Fitness

Mindbloom releases Juice for Windows Phone to help maintain a healthy lifestyle

Apps

By Rich Edmonds, Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 11:44 am

Mindbloom (www.mindbloom.com) has released its first Windows Phone app. Titled Juice, the app is an interactive energy tracker to help consumers maintain a healthy lifestyle. While it's not for those who are serious about fitness (there are other solutions for such activities and training - look back at our Mobile Nations Fitness Month for more), Juice will certainly cater for those who are interested in how to improve general health.

Three fitness apps for the road as we draw a close to Fitness Month

Apps

By George Ponder, Friday, Mar 1, 2013 at 8:38 am

As Fitness Month fades away into the distant horizon, we've looked at apps throughout the month that are focused on helping us get into shape, eat right, get a good night's sleep and basically live a healthier life.

This week's roundup focuses on apps that tackle a wide range of fitness topics from diet to exercise to health related issues. These three apps seem to be more comprehensive than other fitness apps and while the roundup may seem to be a little on the thin side, these three apps cover a lot of territory.

As always, if you have a favorite health or fitness Windows Phone app that you'd like to recommend, sound off in the comments below.

Water Log gets updated adds charts and more

Apps

By George Ponder, Tuesday, Feb 26, 2013 at 12:02 pm

Water Log is a simple way to track your water consumption from your Windows Phone. While we liked the app, there was room for improvement. Improvements that have been added with latest update.

The version 1.2 update for Water Log includes a log of your daily water consumption, adds the ability to generate a chart to view your progress and resets the water log counter each day. You also get optional sound effects and a few performance issues were addressed with the update. All total, the update makes Water Log a very nice health/fitness app for our Windows Phones.

Heart Rate for Windows Phone 8 can see your heart go beep, beep...beep, beep

Apps

By George Ponder, Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 5:18 pm

It's no secret that your heart is an essential element of not only staying fit but also staying alive. Heart Rate is a Windows Phone 8 app designed to measure your heart rate while offering a history of these readings.

Heart Rate is similar to the other heart monitoring apps we've seen over the years. The app uses your Windows Phone camera to record tiny pulses in your finger tip caused by your heart pumping. The pulse or color change is recorded and translated into beats per minute. It may not be the most accurate heart rate monitor but it gets you in the ballpark.

Reminder: Win yourself some gift cards with the Mobile Nations Fitness Month

Windows Phone News

By Rich Edmonds, Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 12:49 pm

As you're already aware, it's Fitness Month here at Mobile Nations. We've kicked off multiple contests, which are listed in our fitness forum. If you've somehow missed the threads going up, fear not as there's still time to share your results and experience in the designated discussions. Currently we're on week 3, which is sleep and relaxation. The latest thread is day 4.

Counting sheep and catching a few winks, Sleep apps for your Windows Phone

Apps

By George Ponder, Friday, Feb 22, 2013 at 9:05 am

Windows Phone Central's Roundup of Sleep Apps

Just as we put our Windows Phone on the charger to re-charge its batteries, getting a good night's sleep is our way to re-charge. This week for Fitness Month we focused on sleep applications and accessories that can help with relaxation and get a productive rest.

So it's fitting for our weekly roundup to feature a collection of sleep and relaxation apps. We have a few sound generators to calm your spirits, a sleep calculator and an alarm clock to make sure we don't over due things.

There's a lot of similarity amongst these apps and if we've missed your favorite sleep or relaxation app, feel free to share in the comments.

Fancy driving or catching public transport? Why not take a stroll with your Windows Phone?

Tips

By Rich Edmonds, Monday, Feb 18, 2013 at 9:37 pm

You're going to get behind the wheel? No, you want to catch the bus? Hold it, dear chap! Instead, since it's Mobile Nations Fitness Month, why don't you make use of the pedestrian functionality in the Windows Phone Maps app? Stretch those legs, turn up the beats and introduce your favourite swagger to the unexpected public.

There's nothing like a casual stroll on a Friday afternoon, right? Planning a walking route is an easy feature to overlook when not used on a regular basis but it is a simple feature to make use of. A feature that will help you get to and from your destination and burn a few calories along the way.

Fitbit Aria – A scale with WiFi? Oh hell yes.

General Accessories

By Daniel Rubino, Monday, Feb 18, 2013 at 5:48 pm

Hopefully last week you caught my comparison between the Fitbit One and Nike FuelBand as devices to help measure your activity. In addition we’re hoping you joined our Fitbit group, where you can also win a prize (we just hit 200 members!).

As we continue our Fitness Month here at Mobile Nations, we’ll continue to explore how technology can help improve our health. Today, we’re talking about a scale. Yes, a thing to measure your weight and this is by far the oddest “review” I’ve had to do.

The Aria scale (made by Fitbit) ties in nicely with their One fitness activity tracker. Think of it as the other half of the equation. The scale is not cheap: it goes for $130 on Amazon, which last we checked is hella expensive for something that may depress you every day you use it.

But my fellow tech geeks, this scale has Wi-Fi. So is it worth it? Read on to get my answer.

Pros:

High quality. Bragging rights. Your scale now has Wi-Fi.

