So you have a nice PDA, you have either inbuilt GPS or a bluetooth GPS receiver, what else can you do apart from navigation? Well one thing you may want to consider is using your device to track your sporting activities, whether it be walking, running, cycling, skiing or any outdoor activity.

This review is for SportsDo - a GPS sports tracking system for your mobile phone or PDA. SportsDo enables you to record all your sporting activities and you can even broadcasting live tracking stats to friends and family via the SportsDo web portal which could useful when tracking a sponsorship challenge. Detailed analysis of your activities can be performed on the SportsDo web portal allowing you to relive the experience and continually improve your performance.

You can use SportsDo for anything, I even used it to track how far I walked when cutting the grass! You're only limited by your imagination – and your stamina! SportsDo is ideal for any sport that involves movement over significant distances. The main sports currently used are are running, cycling and skiing. There are special features built in for cycling and for skiing, such as drafting calculations and ski lift detection. If your chosen sport is not on the provided drop-down list, you can add it to the list.

SportsDo runs on phones with the Windows Mobile operating system and on Java phones. It also runs on PDAs with Windows Mobile. It is not restricted to any phone network.

You will also need a way to secure your PDA whilst running or cycling. I tried running just holding it, but that wasn't very comfortable. I found an iPhone XtremeMac sportswrap would just about fit my HP iPAQ 614c in and sit comfortably over my bicep.

On startup SportsDo scans local COM ports for GPS, and then bluetooth ports. I have had some issues here with it failing to find my inbuilt GPS and having to perform a soft reset, which can be frustrating when you are waiting to go for a run or bike ride.

If you have used SportsDo previously then all your previous activities are shown on the screen

At this point you can either double click an activity to see more information about it, go into the menu and alter various settings or start a new activity.

If you double tap a completed activity on screen you are presented with a comprehensive summary of that activity. The screenshot below shows the summary for a run. You can see the total time it took, the time you started, you maximum and average speed, the distance, the amount of caloires burnt, the max and min heights, the gradient, the total height descended, the total time and the total height ascended.

If you then double click one of those activities you get a graph, this one is showing my run speed over the course of the run.

If you choose a new activity then assuming sportsdo has a GPS lock, you can either start the default activity, or select from a drop down list. Once up and running you can either have a summary screen as shown above, or you can have a larger display of less information. I find this second option more useful as I can quickly glance at the screen to check my speed or progress.

SportsDo offers a choice of visual and voice modes, with clear stats announcements voiced over your phone's speakers or earphones. You choose the stats you want to hear and how often you want them announced. The announcements work seamlessly with your phone's music player function.


You can also choose between a comprehensive stats summary display or a large-format display focusing on key stats. The large-format mode allows you to change the readout to another stat with one thumb press.

SportsDo also integrates with other phone functions, including music player and camera. There's no need to shut down SportsDo when using other features of your phone.

When you've completed your activity you can upload it to the SportsDo server, where you can clean up the data, and also analyse it using Google maps or Virtual Earth. Depending on your level of subscription this data is either public or private. You can see all the public activities uploaded from this link. This is one of my favourite features, you can view it overlayed on Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, and you get all the features and details from both those services, with your GPS track overlaid.

SportsDo say that this is the world's first sportlog – an online log of your sports activities that automatically manages and integrates all your information. Your log contains detailed, fully manipulable maps of your routes, plus image maps generated by Google Earth. Pictures taken on your phone are fixed to the map at the exact locations where you took them. Your log even lists the songs you were listening to during your session. They plan to extend this by adding personalised training plans to help you achieve your goals.

You can use the feature to create "courses" for routes you do regularly and SportsDo will provide stats on that course, for example a small running circuit I do it shows:

Distance: 2.22 miles
Course attempts: 3
Personal Best Time: 00:17:30
Average Time: 00:18:49.33

It is also a great motivation tool to track how much activity you have done via a section of the website

 

COSTS

There are a myriad of options for paying for SportsDo as follows.

SportsDo Mobile

SportsDo Mobile converts your mobile phone into a personal sports tracking device*. It allows you to see and hear key sporting metrics during your activity, and can optionally log your location and key statistics to the SportsDo web portal allowing friends and family to follow your progress.
* requires handset with built-in GPS or Bluetooth GPS device.
SportsDo Mobile - £24.95


SportsDo Desktop

The SportsDo Desktop application runs on a Windows PC. It provides a seamless mechanism for loading GPS tracking data from your existing GPS hardware (such as Garmin or StarsNav) onto the SportsDo web portal.
SportsDo Desktop - £19.95

SportsDo Bluetooth GPS

To use SportsDo Mobile you will need either a phone with a built-in GPS or an external bluetooth GPS. Our GlobaSat Bluetooth GPS uses the latest SirfStarIII chipset to give you the best possible performance.
Bluetooth GPS - £49.00
Bluetooth GPS & SportsDo Mobile Bundle - £64.95

SportsDo GPS Tracker Bundles

The StarsNav BTS-110 GPS Tracker combines a normal Bluetooth GPS and a stand-alone GPS logging device, in one convenient package.
It can either be used with SportsDo Mobile to give you real time performance information, or it can simply be popped in a pocket or backpack, and it will record you day's activity internally. At the end of the day plug it into a PC and use SportsDo Desktop to extract the data and upload it to the SportsDo web portal.

GPS Tracker & SportsDo Desktop Bundle - £74.95
GPS Tracker & SportsDo Desktop & SportsDo Moblile Bundle - £110.00

SportsDo Armband

The sexy orange SportsDo Armband is a fantastic way to carry your GPS, mobile or music player.
SportsDo Armband - £7.95

On top of that if you wish to store your activities on line you will need a subscription, priced as follows

SportsDo Web-Portal Subscription

Free, Bronze membership of SportsDo entitles you to store up to 10 activities on the SportsDo Web-Portal


Becoming a Silver member by subscribing to the SportsDo Web-Portal, gives you full access to the web-portal, allowing you to store an unlimited number of activities online, to view and to share.*

Silver Membership - Monthly Subscription

Pay for your subscription each month. £5.00 Subscribe via PayPal

Silver Membership - Annual Subscription

Pay for your subscription for the whole year in advance for a bargain price! £50.00

On top of all that you can purchase specific location packs, from £2.95 upwards which contain information about points of interest in a specific area - such as ski lifts, trails and restaurants for a ski resort. This information is used on the device to tell you where you are and, most usefully, where your buddies are, in a more descriptive way than a latitude and longitude.

CONCLUSIONS

All in all this is very good software, it's easy to use and the option to upload onto a web portal as a motivational and tracking tool is superb. It's not free to upload over 10 activities and I do hope SportsDo can reduce the annual web portal subscription price as the software userbase grows. My only problem has been the GPS device not being found all the time, something I do not have with TomTom on the same device. There is no way to manually tell SportsDo which COM port to use.

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