Just Bought An HTC Desire - Any Good Cycling Apps?

macondo01

Just ordered a Desire as well
Anyone found a good, secure bike mount ? After last night's crashing antics I'd be reluctant to just keep it in my jersey pocket...maybe I need an armoured case !

! Judging by your photo it might need a duvet as well! I don't know of a secure bike mount though.

dcurzon

Mark Elvin wrote:

Mine doesn't seam to post to my wall.

I have enabled auto-post on the Endomondo website

i had the same problem. logged into endomondo, unticked the auto post boxes, logged out. Logged back in, re-ticked the boxes, and has been fine since. Sometimes doesnt update immediately, possibly due to bad gprs signal, but if you fire up the ap on your phone later, it will re-send the update.

Christophe3967

Fireblade96 wrote:

Just ordered a Desire as well :-)
Anyone found a good, secure bike mount ? After last night's crashing antics I'd be reluctant to just keep it in my jersey pocket...maybe I need an armoured case !

I am researching the same thing (for a Blackberry) and so far have found these possibilities..

http://www.ram-mount.co.uk/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003 ... r1&seller=
http://www.pdahut.com/bike-mount-3-by-h ... ders..html
http://www.pro-fit-intl.com/whatsnew

The last one seems the best as far as I can tell.

For general protection it looks like Otterbox is the way to go - very good reviews.

I haven't actually tried any of this kit, just researching.

pst88

I find the gradient reported by My Tracks is rubbish. I ride the same route everyday and it'll come out with values varying from 5 to 20% for the same hills.

pst88

(double post)

-spider-

Got a Desire a couple of months ago - Much better than I-phone! I use my tracks on it and find that OK.

Bassjunkieuk

FWIW and slightly OT as not strictly cycling related - I've seen rumours of Froyo aka Android 2.2 being released TODAY for the HTC Desire.

This came from a translated tweet from someone who works for HTC in Holland! Not sure how long it will then take to come over the Channel and for the various UK providers to "customize" it and it's being released in stages to manage the bandwith loading but it does look like good news as the original plan was just Q3 :-)

noisemonkey

Sportypal...

http://www.sportypal.com

pretty similar to endomondo really.

MalcYates

I settled on Endomondo for my HTC Desire. It recently upgraded to add hrm support. I would actually pay for it : I think it is that good. As uncomplicated, but thorough as I need.

I use http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ to convert the tcx files exported from Endomondo.

Now if only there was a decent, compact holder to take it from my back pocket to my bars...

To minimise battery use I have JuiceDefender, and that seems to work pretty well.

And I await Froyo with anticipation .... ;-)

dcurzon

MalcYates wrote:

I settled on Endomondo for my HTC Desire. It recently upgraded to add hrm support. I would actually pay for it : I think it is that good. As uncomplicated, but thorough as I need.

I use http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ to convert the tcx files exported from Endomondo.

Now if only there was a decent, compact holder to take it from my back pocket to my bars...

To minimise battery use I have JuiceDefender, and that seems to work pretty well.

And I await Froyo with anticipation .... ;-)

can i ask what you use gpsvisualizer for? surely you can see all the same info in the 'workout' section on endomondo.com?

Mr Sworld

Just an update for the Desire users out there.

Froyo (the upgrade to Androids OS) is now available!

Christophe3967

-spider- wrote:

Got a Desire a couple of months ago - Much better than I-phone! I use my tracks on it and find that OK.

In what way is a Desire better than an iPhone? Virgin have just pulled the deal I was going for on the Blackberry and, with the daily brainwashing I'm getting from devoted iPhone users, I am now wavering...

Fireblade96

Christophe3967 wrote:

In what way is a Desire better than an iPhone? Virgin have just pulled the deal I was going for on the Blackberry and, with the daily brainwashing I'm getting from devoted iPhone users, I am now wavering...

For a start, you can get it on a much better deal - the operators have no leeway to offer good deals on iPhone, Apple have negotiated a contract that prevents that.

Android is a more open platform - so developers are less restricted in what they produce, but there are fewer controls over badly written apps. But, over time, these will be eliminated by market forces. Apple exerts more control over its App Store, everything there has been approved by Apple, but they disallow technologies (like Flash) they don't like. I also get the impression that any deficiencies in Android get rectified more quickly than iOS where they're likely to be seen as "features".

I'm biased, cos I chose Android, the new iPhone just didn't do enough to justify its premium price tag and I liked the ability to personalise my phone setup. Now hurry up Orange and deliver my phone !

helz

I love my HTC Desire and am loving all these cycling apps recommendations, thanks people!

helz

[double post]

Mr Sworld

Christophe3967 wrote:

In what way is a Desire better than an iPhone? Virgin have just pulled the deal I was going for on the Blackberry and, with the daily brainwashing I'm getting from devoted iPhone users, I am now wavering...

