Nokia N96 App Review – Nokia Step Counter

Name: Nokia Step Counter (beta) v0.25

Description: Counts your steps and gives corresponding statistics

Summary: This is a nice little application. It looks great and is easy to use. Like the title says, it counts your steps and breaks them down into the following statistics:

Energy (calories burnt)
Distance
Time
Amount of steps

The above are displayed in the first screen. You can then scroll up or down to the other 2 screens which are: A line graph that displays amount of steps on the vertical axis and the time they were recorded on the horizontal axis. And lastly, a bar chart that highlights the intensity of the steps and the time they were recorded.

If you run the step counter each day, your statistics are recorded in the diary calendar where you can view your information for each day the application was used. There is a progress option that summarises your total step count and your daily step count. It also displays stats of energy used and distance.

This application can be set to start at boot time if you wanted to record your steps every day and will run in the background. You can also set a step target and change how the stats are measured i.e. Metric, Imperial or Nautical.

Lastly, in the user menu, you can enter your age, gender, height, weight and step length. This information, I assume, will be used to calculate your energy (calorie) burning.

The whole thing works using the accelerometer. With your phone in your pocket, it will count the amount of steps you take by using the motion of your thigh. Clever stuff.

If you couldn’t give a stuff about calorie burning, exercise and health, then this application is not for you, but you could use it to measure distances you have walked or run if you felt the urge! It’s not something that I’ll have running everyday but it is an interesting application, especially for fitness people.

   

Rating: 8/10

Forum discussion:  Applications – Nokia Step Counter

Download: Nokia Step Counter

Enjoy!

Nokia N96 App Review – cClock

Name:  cClock v1.21

Description:  Power saver that displays the time and other selected information

Summary:  cClock is a popular application. Many people like to use their phones for the time, and cClock enables this without having to press any buttons. Once selected as the power saver, it will display the information you have selected as soon as it kicks in. There are tons of options to tweak the information displayed and then options to change the appearance of them, far too many to mention in fact, but include:

 Time, Date,  Battery,  Signal and Events.

Once you change an option you can preview it easily through ‘options’ which saves you having to wait for it to kick in to see what your change looks like. One option I do like is having the battery and signal displayed in percentage as opposed to bars.

Also included is a stop watch. Very simple to use if you ever need one. I will now be able to time my boiled eggs to perfection!

  

Rating:  7/10 Great idea, but I would like to see more fonts included. I wont be swapping this application for my Tag Heur though!

Forum discussion: Applications – cClock

Download:  cClock

Enjoy!

 

Nokia N96 App Review – Phone Locator

Name:  Phone Locator v0.70

Description:  Tracks your phones location and trail using GPS

Summary:  Since my wife’s N96 was stolen on Boxing day, I’ve been on the lookout for ways to trace handsets. Phone locator does just that. It’s an interesting application that was originally made to track the designer’s motorcycle tour around the Alps in 2007. Phone Locator uses your devices GPS to detect its location and uploads the information to the website where you can log in to view it. It also records the trail of the phone and the times the updates were received.

There are plenty of settings on this application that revolve around how the updates are to be sent. Some settings have an impact on battery life because the GPS is always active, but there are options to overcome this:

  

 • Turn on ‘battery saver’! ‘battery saver’ turns off the GPS when the phone is stationary or the GPS signal is too low to get a fix. The GPS is turned back on when the phone connects to a different cell tower. This works best in metropolitan areas where the cells are small.

• Update less frequently! A big drain on the battery is the data context that is used to send data to the server. For example, if the application is set to ‘update every time I move’ it will drain the battery quicker than if it is set to update every 30 minutes.

 

After installation you are directed to the website where you can register your account. You can then log into the website on your pc and see where your phone is currently and where it has been at earlier times. You can choose to be ‘public’ where your location and trails are viewable to others or you can be ‘private’, and your location is only viewable when logged into your account.

Phone locator can be set to run at boot time so you can just forget about it. If you lose your phone, or it is stolen, you are then able to view its location providing a gps signal is or was available. It also runs in the background and doesn’t show up in running applications when closed.

You can also add other phones to your account that have the application installed to view family and friends locations and trails if you so wished.

I hope I never have to use this to try and trace a lost or stolen phone but I have it running just in case!

Please remember that data sent will incur charges to your phone bill unless you have an unlimited data plan with your provider.

Forum Discussion: Applications – Phone Locator

Rating:  9/10

Download: Phone Locator

Enjoy!

Nokia N96 App Review – Health Calculator

Name: Health Calculator v1.0

Description: Calculates BMI (Body Mass Index) & BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)

Summary: Health is a big issue these days, and most people struggle to understand exactly how to lose weight or gain muscle. Now, I’m not about to write an article on how to do that, but this little application will give you a very basic idea about your current weight.

What it does is calculate 2 things for you. Firstly, it gives you your BMI (Body Mass Index) and secondly, your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). BMI is a calculation that uses your weight and height to determine if you are overweight. The BMI weight ranges, as set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO), are outlined below.

• If your BMI is less than 18.4, you’re underweight for your height.
• If your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, you’re an ideal weight for your height.
• If your BMI is between 25 and 29.9, you’re over the ideal weight for your height.
• If your BMI is between 30 and 39.9, you’re obese.
• If your BMI is over 40, you’re very obese.

The above information isn’t on the application which is a shame as the numbers you get might not mean much to people, although it will summarise and tell you if you are overweight etc.

You use energy no matter what you’re doing, even when sleeping, so the BMR calculator will calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); the number of calories you would burn if you stayed in bed all day! You need to burn off the calories you take in to stay the same weight, burn more to lose weight or if you take in more than you burn off you will gain weight.

I’ve provided this information to complement the application so that the numbers you get will mean something. As a guide, men take in 2500 calories per day and women 2000.

If you weight train and have a muscular physique, then the BMI calculation is not going to be accurate because it can’t take muscle mass into consideration.  I’m going to use that as the basis for me being on the verge of overweight according to my results in the screenshots!  Muscle weighs more than fat.

You can use this for your own benefit or test it out on others to either encourage a healthier lifestyle or simply for taking the Mick!

Rating: 6/10. This calculation is nothing new and can be found all over the web, but it’s handy to have one on your phone! More information on the meanings of the calculations should be included in the application but at least I have explained it for you!

Forum discussion: Applications – Health Calculator

Download: Health Calculator

Enjoy!