Pedometers in smartphones using the example of S Health, or the motivation to walk. S Health - Sports is beautiful How Samsung health counts steps
From year to year, reviews of various smart pedometers appear on the site, and each material necessarily notes people who deny even the slightest usefulness of such devices or programs. The stereotype about the uselessness of pedometers, as well as programs that measure certain parameters of your daily life, is stable, but is gradually being destroyed, as people get involved in their use, see an example of their surroundings and begin to play this “game”. Why does this happen and what real motivation could such devices and programs have? It is these questions that I propose to discuss together in order to figure out what benefits you can get from your devices in practice.
Man is a social animal by nature
Anyone who has tried to play sports knows that the result largely depends on both the trainer and those who practice around you. If you find yourself in a weak group, then don’t expect to become a champion, it’s almost impossible, you’ll underperform during classes. Your internal motivation is very important, but it is not limitless and is influenced by who you work your ass off with. In the version of sport for oneself, which is often called fitness, the importance of one’s own motivation increases, but being a loner is unprofitable - the risk of breaking down and starting to screw up is too great. Many people adequately assess their own motivation and therefore, when going to the gym, they prefer to work out with a trainer who not only shows how to do certain exercises correctly, but also drives them from machine to machine, setting the rhythm. The coach takes part of the motivation upon himself, which is very valuable for the majority who cannot squeeze themselves into a rigid framework and constantly let themselves down.
It is generally accepted that in Russia a small part of the population is constantly involved in sports, this includes not only fitness or serious training for results, but also skiing, roller skating and similar activities. I came across statistics that said that only 8% of Russian residents visit training halls, most of them in large cities, less in small ones. But if you believe surveys from the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), then over the last decade the picture is exactly the opposite; in 2015, 61% of Russian residents went in for sports from time to time, but at least several times a month. 16% turned out to be regularly involved in sports, and their number is constantly growing. Most of these people are young people; there are very few older people among them.
My work involves the fact that I constantly travel around Russia and visit other countries. Twenty years ago, while walking in Moscow in the morning, you saw lonely runners; you could count them on the fingers of two hands. Many people were already running in Europe at that time, as well as in America and other countries. In Moscow today the number of those who enjoy running, cycling or rollerblading is no less than in comparable cities around the world. And this trend is gradually reaching the regions, people are beginning to think that a healthy lifestyle is useful, as it gives a good mood, improves physical fitness, in a word, the advantages are undeniable. But not everyone is ready to do something all the time; even running seems difficult for people; you need to buy a uniform, sneakers, and choose the time. Although running is the most democratic way to stay in shape. Minimum costs, no need for specially equipped places, and you can practice almost all year round, even in cold weather. Many people imagine obstacles to running, or they become real, so people simply stop thinking about doing something.
For some reason, many people do not consider walking a fitness option; they perceive this activity as something simple, uncomplicated and ineffective. Although one can argue here, because walking is practically no different from running, but the energy consumption is less. When walking, a person spends from 2.5 to 3.5 kilocalories per kilogram of weight per hour. For example, if you weigh 80 kilograms, you will spend about 250 kcal per hour of walking at an average pace. And this is quite a lot, another thing is, are you ready for such long walks and do you need them? And here we come again to the issue of motivation, when it is difficult to force yourself to do something, especially if there is no element of competition.
Changing our lifestyle - gradualism and consistency as a priority
The biggest misconception is that we need a separate, dedicated time to walk. Analyze your typical day, I'm sure you will find a lot of moments when you could walk with your feet instead of getting into a car or public transport. For example, I really don’t like the end of the year, when the bustle of Moscow consumes me completely and I have to stay in the car. On such days, my pedometer shows that I have walked at most 5-6 thousand steps, although on average I take 15-20 thousand steps a day. Nevertheless, I try to find an opportunity to leave the car and walk, there are some tricks here - do not drive right up to the place you need, but get out a little earlier and walk. Where possible, give up the car and move on your own.
But the most important thing you need to know is that you cannot change your lifestyle instantly, try to make efforts gradually, but they must be constant. The first thing you need to do is understand how many steps you walk per day on average. You don’t have to rush out to buy a special pedometer; all you need is a smartphone; for example, you can install the S Health program from Samsung on Android; it works on all phones; the minimum requirements are very ascetic.
In the program you can set a step goal, the default is 6000 steps per day. Initially, do not change your habits; in the first week you need to understand what and how you do, how many steps you take. And having already realized that you are succeeding, and having clearly seen the numbers, begin to change your daily routine and where and how you go.
Most fitness programs on smart pedometers list the recommended number of steps per day as 10,000. The number came about by accident; pedometers became extremely popular in Japan in the 1960s. The Japanese began to walk more to keep themselves in good physical shape, this became a national trait, even groups of those who walked on weekends appeared. The pedometers are called “Manpo-kei,” which literally translates to “10,000 step counter.” There was no scientific justification for this number of steps; at that time, the Japanese walked on average about 5-6 thousand steps per day. And the number of 10,000 steps was set as an excessive goal. But it caught on and became popular all over the world; today most programs and trackers focus on it.
