Iphone Cell Phone, runstar for Android phones free from the Android Market), an app that lets users track their run stats using GPS, is one app that absolutely lives up to expectations even in spite of its current limitations. Shown in Verizon commercials advertising the Motorola Droid. this app excels when compared to similar apps of this type. Even though it is still currently in a development stage and does not support a full range of features, it can perform the basics as well or better than other run tracking apps on the market.
Great for Tracking Basic Runs
At the time of this writing, iphone cell phone, runstar only has very basic functionality; that is, it can only track open-ended runs and doesn’t have the capability to track a timed run, distance run, or pace run, although the app states that those features are coming soon. When a user chooses the “Free run” option on the start screen of the app, he is presented with various options to control the playback of music during the run. He can choose a power-up song he can activate when he needs a boost, and he can pick a playlist to put on shuffle during the run.
After musical options are set, the user waits for a GPS location to be set then simply hits “Start!” While he is running, the iphone cell phone (in this case, an HTC Droid incredible was used for testing) will track his time and use GPS to track his speed and location, including elevation, with great accuracy.
The user can also click the “Map” button on the result screen for each run to see a detailed map of the run’s route. During testing the map was found to be slightly mistaken at certain points (i.e. zig-zags shown during straight portions of the run), but those errors could be the result of an inexact GPS fix or the map being draw with fewer than desired data points. Another great feature is that results can be directly posted to Twitter or Facebook to let your friends “know how much of your dust they’re eating.”
One of the major problems found in runstar is its lack of features and its many limitations. Although the features that are available exceed expectations, the total lack of some features – which are marked as “Coming Soon!” – really hurts the usability of runstar. There is no way to set a timed or distance run at the time of this writing, and those are features that many runners may wish to have.
Another limitation of runstar that can be very inconvenient is the impreciseness of the distance of a run. The results screen of a run only shows runs to an accuracy of 0.1 mile, which can be a problem when trying to use runstar for things that require a more precise distance, like calibrating a Nike+ sensor for use with an iPhone or iPod. Hopefully, in later versions these limitations with be eliminated and more features will be added to allow runstar to become a truly great app for Android phones.
Much information and models including the iphone equipment, IPhone Accessories, especially IPad Accessories, which are hot now, will be found on online marketplace.