Ok.... <Big breath>

If you want a phone that works 'out of the box' and you don't want to play around with the settings then iPhone is good. However you can't easily change the battery, alter the phone, play around with the OS, get loads of free apps. Basicly if you like what Steve Jobs wants you to like then get one. I'm sure they are great pieces of technology.

Android is based on a Linux system so it's open source and, by design, not likely to be infected by malware, viruses, etc. If you use Google to any extend it will sinc automatically with Gmail, Calender, Facebook, Flickr, et al.

You get a free 'Tom Tom' by the way of Google Maps and Navigator (you also get Streetview on it... Very cool~!)

While the App Market isn't as big as Apples App store at the moment it is rapidly increasing in size, and will soon outstrip Apple as anyone can design an App for Android. (Open source software again..)

As a final note, I've just moved house and so have no internet at the moment. However the new Android OS (Froyo) allows me to use the phones 3G access as a wi-fi access point. So my lap top is now connected via wi-fi to my phone which, in turn, is connected to Orange.

Pretty cool, huh? 8)

Christophe3967

Mr Sworld wrote:

Christophe3967 wrote:

In what way is a Desire better than an iPhone? Virgin have just pulled the deal I was going for on the Blackberry and, with the daily brainwashing I'm getting from devoted iPhone users, I am now wavering...

Ok.... <Big breath>

If you want a phone that works 'out of the box' and you don't want to play around with the settings then iPhone is good. However you can't easily change the battery, alter the phone, play around with the OS, get loads of free apps. Basicly if you like what Steve Jobs wants you to like then get one. I'm sure they are great pieces of technology.

Android is based on a Linux system so it's open source and, by design, not likely to be infected by malware, viruses, etc. If you use Google to any extend it will sinc automatically with Gmail, Calender, Facebook, Flickr, et al.

You get a free 'Tom Tom' by the way of Google Maps and Navigator (you also get Streetview on it... Very cool~!)

While the App Market isn't as big as Apples App store at the moment it is rapidly increasing in size, and will soon outstrip Apple as anyone can design an App for Android. (Open source software again..)

As a final note, I've just moved house and so have no internet at the moment. However the new Android OS (Froyo) allows me to use the phones 3G access as a wi-fi access point. So my lap top is now connected via wi-fi to my phone which, in turn, is connected to Orange.

Pretty cool, huh? 8)

It seems so

You, Fireblade96 et al have rather complicated matters...thanks so much chaps.

MalcYates

dcurzon wrote:

MalcYates wrote:

I settled on Endomondo for my HTC Desire. It recently upgraded to add hrm support. I would actually pay for it : I think it is that good. As uncomplicated, but thorough as I need.

I use http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ to convert the tcx files exported from Endomondo.

Now if only there was a decent, compact holder to take it from my back pocket to my bars...

To minimise battery use I have JuiceDefender, and that seems to work pretty well.

And I await Froyo with anticipation .... ;-)

can i ask what you use gpsvisualizer for? surely you can see all the same info in the 'workout' section on endomondo.com?

Sure :-) I can export all the data as a csv so that I can then add to spreadsheet / databases easily.

It's very nice to see the map and stats on Endomondo, but ( for instance ) the profile of the ride is, afaict, only available in a java applet, so to get a full ride profile, I push the tcx file through gpsvisualizer and export as a csv.

That way I can do whatever I want to with the data. Maybe a bit overkill, but I do like a bit a of data ;-)

Meanwhile, I would maybe consider a Bluetooth hrm belt to replace my trusty Suunto T3. And then if someone makes a Bluetooth Cadence sensor for a reasonable price, all I need is the Desire.

Hmm. Still won't get the training zone time and analysis without the Suunto.

Hmm, wait for a Suunto T7d to do all I want ??!

Willow 15

Macondo01 wrote

Anyone tried it with the zephyr HRM? Willow 15 did you buy it?

I bought it from Zephyr for $99 then got another bill from Fedex(about £30ish) for tax and handling. Expensive but now I have one gadget that does everything.The connection was a bit dodgy at first, but it is good now that zephyr developed a seperate app for the monitor. I have used it for roughly 2 months (cycling road/mountain, running and dog walking) and it seems every bit as accurate as my Polar s725x. The other thing I like about the desire over iphone is the fm tuner.

Fireblade96

Christophe3967 wrote:

You, Fireblade96 et al have rather complicated matters...thanks so much chaps.

Well, to help your deciding process...my Desire arrived this afternoon. It's got so much potential that it'll take me ages to get it set up just how I want it, but I can report that integration to work email (and calendar and corporate address book etc) over Exchange ActiveSynch is great, plus all the Gmail & Google malarkey. I'm planning to use it as my only work phone/email device and so far it looks just the job.

:-)

Christophe3967

Fireblade96 wrote:

Christophe3967 wrote:

You, Fireblade96 et al have rather complicated matters...thanks so much chaps.