In S-Health, you may find that the daily goal is set at 6,000 steps. This was done not at all because it is easier and simpler to achieve this goal; statistics from the first years of the service show that in most countries of the world people walk exactly this distance per day, this is the average value.
The pioneer of the smart pedometer market in the current spiral, the FitBit company often provides data on how far people walk in a particular country in the world. It turns out that women walk less than men, this is a worldwide trend, the difference is about 20%. In the United States, on average, people walk 5,117 steps (FitBit users - 7,500 steps), in modern Japan people walk about 7,000 steps (FitBit - 8,500 steps), in Switzerland - 9,650 steps (FitBit - 11,500 steps). Unfortunately, it is not possible to find FitBit data for Russia, but I think that our users of this service are focused on walking and running, the numbers should be quite high.
While preparing this material, I asked one of the major smartphone manufacturers to provide information on how much the users of their devices walk in Russia per day. The average number turned out to be 5,400 steps. The more expensive the device, the less user activity, with rare exceptions that stand out sharply from the sample. Another company confirmed this data; people walk very little, which, however, is typical for other countries. A half-hour walk will give you four to five thousand steps! Count how little we walk during the day, how inactive we are.
In S Health, you can see how your results correlate with other users (the Together tab), as a percentage of your group or of all users.
But the most interesting and, perhaps, motivating thing about S Health is the opportunity to compete with your friends and acquaintances. You can challenge and choose the challenge, how many steps and in how many days you want to complete. Every day the program will show which of you is in the lead and who won this competition in the end. You can tease your opponent by sending him an emoticon.
The fact that you can involve your friends increases the value of this program; in addition to the internal motivation to walk, there is also an external one. It is difficult to underestimate the importance of this factor; for many it becomes the main one.
Moreover, in S Health you can collect data both from your phone (average accuracy) and from various accessories, for example, the Gear Fit 2 fitness bracelet or Gear smartwatches.
The use of separate accessories is not at all necessary; the accuracy of counting steps increases, and some models can count not only steps, but also height, which makes it possible to more accurately estimate calorie consumption. But in order to start using the program, all this is unnecessary, you just need the desire to change something in your life.
In addition to walking, S Health allows you to take into account how much water, coffee, and calories you consume. Among the advantages of the program, I note that there is data synchronization with a large number of third-party applications, you can receive data from them and store it in the cloud from Samsung. For example, if you measure your blood sugar and store the data in another app, S Health can retrieve it from there. Most of the major apps for healthy living, nutrition, walking and running are in the supported list.
If you leave your phone next to your bed, it will more or less accurately determine when you slept. For many, this data will be sufficient.
I don’t want to go deep into the additional features of S Health, since there are a lot of them. Let's return to the topic that is important within the framework of this material. You already have a phone that can count steps, all you need to do is add a program and count them, and then change your habits if necessary. Lack of motivation? Then invite your friends to compete, look for like-minded people.
Even twenty years ago it was impossible to imagine that you would have such an assistant in your pocket. Anyone can improve their health by regular walking, you just need to start walking a little more than you usually do. And no excuses are needed here, this requires only one thing - your desire. And your phone can measure how far you went and what you ended up with. Accuracy is not so important in this case, it is important for you to instill in yourself the habit of walking, change your daily routine, and therefore change yourself. For many, such changes can be a real step towards more, for example, someone will start running, and someone will go to the gym and take care of themselves. But for this you need just a little, your desire and take the first step. Start small, download the same S Health or an analogue and look at your habits in the context of real data.
P.S. I would be glad if you tell your stories about how you walk or run, how you take into account distances and whether you see the meaning in it. How important is it for you to stay in shape and what effort does it require from you?
According to statistics, dog owners are 34% more active and healthier than those who never acquired this wonderful pet.
Samsung began systematically moving towards “sporting up” its devices, sensing the trend in time, last year, when its flagship smartphones Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 received the S Health application along with a visual pedometer, a service for counting calories received from food and spent for sports, and less obvious sensors for measuring humidity and ambient temperature. The first Galaxy Gear smartwatch added the ability to watch your own walking progress right on your wrist. The second generation of the Gear line, together with the current flagship Galaxy S5, presented at the same time, has already mastered independent counting of steps, heart rate, and calories spent during training. And a number of additional applications, which can be installed for free through the mature S Health application, offered the user several more interesting opportunities. In this material we will focus only on the simplest device in this year’s Gear line - Fit, as well as the new features of S Health and the happy life together of a smart sports bracelet and a smart sports application.
