Cycling Apps for Android phones?

droidb

I have the Sony Xperia X10 mini pro. If your not aware it's a smart phone running Android OS with the added advantage of having power of iphone,galaxy,blackberry but smaller,compact with foldaway real keyboard. It is amazing,brilliant and more. Due to it's power, small size and built in GPS I thought I use it for cycling too.


The Android market is steadily growing. Can you recommend some good cycling apps for it. Thanks

springtide9

droidb wrote:

I have the Sony Xperia X10 mini pro. If your not aware it's a smart phone running Android OS with the added advantage of havig power of iphone,galaxy but smaller,compact with the choice of real keyboard or virtual one. It is amazing and has been brilliant and more. Due to it's power, small size and built in GPS I thought I use it for cycling too. Can you recommend some good cycling Android apps for it.

Not dedicated cycling, but a general GPS tracking app that links directly into Google Maps - 'My Tracks' (it's actually a google app)

There are lots of others, but it depends on what features you want

droidb

Some fine GPS apps came preloaded such as Google Maps. I installed mytracks now,good it does speed. Any more cycling specific?

Thanks to it's compact size it will fit in a trouser,jersey pocket easily, for the bike I had in mind to strap it to my arm instead of bike holder abit like the ipod armband.

I was put off from bigger screen smart phones. I cannot fault this thing. It truly magnificient. Get one. It multitasks. It even a torch thanks to massive software collection. Only gripe is battery life with 3G. Should be good enough for a GPS ride.

twotyred

For a GPS tracking application try Endomondo. Its much better than Mytracks.

cryocon

Here are the ones i've got. Not all specifically cycling, but a combination or routing and recording stats.

iMapMyRide
Sports Tracker Live Pro
Backcountry Navigator
GPSies

Backcountry Navigator is different to the others as it doesn't record any of your data, but you can select and download parts of the map for offline use. Then import your routes as a gpx file. The others rely of streaming maps which can be a bit of a pain when your wizzing along in a poor mobile signal area.

The one i've used the most is iMapMyRide, although the website is a bit clunky but you can pay and loose all the adverts on it. It doesn't record as many stats as Sports Tracker Live, but that doesn't load routes, just records them for reviewing on the phone or upload to their website.

damien55

You also have Sports Tracker.

http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/home

The Big difference with the other ones is the ability to use a bluetooth heart rate monitor.

(Edit, it is only for Nokia Phones apparently)

damien55

I forgot SportsTrackLive,

http://www.sportstracklive.com/

Damien

bompington

damien55 wrote:

You also have Sports Tracker.

http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/home

The Big difference with the other ones is the ability to use a bluetooth heart rate monitor.

Only available for nokia if I'm right i.e. not Android?

damien55

bompington wrote:

damien55 wrote:

You also have Sports Tracker.

http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/home

The Big difference with the other ones is the ability to use a bluetooth heart rate monitor.

Only available for nokia if I'm right i.e. not Android?

You're correct, I've just realized myself that it was only for Nokia. Sports Track Live is very similar and is also compatible with Heart rate monitors. You have to pay though if you want all the functionalities.

Damien

droidb

Thanks for all suggestions.

I installed Endomondo first, too early but looks good, worthwhile so does Sports Tracker.

I found Cardiotrainer looking for mytracks, don't know if in the same league as above but looks good and there's a pro version.

also

Ridetrac
Interval Training Timer
My Interval Timer

droidb

I am liking Sportypal. Screen access feature layout is excellent. Another good one with features is Softrace. Tell me what you think.

weenyd

I can recommend Endomondo as well, works quite nice on my Sony X10 mini.

If you install OruxMaps as well, you can download maps from OpenStreetmap, and routes from bikely and convert it into a Garmin 800, apart from the X10 not being waterproof/not sunlight readable/poor battery life etc. (maybe I should just buy a Garmin).

johnyrider

Also, here an android user with SportyPal Pro on my T-mobile Pulse 2.1 android phone.
So far the best looking and functional application for GPS tracking

macondo01

I've only used sportstracker live. One feature I like is that it emails you if you have broken one of several possible personal bests eg top average speed for 5 mins, 10 mins, etc.

Skerryman

I've been using Mytracks on my HTC hero. Works pretty well apart from the GPS eating the battery, if phones not fully charged before the ride then forget about it. Nice to keep track of cycles on Googlemaps and Docs although the sending of files to my laptop is a bit hit and miss. Thinking of putting word into the man in red for a Garmin Edge 500 for Christmas. Seems like a great little piece of kit and has the obvious advantages of being bar mounted/ weather proof/ cadence sensor etc. over the phone option.

