Nokia's been pushing its exercise logging solution,
Sports Tracker, for a while now -- but compared to dedicated fitness computers from companies like Suunto, Garmin, and Polar, it's not
quite as useful since you can't automatically record your heart rate. For serious health nuts, that's a deal-breaker right there, but rumor has it that Nokia has now teamed up with Polar (another Finnish company, coincidentally) to deliver everything the average runner needs to start sending vital stats straight to their phones. It gets better: besides Bluetooth chest straps, we're hearing there'll be compatible cadence sensors (for bikers) and barometer / altimeters, too. The whole initiative is apparently in the final stages of development, so we wouldn't be surprised to see it officially announced either at CES or MWC. Ugh, this means we no longer have an excuse not to get off our lazy asses and jog, doesn't it?
posted Dec 21st 2008 2:23PM
That last sentence made me want to cry.
Me too. Fixed.
I've been saying since Nike+ first came out that Apple should partner with Polar. If this is true, this is a HUGE misstep for Apple. They were the first to bring PMP's into the fitness world and should have been doing so with the iPhone.
Bummer. Just got the Garmin 705 & dumped the use of my Sports Tracker 'cause it didn't do enough. Garmin's nice & meant for a bike though so unless they come out w/ something *by* CES I won't feel too bad. Plus there aren't phone docks (except the one off promos they sent to a few folks).