Cons:

Price. Can't check your email.

Windows Phone Fitness Roundup: Counting the calories and eating healthy

Apps

By George Ponder, Friday, Feb 15, 2013 at 8:56 am

Windows Phone Central App Roundup: Nutrition

Fitness Month marches on here at Windows Phone Central and this week we're concentrating on nutritional aspects of staying fit.

While you may enjoy an afternoon slice of pie, eating right is an important aspect of living a healthy life. Even if you aren't into pumping iron or running marathons, a proper diet is key (wow.. my mom was right!). Sometimes this means eating the right foods or simply watching the calories you take in.

This week's roundup focuses on five Windows Phone apps that look at what we eat and help track our calories.

WaterLogger, helping you meet your daily goals... water wise

Apps

By George Ponder, Thursday, Feb 14, 2013 at 6:08 pm

This week during Fitness Month we've been concentrating on apps for our Windows Phone that deals with the nutritional aspects of staying fit and healthy. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day is one dietary aspect that many overlook and there are a few apps out there to help us remember to drink plenty of water during the day.

We touched on Water Log the other day and another app jumped off the screen to help us keep track of our water intake... WaterLogger.

While Water Log is more of a simple, straight shooter of an app WaterLogger has a few more bells and whistles. WaterLogger's brightly colored icon along with the 4.5 star rating in the Store stood out to us so we decided to take a look at this fitness app. What we found was another nice fitness app for our Windows Phone.

Get water logged with Water Log

Apps

By George Ponder, Monday, Feb 11, 2013 at 5:04 pm

The Windows Phone app Water Log is designed to help remind you to drink water during the day. Part of being fit is proper nutrition and part of proper nutrition is drinking plenty of water every day. How much water is "plenty"? Some sources cite 3 liters for men and 2.2 liters for women. Then there's the "8 glasses a day" rule and Bing searches on the subject will find other recommendations and equations.

While opinions vary on how much water we should be drinking on a daily basis, it is important you drink. Water Log tracks your daily water consumption and reminds you to keep drinking. Water Log is a simple, yet effective way to meet your daily nutritional goals during Fitness Month and beyond.

Sweating to your Windows Phone with these exercise apps

Apps

By George Ponder, Friday, Feb 8, 2013 at 9:05 am

Windows Phone Central Fitness Month App Roundup: Exercise Apps

February brings about Fitness Month around these parts and there are plenty of Fitness oriented apps available in the Windows Phone Store to help everyone get fit and survive the month. You have apps that help you develop and track your exercise routine, apps that track your calories and apps that help you relax and recharge.

This week's app roundup focuses on the exercise apps for our Windows Phones. Apps that will track our exercise progress, give us a little motivation or simply lay out an exercise routine for you to follow.

We picked five such apps from the various Windows Phone Store "top" categories (top free, top paid, best rated, new+rising). The roundup is but a sampling of what is available. As always, if you have a favorite exercise app that isn't mentioned speak up and throw out your recommendation below in the comments.

Track your calories with MyFitnessPal

Apps

By George Ponder, Thursday, Feb 7, 2013 at 4:32 pm

As fitness month continues around these parts, we want to revisit a Windows Phone app that will help you count calories. MyFitnessPal is a calorie counting app for your Windows Phone device that boasts the largest food database available with over 1.2 million food items. MyFitnessPal tracks your calories not only from meals and snacks but also calories lost from exercises.

We reviewed MyFitnessPal about a year ago and found it to be an exceptional Windows Phone app to monitor your diet and fitness routine. The app has been updated since we last looked at it and it remains a nice option to consider. Worthy of revisiting.

DotNetNuzzi Fitbit Activity Tracker, long on name but not short on features

Apps

By George Ponder, Wednesday, Feb 6, 2013 at 6:00 pm

The DotNetNuzzi Fitbit Activity Tracker may have one of the longest app titles in the Windows Phone Store but along with the long title comes a nice list of features. The Activity Tracker is a Fitbit companion app, much like the Fitbit Companion app we looked at the other day, and could come in handy if you use the tiny Fitbit device in your quest to get/stay fit.

The Activity Tracker isn't an "official Fitbit" app but does tap into the Fitbit API to deliver your Fitbit data to your Windows Phone including your daily stats, activities, water intake, weight tracking, and food consumption. While the DotNetNuzzi Fitbit Activity Tracker is restricted to only viewing your Fitbit data, future updates hope to bring the capability to add data to your daily activities.

The DotNetNuzzi Fitbit Activity Tracker is a nice option to consider for keeping track of your Fitbit stats. The user interface could stand a little tweaking but overall, it's another nice Fitbit Windows Phone app.

Fitbit Companion, while not "official" it's a step in the right direction

Apps

By George Ponder, Tuesday, Feb 5, 2013 at 8:36 am

While there isn't an "official" Fitbit Windows Phone app, Fitbit Companion is nice option for the Fitbit users in the house and a step in the right direction by giving you access to most your Fitbit statistics. For those not familiar, Fitbit is a small fitness monitoring device that tracks your activities and sleep patterns.