S Health - new tricks
You can find a review of the S Health application in the Samsung Galaxy S4. Compared to the modern version, it has changed little. The most obvious innovations in the Samsung sports app are the display of the number of steps taken on the smartphone's lock screen and the ability to measure heart rate using a sensor located under the camera eye (with the corresponding item appearing in the menu). Heart rate can only be measured while standing still and silently, so for “on the run” measurements, only a watch or bracelet with the appropriate training mode selected is suitable. If you use the heart rate monitor often enough, you can track your average heart rate on a general graph based on the results of the month or day.
Subtle changes to the main menu of the application have led to the fact that its logic has become more obvious to the user. The only thing that was hidden deeper in the wilds was “Setting”. But there, behind the ellipsis in the upper right corner of the application, there is a place for it, so as not to confuse the user with unnecessary data.
The number of additional applications has been replenished with three new interesting participants, although they do not care about Gear Fit (except that the sleep mode can be launched through the bracelet, but they have nothing in common with the other capabilities). These are the applications:
1. Sleep. Counts the quantity and quality of hours spent in Morpheus's arms, although only after you press the start and end sleep buttons on the Gear Fit at the appropriate time.
The good thing about the app is that you can find out as you go how many hours you actually spend sleeping (well, or trying to fight insomnia, who’s lucky), and not live with imaginary numbers about the number of hours of sleep and wakefulness and misconceptions about how many you really need both. The bad thing is that those who are forgetful will not be able to add data from past nights, and also rewind time if the “stop” button was not pressed in time. In addition, the only indicator, besides the number of hours, is the percentage of time spent without moving. For example, I made sure that I have the correct idea of how much time I need for proper rest and now I approach the issue of setting an alarm clock more correctly. In the future, I would like to see in the functionality of the application the ability to link the bedtime time to the alarm clock. For now, fans of this business can stop at some third-party application.
2. Workout Trainer is a more practical application. Like, say, adidas MiCoach, it offers a set of physical exercises to achieve certain goals (for example, lose weight, strengthen certain muscle groups or become more flexible). Unlike MiCoach, the application only offers its own ready-made programs, does not create special plans and does not send letters of complaint due to absenteeism by email.
3. Lark Activity Trainer is a fun motivational app. Its task is to persuade the user to go for walks more often. So far he speaks only English (like Workout Trainer), analyzes activity graphs, which he himself compiles. If you have no problems with a foreign language, then the application can become a virtual friend for you, who, no worse than a dog, will every time kick you out of your home or office on your next (or extraordinary) walking trip.
4. Well, RunKeeper is still present in the list of additional applications. Data from it can take part in your S Health activity graphs. Another innovation in the S Health application is this valiant main screen of the application, proudly called “My Page”. It's hard to stop after the first medal.
This is where the fun in S Health ends. And it starts in Gear Fit.
What Gear Fit can do and how it differs from other Gears
The curved and elongated display is not the only distinguishing feature of the Samsung Gear Fit. The second is that the Fit doesn't have the ability to install apps from the Samsung App, unlike the Gear 2 and Gear Neo. At the time of our meeting with Gear Fit, there was no support for third-party applications in the bracelet. But in a couple of months, an additional menu item appeared - App Connect, which can be replenished... from Google Play upon request of Gear Fit. The price for a smart bracelet is lower than for other new products - from 2400 UAH.
In terms of the quality of materials and other striking design nuances, Gear Fit is similar to its peers. The fastening of the strap suggests that the color of the accessory should be chosen immediately and for good. This impression is deceptive; if you pull the two ends of the strap, the “casket” will open and the belt can be replaced.
Black, orange and gray will be available. The strap allows you to adjust the length almost anywhere. And the mount itself does not look as reliable as on other devices in the line, but in my life I have not experienced any problems with it.
The curved screen is convenient and pleasant to use - my attitude towards this technology has not changed one bit since the review of the LG G Flex.
This is what the inside of the gadget looks like. There are contacts for connecting the charger and the heart rate monitor eye.
The overall impression of the bracelet design is pleasant. In life it evokes much more positive emotions than in advertising images. Over time, it began to seem to me that even in daily use, I had greatly underestimated the work of Samsung designers - most of my acquaintances immediately paid attention to the accessory on their hand and began the conversation with the phrase: “What is this so beautiful?” My attitude towards the appearance of the Gear Fit was quite calm all the time. This small and dark accessory does not always fit perfectly with a girl’s wardrobe. Several times I had to deny myself the desire to wear something that made the Gear Fit look too rough (any light-colored dresses are the first contraindication). Men shouldn't have this problem. But there are no problems with business clothes - Gear Fit looks decent enough for a serious person.
Samsung Gear Fit is the only model in the entire Gear line that has a screen lock and on/off button located on the side. This is a less successful solution than the button not located in the crook of the arm. At first, I couldn’t understand why the device was so often disconnected from the smartphone, and blamed it on the instability of the software. In the end, it turned out that from time to time the soft button worked when I turned the hand, the bracelet turned off, then turned on, then turned off again. This continued until I began to carefully monitor that they were away from the brush.