Well, to help your deciding process...my Desire arrived this afternoon. It's got so much potential that it'll take me ages to get it set up just how I want it, but I can report that integration to work email (and calendar and corporate address book etc) over Exchange ActiveSynch is great, plus all the Gmail & Google malarkey. I'm planning to use it as my only work phone/email device and so far it looks just the job.

:-)

Wow, not many providers have any left. :? But I'm getting there, just working out the best deal. In Carphone Warehouse today, spoke to 5 or 6 random people, most of whom seemed to know what they were on about (apart from one dude) - they all had either Blackberry Bolds or Desires fwiw....

OldSkoolKona

Mr Sworld wrote:

Just an update for the Desire users out there.

Froyo (the upgrade to Androids OS) is now available!

For a non-techie type, how do you go about upgrading the OS?

Mrs OSK has just got her Desire and downloaded My Tracks so expect to see her get even more competitive on the Waterloo to Liv St rat run :-)

petemadoc

el_presidente wrote:

I write down my mileage with a pencil in a small notebook

Lol what century do you live in?

I have a HTC desire and use mytracks. Not sure how accurate it actually is but it's nice to have your average moving speed as well as just your average speed. You can upload your route to my google maps and see your route on google earth, nice

Bassjunkieuk

OldSkoolKona wrote:

Mr Sworld wrote:

Just an update for the Desire users out there.

Froyo (the upgrade to Androids OS) is now available!

For a non-techie type, how do you go about upgrading the OS?

Mrs OSK has just got her Desire and downloaded My Tracks so expect to see her get even more competitive on the Waterloo to Liv St rat run :-)

The Froyo update that has been released is only out for un-branded phones at the moment.
Not sure if there is any easy way to find if your phone is un-branded asides from checking for the update manually (Settings>About Phone>System Software Updates>Check Now)

As most phones are sold with some sort of operator cr4p on them you are unfortunately tied into waiting for them to make the update available unless your feeling a bit brave/geeky in which case you can try de-branding your phone and loading the HTC supplied Froyo update but if that process does go wrong you can end up with a nice shiny paperweight!

FWIW I'm with Virgin and still waiting for the update on my Desire but my manager, who got his via CEX on the O2 network, has already received the update.

As others have said on here I love the expandability on the Desire via the App Market. As I run exclusively linux at home there are plenty of apps that let me control just about everything on the computers at home (using ConnectBot, it's a great fun being able to turn the kids music down or use espeak to tell them off Stephen Hawkings stylee!) or even simple tasks like the VLC Remote (which will work with the Windows VLC version) to put movies on and control playback without having to touch the computer! To put it simply it's almost my perfect geek phone and one that I know I'll still be happy with after the 2 year contract is up!

edb999

Just ordered the budget option, the HTC Wildfire looking forward to trying some of these out!

biondino

Mark Elvin wrote:

Mine doesn't seam to post to my wall.

I have enabled auto-post on the Endomondo website

Just a piece of friendly advice - no-one but you cares about these stats, and they have a habit of annoying other people who think they're about to read an interesting or personal update from you. I wouldn't have auto-post myself - if you do something impressive or unusual then update it manually with a bit of you in the post!

notsoblue

biondino wrote:

Mark Elvin wrote:

Mine doesn't seam to post to my wall.

I have enabled auto-post on the Endomondo website

Just a piece of friendly advice - no-one but you cares about these stats, and they have a habit of annoying other people who think they're about to read an interesting or personal update from you. I wouldn't have auto-post myself - if you do something impressive or unusual then update it manually with a bit of you in the post!

Its true I've limited Cardiotrainer posts to friends who have the same app that I "compete" with

edb999

Just been out for 30 miles this afternoon. Had my tracks running in my pocket (phone in a zip lock bag so it didn't get sweaty ) Worked amazingly, average speed/max speed/ time and distance and of course your route details - i can now find where the massive hill is when I was lost near Horton Kirby! 8)

Anonymous

I had a iphone 4 but found the batt life would only just do around 5 hours with gps.. having said that I never played with turning things off.....

I sent it back in the end as I found that none of the apps had a auto pause feature so all avg speeds were well out.

Couple of Q's:

Does the desire have autopause with mytracks...
How many hours roughly do you get tracking

1:With wifi, mapdownload, auto email download and all that turned off,
2: How long with most things turned on?

Thanks for your help.

Simon

Bassjunkieuk

Just checked on my mytracks and whilst it doesn't appear to have autopause the stats it produces list average speed and moving average separately.

I haven't tried a maximum length test as I've only used mine for tracking commutes. Wifi is usually turned off when away from the house (thanks Tasker!) and IIRC I usually eat about 10-15% battery for an hour or so commuting to London.

I do like mytracks as it integrates well with Google Maps and can export ride stats directly to a nicely formatted table in Google Docs :-)