Along with the monitoring device, Fitbit also offers a fairly extensive web based tracking app that syncs with the data from your Fitbit device and allows you to enter meals, activity and track your weight. The Fitbit Companion app taps into the web based app and delivers most of your Fitbit stats to your Windows Phone. The app uses the Fitbit API and doesn't share your personal information outside of the app.

Windows Phone apps to help you keep that New Year's Resolution

Apps

By George Ponder, Friday, Jan 11, 2013 at 8:42 am

Windows Phone Central's Roundup: Exercise Apps

With the new year comes New Year's Resolutions and what may be the most popular resolution is to get into shape or lose weight. There are several Windows Phone fitness apps and we thought that if you are trying to stick with a resolution for better health, we'd roundup a few fitness apps to help you along the way.

Included are a few freebies and a few structured for men or women. As always, with as many apps in the Windows Phone Store, we can't touch on them all. If we've missed your favorite fitness app, feel free to sound off in the comments.

Windows Phone Central App Roundup: Fitness Apps [Running/Jogging]

By George Ponder, Monday, Aug 13, 2012 at 9:56 am

WPCentral's roundup of running/jogging apps for your Windows Phone

Several months ago the popular fitness app RunKeeper was pulled from the Windows Phone Marketplace. The reason was simple, the developer decided to drop support for the app and focus on other platforms. This opened the door for other fitness apps to step up and fill the gap.

We decided to take a peek at the popular fitness apps that concentrated on running/jogging to see what alternatives are out there. Plus Dan just joined a fitness center and is looking for a good jogging app.

After reading user reviews on the Marketplace and taking a peek at the apps ourselves, we've narrowed the field to five. All five have similarities with online components and making use of your Windows Phone's GPS. One even adds a storyline and a bit of suspense to your workouts. As always, if we missed the running app that you think is the bee's knees, jump in below and share your thoughts in the comments.

Zombies, Run! races on to the Marketplace

Apps

By George Ponder, Thursday, Jul 5, 2012 at 2:15 pm

Zombies, Run! has hit the Windows Phone Marketplace. It is listed as a fitness app that plays out more along the lines of a game.

Zombies, Run! has you listening to a story line or mission while jogging or walking. As you progress through the audio adventure you collect supplies that are used at your base township, after your run. The supplies are used in turn to support township growth and as your town grows, additional missions become available.

The main page of Zombies, Run! has options to view the chapters/missions, check you township, view the people/places/special items/supplies you've collected and access the app's settings. Settings covers turning on/off zombie chases, how item pick-ups are confirmed (speech/vibration), run the app under the lock screen and unit measurements. To start your run and the mission, just swipe up from the bottom of the main page. Once your run is complete, you'll get a summary screen highlighting your run and items collected for distribution.

Zombies, Run! contains thirty missions and over forty runs. In addition to making your runs more interesting by avoiding Zombies, collecting supplies and building your township the app also tracks your fitness progress by displaying your distance, time and pace for each run on the summary screen.

Zombies, Run! is an interesting exercise/game concept that may make those morning runs a little more exciting. Who knows, it may give you enough motivation to run more often.

There is a free trial version available for Zombies, Run! to let you try things out. The full version of Zombies, Run! is currently running $7.99 and you can find it all here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Thanks, Vanessa and Adrian, for the tip!

Zombies, Run!, a different type fitness game, is heading to the Marketplace

By George Ponder, Friday, Jun 15, 2012 at 6:17 pm

Here's an interesting Windows Phone game...

Zombies, Run! is a game (or is a exercise app?) where you listen to missions that place you against zombies while jogging. As the mission progresses you earn or collect supplies. After your run, you use the supplies at your your base township. The town in turn uses the supplies to support growth and as your town grows, more missions become available.

Asides from the video game features, Zombies, Run! will also track your distance, time and pace of your runs. A ZombieLink is also in the works to let you view and share your running data online. The game also has Live Tile support that will send you into the game where you left off.

Zombies, Run! contains more than thirty missions that last anywhere from twenty to thirty minutes. You can play the game while jogging around the neighborhood, around a track or from a treadmill.

Zombies, Run! is an interesting way to pass the time while you're working up a sweat. The app is already seeing success on the Android and iPhone markets and the developer is excited about bring the app to the Windows Phone Marketplace. The game already has t-shirts and game blog that you can find here at the Zombies, Run! website.

Look for Zombies, Run! to hit the Windows Phone Marketplace towards the end of June with five exclusive missions to the Windows Phone OS. Zombies, Run! will be offered for $7.99 and there is no word if a trial version will be available.

Source: digitalspy; Thanks, Vanessa and Gopalan, for the tip!

Windows Phone Head-to-Head App Review: Calorie Counter vs. Calorie Tracker

Apps

By Paul Acevedo, Tuesday, Mar 13, 2012 at 8:49 am

The Windows Phone Marketplace contains a number of apps for counting and tracking calories. The two most popular by far are Calorie Counter by Fat Secret.com and Calorie Tracker, from developer nVentive and LiveStrong.com. Both are currently free on the Marketplace, so which should you choose, dear fitness-conscious reader? Read on to find out.