The Gear Fit menu, unlike the Galaxy Gear, is not trained to understand gestures. To move between desktops, use a regular swipe. To return to the main screen, use the lock button. The only trick she has mastered is launching an application by double-clicking it. The range of options is available in the corresponding “Options” section. I assigned a double press to start the heart rate monitor.
You still need to use an additional case to charge the Gear Fit, but it's sleeker and looks less like a case and more like a small box. And it takes up less space in your pocket, which travelers will certainly appreciate.
Gear Fit battery life varies greatly depending on your workout activity. For example, if you went on a hike and turned on the appropriate mode for a day, or even more, then the autonomy of the bracelet will be about a day. If you train once a day, or even twice, and not for long, then you can go through two or a half days without access to an outlet. But with the Galaxy S5 things will be worse. In normal use, my smartphone (two samples in turn) lasted from six to nine hours. On a country trip, with active use of the camera, listening to music and a bracelet with the “Walking” mode turned on, the Galaxy S5 sat down in about four hours. And during the day of travel, taking into account the 12 hours spent on the road (hence the constant re-registration on the network), the smartphone was discharged several times and “ate” two-thirds of the capacity of the external battery with a capacity of 4700 mAh (according to the indicators), charged before the trip. At the same time, I turned on the power saving mode in the Galaxy S5 only in the last six hours of the trip. The bracelet lasted about a day. After updating the firmware on the smartphone, its autonomy improved slightly. It feels like 10-15 percent. But anyway, if you are planning a long and semi-wild trip, stock up on portable chargers.
The bracelet has a vibration mechanism. The device vibrates, notifying you of incoming calls, messages from services and applications that you specify in the settings. It’s especially nice to wake up to the vibration of your alarm clock. You can display notifications from any application on the bracelet screen, but it’s better not to be too zealous, otherwise the device will be disturbed with notifications too often.
Gear Fit, unlike the first-born Galaxy Gear, allows you to read entire messages, and does not just notify you about an event. Of course, you will still have to turn to your smartphone to receive a long letter, but SMS and other little things are easier to track using a bracelet. Regardless of the screen orientation (you can set it vertical or horizontal), the text on your hand is comfortable to read. And notifications arrive instantly.
The Gear Fit settings look like this:
You can quickly change the color and background pattern to suit different wardrobes. For now, you can only choose from preset options. I hope the ability to upload your own images is just around the corner. For example, these (although it is more convenient to do this from a smartphone, screenshots with other possible options will follow).
Fortunately, you can also change the location of applications. I didn’t find the best option for myself right away.
Paranoids can protect their information using a PIN code, but entering it every time is oh so inconvenient.
When there is an incoming call, the bracelet only allows you to reset or send a quick message. I really missed being able to respond quickly. Most of the time on the road I use a headset with my smartphone. Since in any case, when answering a call, the first thing I do is look at the bracelet to see who is bothering me, I would really like to be able to immediately accept the call. But for now, alas.
And you can control the player. Changing compositions occurs instantly.
If the Galaxy Gear could only show the steps that the smartphone counted, then the Gear Fit already has its own pedometer, you need to launch it in the menu. Often the number of steps on the bracelet does not match those in the S Health app. In fact, gadgets can synchronize (in the settings you can set from 3 to 24 hours or transfer them manually at any time), but often even after synchronization the result does not match.
At first, I was guilty of the fact that Gear Fit did not transmit some of the data from workouts, which it takes into account in its own menu. But later I found out that often at the end of an active day, the result shown by the bracelet is one and a half times higher than the information in S Health. Sometimes the watch could count several dozen steps while sleeping (no, I’m not a sleepwalker and yes, I’m sure). But this happened rarely, and here everything is clear, in a dream you can jerk your hand and spin actively if you have insomnia. I was never able to figure out the reason for the appearance of “extra” steps. Interesting observation. When using the Gear Fit with the Galaxy S4, the latter usually shows more steps.
The Gear Fit Workout menu offers four activity types to suit the needs of most active users: running, walking, biking, and hiking. Everyone knows how to count distance and calories burned. However, when I simultaneously launched the running application on the bracelet and the miCoach application on the smartphone, I found out that here too the Gear Fit shows a result (in terms of distance) that is one and a half times higher than what the smartphone and the map show. Their accuracy cannot be relied upon. If you decide to monitor your heart rate or calories burned in other sports (for example, on exercise machines or while playing tennis or other activities), then the bracelet will not be suitable for this task unless they have the appropriate modes.
In addition to tracking your workout results, Gear Fit allows you to set goals and can act as a coach to tell you whether you've run enough, burned enough calories, etc.