RDW

It's worth getting one of the map applications that can access the route/terrain maps provided by http://www.opencyclemap.org - RMaps is one that includes this (as well as OS, Google, etc.) by default:

http://robertdeveloper.blogspot.com/2009/08/rmaps.html

It's probably also worth having a set of offline maps for which you only need a GPS fix to navigate (e.g. for when you're out of 3G range, or are abroad and don't want to pay for data roaming!). MapDroyd makes this especially easy, as you can download Openstreetmap data from within the app for entire countries and cache them on your media card:

http://www.mapdroyd.com/

For more control, take a look at:

http://mobac.dnsalias.org/

which lets you create custom offline maps for OruxMaps, AndNav, RMaps, etc.

If you ever want to try the infamous 'Boris Bikes' in London, check out:

http://www.littlefluffytoys.com/?cat=1

flanners1

Skerryman wrote:

I've been using Mytracks on my HTC hero. Works pretty well apart from the GPS eating the battery, if phones not fully charged before the ride then forget about it. Nice to keep track of cycles on Googlemaps and Docs although the sending of files to my laptop is a bit hit and miss. Thinking of putting word into the man in red for a Garmin Edge 500 for Christmas. Seems like a great little piece of kit and has the obvious advantages of being bar mounted/ weather proof/ cadence sensor etc. over the phone option.

Can get an HTC Desire bar mounted waterproof holder for £20 maybe one for your model as well?

cryocon

Flanners1 wrote:

Can get an HTC Desire bar mounted waterproof holder for £20 maybe one for your model as well?

Where can you get one of these from? I searched all over and could only find a non-waterproof one. Also the clamp isn't big enough for my stem so just ended up using cable ties instead.

droidb

Followed a battery life saving guide. Checked battery, it's only a 970mah rating. It is possible to get better,they do a 3700mah.

droidb

Followed a battery life saving guide. Checked battery, it's only a 970mah rating. It is possible to get better,they do a upto 3700mah.

Alumin-Liam

AlpineSport is good for tracking your rides.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/accessories/gadgets/product/alpinesport-10-39337

ductions

I use runkeeper (can be used for a variety of exercise) on my Desire.
I don't really use the app on my phone other than pressing "start" when I set off on my bike, and "save" when I finish. The good thing about the app is that it uploads the data to their website straight away without any user interaction.

The website is neatly laid out, and organises your activities by month. Each activity has the data you'd expect like average speed, distance, duration etc. Also a nice graph is displayed showing your speed against elevation over distance.

You can also import GPX and TPX files (though not in bulk), which was handy for me when I switched over from MyTracks and wanted all my data I'd recorded.

It has social features which I don't really use.

Oh and its free (I think you can pay for a website subscription to get more stats though).

yocto

Hey, here is an initial review on a bike mount for smartphones. I just bought this for my Nexus One so that I can mount it on my bike (HTC Desire should also fit).

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BIKE-MOUNT-WATERP ... 230b66ac0b


Only just received it yesterday by initial thoughts are that it is very good. It doesn‘t seem completely waterproof but should be absolutely fine in light rain. I don’t feel confident in a heavy down pour. A few tests with some tissue paper in the holder and the shower should clarify things here. One thing to note though is that the holder does not clip on to the mount. They slide into each other. This is a worry as I do feel road vibrations would cause the holder to ‘slide off’. However, the clips that are on the mount, are on a plastic plate, which itself does clip into the mount. What I have done is superglue this plate onto the holder. Now the holder clips into place and is very secure. You now have to press a button on the mount to release the holder (I hope that made some sense!!) One thing that I particularly like is the way you can take of the holder when you take your phone. This means no big plastic thing on your bike when you are riding without the phone mounted. Also, if you do park your bike in the rain, you don’t need to take the phone out of the mount while standing in the rain.

Anyways, hope no one minds me posting this here, I was looking for android cycle apps now that I can use my phone as a bike computer

I have just downloaded Sportypal which looks very good. Another one I have downloaded today which looks promising is Aboveroad. Will test them out on my commute home tonight. Was using the Mytracks app this morning. This works very well, with a lot of info on show. Until someone makes a cycle specific app, I’m trying to work out which would work best in the mean time…. [/url]