regularly in central London and there's no signal problems even among tall buildings. Tthe GPS is very accurate and seems to have a strong signal even from within a pocket in my shorts or my backpack when I cycle - I haven't bought an armband yet as don't seem to need one. Can't wait until the ski season to track progress and max speed down the slopes!
 
@ diggedy,

how long did your armband last? I've just bought that exact one (went for cheapness!) and its lasted a couple of runs so far.

I've been using mine for runs and rides for the past month and its held up fine.

Also a fan of cardiotrainer, but sportypal is also quite good (used to use on my old WM device).
btw, you can use google navigation in a way to provide voice by voice route directions, but I am not too sure how - i've read on other forums of people doing it.
 
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