I also had questions about counting my heart rate during exercise (in particular, running and hiking). Several times I “caught” the gadget that at the moment of high intensity exercise it continued to show a pulse at the level of 60-66 beats for a long time, and sometimes, on the contrary, showed a clearly exaggerated result. In the first case, I believe the reason was that the bracelet was poorly attached to the hand or was in the wrong place, that is, the problem was most likely on my side. Given the overestimated result, it is difficult for me to imagine what exactly was the source of the error.
Even though the Gear Fit has an IP67 rating, it doesn't have a specific workout mode for the pool (apparently, a waterproof rating of 8 is required for this purpose). But you can wash the dishes or take a bath with a bracelet on your hand - this will not be a problem.
Like other Gear models, the Fit can be used to find a smartphone. To do this, just find the desired item in the gadget menu. The bracelet will simply call the connected device.
All third-party applications in Gear Fit are hidden in a separate place, I hope this is temporary. Among the first “swallows” are a calendar, a flashlight, a calculator, an RSS reader, a settings manager, phone book management and the Sleep Genius application, adapted for the bracelet. Apart from the last two, the rest of the applications look like pampering - it’s easier to take out a smartphone and count, look at the number, etc. The contact and call manager allows you to communicate with contacts without removing your smartphone from your pocket - this is cool and makes life easier. It is also easier to launch a sleep monitoring application on your hand than on a smartphone, which may be lying in an unknown place.
A few words about Gear Fit Manager
To start working with the device, in the case of Gear Fit, you need to download a separate application (Gear Manager works with the others) - Gear Fit Manager. At first glance, the main difference between the applications is the absence of the “Applications” item in the Gear Fit Manager menu. Here you can configure almost everything the same as on a bracelet, but it’s easier to do it on a smartphone due to the fact that the screen is larger and the menu is more familiar.
Only on a smartphone can you set the sending of “alarm messages” from the bracelet, which can be important in a dangerous situation. Especially when the phone is unreachable or it has been taken away from you. To send these messages, you must press the lock key more than three times, but this function must initially be enabled in the smartphone menu. The only thing that confuses me in this whole situation is the softness and pliability of the key on the bracelet, which can work accidentally.
Bottom line
The Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Gear Fit smart bracelet are an excellent pairing for people who prefer to take care of themselves and have additional funds to purchase another smart device for the family. Since both gadgets are literally made for each other, and their software is closely intertwined, the user does not have any problems transferring information between devices and conveniently accessing his results. The main disadvantage of this tandem is its mediocre battery life and the fact that Gear Fit is not yet able to count calories in all popular sports. But even in its current form, Gear Fit perfectly complements and expands the functionality of the flagship Samsung smartphone, and also motivates the user to sporting feats no worse than someone who managed to get a dog for motivational purposes. And the difference in capabilities compared to younger “smart” watches in the Gear 2 Neo line began to rapidly decrease, which cannot be said about the price. With a price difference of several hundred hryvnia Gear 2 Neo boasts a larger screen and an IR sensor for controlling equipment. Gear Fit, in turn, has an elegant appearance and a lower price. If you are the owner of one of the older models of Samsung smartphones from this and last year and are thinking about buying an inexpensive “smart” accessory for them, then, roughly speaking, you will have to choose between greater accessibility and screen size paired with a remote control for home appliances.
3 reasons to buy Samsung Gear Fit:
- you already have a Samsung Galaxy S5 or one of the older smartphones from this manufacturer from this or last year and you are thinking about buying a sports accessory;
- your sporting interests include running, race walking, cycling or hiking, and not those that are not supported by hours;
- you need additional motivation to play sports, plus you answered yes to point one;
3 reasons not to buy Samsung Gear Fit:
- your sports are not supported by Gear Fit;
- you are confused by the mediocre autonomy of this tandem;
- you do not use Samsung smartphones or are planning to purchase more advanced watches from this brand.
Samsung recently renamed the S Health app to Samsung Health and added the ability to directly call a doctor directly within the app (only available in the US). The new name and feature were announced along with the release of the Galaxy S8 at the end of March.
With the company's renewed attitude towards healthy living, this is the best opportunity to try Samsung Health. Here's what you need to know.
Not only for Samsung devices.
Despite its namesake, Samsung Health is compatible with most Android devices and is available on the Play Store.To complete the setup, you will need a Samsung account, regardless of the manufacturer or model of your phone.
Wearable gadgets will not be required.
The app itself can count your steps and guess how long, but not how well, you slept.Every morning you will receive an alert asking you to confirm when you went to bed and woke up.
Naturally, if you want the app to track your exercise and count your steps, you'll need to keep your phone with you at all times. For most of us this is not a problem.
Use with iOS.
If you search the App Store for the name "Samsung Health", you won't find it in that weird list of results.To use the Samsung Health app with your iPhone, you need to have one of Samsung's fitness bands or smart watches.
Samsung currently offers the Gear S and Gear Fit apps in the App Store. Each of them must be paired, configured and controlled by the corresponding wearable device for which it is intended.
Within each app is the Samsung Health app, where you can view your fitness stats. Unfortunately, sharing your progress with friends or seeing a doctor is not possible when using Samsung Health with your iPhone.
Competition with friends.
The Together tab in Samsung Health allows you and your friends to compete with each other to see who is the most active.You can also see how your data compares to Samsung Health users your age.
Setting up Together means Samsung Health sends a text message on your behalf to verify your account.
Once the app verifies your phone number, you can view which of your contacts are using Samsung Health, create "tournaments" (aka the competition process), and send invitations to your friends.
Contact a doctor.
When Samsung announced the Galaxy S8, it briefly mentioned that Samsung Health users would have the added benefit of being able to contact a doctor directly from the app.The feature has been added to all Galaxy devices ahead of the S8's launch later this month. However, the Experts feature is not available on devices from other manufacturers. The service currently only operates in the US and states that most insurance companies will cover the cost of a video call with a doctor.
Think of "Experts" as a means to quickly see a doctor when you have a cold or fever, rather than for something more serious where you need to see a doctor in real life.
Organize your application.
On the app's main screen, the Me tab, contains various snippets containing information or shortcuts to workouts and displaying multiple readings.If you want to remove a tile or add other types of exercises to the app, click the Manage Items button at the bottom of the screen. You can rearrange existing tiles by long pressing and then dragging and releasing.
Turn option toggle switches on or off depending on your preferences, set goals, or choose programs.
Start of training.
Starting a workout is extremely simple - open the application and click on the tile for the corresponding exercise.If you forget to start a workout, Samsung Health will try to guess what you're doing and the duration.
Counting calories.
You can also track your calorie intake by turning on the Nutrition tile. With each meal, click on the food tile and look for the food you are eating or the different items that make up your meal.Samsung Health has a relatively extensive database of food and nutrient content.
Record heart rate and stress level (Galaxy only).
Using the camera and flash on the back of your Galaxy phone, Samsung Health can track your stress levels and heart rate. Click the desired tile and follow the instructions to begin the test. Be sure to be as quiet as possible during the test. All data is backed up.
Samsung automatically backs up your health data, which means you can restore your history when you start using Samsung Health on a new device.Samsung has recently been loading the S Health app into many Galaxy smartphones. The company positions S Health as an application for a healthy lifestyle. I liked the application with its colorful, green interface, I liked the possibilities, but there are points that cannot be attributed to the obvious advantages and advantages of the application. So, it is not available for all Samsung gadgets. The link to the application cannot be found on Google Play or Samsung Apps. They say that it does not even work with all Korean smartphones, let alone devices from other manufacturers. It is possible that Samsung believes that this application, together with branded accessories, will make Samsung gadgets stand out among other devices on the store shelf in the eyes of other consumers. But is this really so? Is the app an essential exclusive to Samsung devices? I would question this statement, so let's look into it.
So, a few words need to be said about why I use this application. First of all, it's a beautiful interface. When an application looks colorful, works stable and simply makes a pleasant impression, then you want to use it even just on a subconscious level. Secondly, I am very interested in the information about what distances I “run” in just a day. Sometimes numbers scare me, sometimes they surprise me, and sometimes they even make me happy. I am pleased that I have a nice widget on my smartphone desktop that performs such an unusual function. Believe me, it’s interesting when you walk down the street, look at the smartphone screen, and it reports your steps. Even you don't have to do it yourself. Have you ever counted your steps on the stairs? I do, but now S Health does it. And let me tell you, it's quite interesting. Thirdly, it constantly works in the background, so if it is launched once, it always hangs in the background. So let it hang usefully. Yes, and it consumes a lot of battery, even with GPS constantly turned off. The company seems to be struggling with this, so the results are getting better and the battery is being used up more slowly.
Let's move directly to the work areas. From the main window in the application we can get to the menu of additional settings and features, the sports activity zone and the calorie consumption zone, as well as the schedule. So we'll start with the additional settings menu. When you click on the hash mark in the upper left corner, additional settings are displayed on the side in front of us. We'll look at the exercise and nutrition log later, which I'll turn my attention to later. We are interested in a walking coach.
So, in the walking trainer we see the number of steps and the number of kilometers walked. The walk log wallpaper depends on the time of day. You can scroll through previous achievements directly from this window. If you walk more than 10 thousand steps a day, a medal appears near the counter. By the way, when you complete your daily quota with fanfare sounds, a corresponding message pops up in the notification panel (this sometimes scares those around you). If you click on the button in the upper right corner, a list with all the walking data will open. In general, all my data on the Galaxy Note 3 via S Health since August is visible. Do you think it's because Samsung sent me the Note 3 before the announcement? Alas, they don't send anything. The fact is that the application is synchronized with your Samsung account, and data can also be sent using NFC. It is possible to set your own specific number of steps. The default is 10,000 steps. As it turns out, I've taken about 570 thousand steps since August 19th. Interesting statistics. All other features of the walking trainer are not so unique - they are send, reset, print and help.
If we go back to the advanced options menu, there's an interesting submenu called "Comfort Level"! This is where the “gold” and unique capabilities of Samsung flagships are hidden. Yes, I'm talking about the built-in thermometer and humidity sensor. The ambient temperature and humidity levels are displayed here. Data updates quickly on the Note 3, but didn't update at all on the Note 3. As you can see, it is very hot in my apartment. But the thermometer is off by a couple of degrees, my touch and the hot processor “under the hood” have an effect. In general, I don’t know what these two sensors are for if they are not objective by default. Just another useless "innovation". Humidity limits can be adjusted. However, the humidity sensor data fluctuates constantly.
Samsung is critical of the weight of smartphone users. So, a separate menu was allocated for weight. You can continuously update the data manually or automatically using special accessories. I couldn't get these accessories. Without the accessories this app isn't nearly as interesting, but with the accessories it's just an incredibly convenient proposition. Imagine the pleasure when you step on the scale and the data is immediately displayed on the smartphone screen in the application. And this way you can track your weight fluctuations, without any notes, notes or charts! Just a dream! Personally, I would use such a weight journal every day, I could monitor its changes down to the smallest grams. You can set a goal - your desired weight. You can click on the graph button in the lower right corner. Unique, but thanks to the graph, if you have accessories, you can track your weight by month, by day and even by hour! Dream!
And now let's move directly to the settings. You can edit your profile, which includes information about your name, date of birth, gender, height, weight, and activity type. It is possible to set up synchronization with Samsung account and Netpulse. In the settings you can set a password to access the application. What if you hide your real weight from your loved ones or run from your wife to your girlfriend in the morning. Well, the fact that it is possible to change all the data does not need any comment. For travelers, it is possible to change the time zone directly from the application or simply fix it. The fact of resetting data, checking for updates, terms of use and information about the application does not require comment. Now let's move on to the most interesting point related to accessories. In the "My Accessories" section you can automatically find and connect additional accessories via Bluetooth. What are these accessories? In order not to describe it for a long time, I suggest you just look at the screenshots. They are unique and come in two types: heart rate monitors and watches, as well as just scales.
So, let's now go to the charts menu from the main desktop. On the graph you can visually track the diagram of your exercise log, nutrition, and walking coach. Everything is displayed by month, day and hour. Convenient, but not very clear. As always, data can be sent via social networks and wireless networks, it is possible to print on a printer or read help.
Well, now let’s move on to the most interesting thing in the application, and what I don’t use at all. In the exercise log you can... add a specific type of exercise. In each type of exercise, a certain amount of time is calculated according to a template, which corresponds to a certain number of calories. For example, according to the application, bowling is also a type of sports activity. If you are involved in some unusual sport (chess), you can add your template and the number of calories. In general, according to the idea, you collect all the types of activity you perform during the day, and the number of estimated calories burned is summed up, which is compared with the calories you ate during the day. Not complicated, but not exact arithmetic either. Data can be synced with your Galaxy Gear watch. However, the application includes walks in such workouts, which the pedometer calculates automatically.
By the way, the application does not count travel by car or public transport, so don’t expect to fool the system, you won’t succeed. On the machine, the application does not count fast running, but it does count jogging and walking, and quite accurately. If you want to run with S Health, then it's not difficult if you run the appropriate task. You can measure cycling, walking and jogging. This functionality is much poorer than that of Endomondo. It is possible to set certain criteria for the goal. Well, and, of course, what would running be without music? It’s a pity that among the smart accessories there are no special headphones for the application. What’s unique is that you can view on the map the segment that you walked, ran or drove. Some analogue of Google track. In general, this is the entire main functionality of the application.
Let's move on to the last area - calorie intake log. Everything is confusing here. Everything is designed for you to add a certain type of food indicating the number of grams, and the application will automatically count the number of calories. You can attach a photograph or picture to each dish. The result is an unusual culinary photo album! Quite a large number of different goods, dishes and other food. You can add your own specialties by indicating the number of calories. For example, out of curiosity, I searched the app for everything I ate during the day. I found everything except the granola bar. In general, this is for those who are especially keen on all these food diaries and diet diaries to enter all the nutrition data. But this will take a fair amount of time, although the interface as a whole is simple and understandable.
Who is the application for? For fans of themselves. Personally, I don’t have enough time or confidence in the accuracy of all measurements to enter absolutely all my food and body movements into this application. Yes, it is beautiful, it has some unique functions and a convenient, unobtrusive pedometer. The application is constantly updated and undergoes new changes. There was one version in the same one, but in Note 3 S Health is presented in another, updated, more functional version. But so far, compared to analogues, it loses in terms of functionality. Is S Health the current strength of Samsung gadgets? To some extent yes, but most likely no. The application will be changed and updated many times, but in the end it will someday be competitive. But now I can use it, and I like it. Yes, and for now only for Samsung devices. You can download the apk file of the application on 4pda, but there is no certainty that it will work even on older Samsung smartphones.
I would rate the application 7 points out of 10. Thank you for your attention!
Ilya Pashchenko
On its latest smartphones, the Korean electronics giant began to pre-install a very interesting S-Health application of its own production. The application, designed in a green style, is designed to make it easier to lead a healthy lifestyle. Using a Samsung smartphone, you can significantly make your work easier in counting the calories you eat and physical activity. But, if Samsung weren’t Samsung, if everything would have been done right the first time. Only the most meticulous user can fully understand the program, and the lack of clear and up-to-date documentation only spurs his interest in sports. It's good that such a user was found.
So, let's try to figure out why the S-Health program is needed, how it works and is structured. If we characterize the program as a whole, then it is intended to combine several functions in a single complex. S-Health is a utility that allows you to track the user’s physical activity, the number of calories burned and consumed, as well as receive information about heart rate and sleep. In addition, the program can serve as a portal for running applications from third-party manufacturers, acting as an aggregator of functions. Let's go through all the functions of S-Health in order.
The first thing that S-Health users will have to face is that they will have to register with Samsung and receive their Samsung ID. If you have not performed such an operation before, then you will have to go through it (you can do it directly from the application). The requirement for such registration is very strange, especially considering that data in the program can only be accessed from the phone itself. There is no website for S-Health users. And registration is only used to back up data to Samsung servers (yes, they spy on you). But this is even stranger, because, as a rule, Samsung smartphones already have a Samsung ID in use, why torture users by forcing them to enter their e-mail and password again?
Pedometer
As you know, the latest versions of Samsung smartphones are equipped with built-in step sensors. Therefore, any owner of a Samsung smartphone with a pedometer function can easily track the number of steps taken. But, of course, you need to carry your phone with you at all times, otherwise it won’t count your steps.
The pedometer in Samsung phones, for example in the Galaxy S5, is implemented using ANT+ technology. ANT+ technology is a further development of ANT wireless data technology, which is an ultra-low power alternative to Bluetooth connection. A special feature of both ANT and ANT+ is that devices using this protocol consume a tiny amount of energy. Therefore, you should not look for how to disable the pedometer on your phone. It doesn’t turn off, that’s one thing, it consumes as much energy as it is lost due to the natural self-discharge of your phone’s battery, that’s two things. But, excuse me, why do I need a wireless connection between the pedometer and the phone if the pedometer is already built into the phone and located inside the case? The fact is that ANT+ technology implies that in addition to a wireless connection, a wired connection can also be used. And that’s why you can’t connect a pedometer on your phone to another phone wirelessly.
According to test results, the pedometer counts steps very accurately. But sometimes he perceives ordinary shaking from means of transport as steps, be it a car or a subway car. Therefore, you should not rely entirely on the readings of the built-in pedometer. In addition, while playing sports, running or cycling, the pedometer continues to count steps. It is not disabled by the application and its readings are not ignored. Which can be misleading to the owner of the phone, because he seemed to be riding a bicycle, but the uneven road counted him a huge number of steps. The only solution to correct this shortcoming is to pause the pedometer with your hands. True, for me personally, on S5, it never came back from pause. I had to reboot the phone.
As an additional option, S-Health can count not just steps, but also running and climbing stairs. The latter will work if your phone is equipped with a pressure sensor (barometric sensor), otherwise the phone is simply not able to determine whether you are climbing stairs or just walking. In addition to counting steps, in parallel, the application also calculates the number of calories that were spent on completing all these steps. Calculation of calories is very simple - the user’s weight is taken into account, which is multiplied by the average number of calories spent per step at that weight. No fancy formulas.
Motivation
In order to encourage the user to move, the application has a built-in reward system. The system is completely simple and consists of tracking and rewarding the user with virtual rewards if he walks a lot, burns a lot of calories and eats in calories no more than the system has counted for him. In addition, all measured parameters can be viewed on histograms built into the application. These display not only daily statistics, but also progress over a certain period of time.
Made, in principle, convenient. The graphs are scaled, and it’s convenient to use medals to spur yourself on to improve your own results. But what you need is an alarm clock for physical activity. So that the phone would periodically remind you that you should get up from the computer and go stretch your numb bones.
Social functions are not ignored either. All results can be posted on social networks and compared with other users who have a longer list of virtual victories over themselves. In addition, for some activities, it is possible to add photos. You run past beautiful ducks, take pictures of them on your phone camera, eat a delicious cake, and put a photo of it on your phone.
Training
Since S-Health is positioned as a one-stop center for keeping fit, special attention is paid to the training regimen. In this mode, several options for physical activity are available at once - running, walking, cycling and hiking. For each mode, you can, if desired, set an activity goal. The goal can be distance, time, or calories. In addition, the built-in assistant voices your progress towards your goal, and the built-in music player can play your favorite songs or audiobook.
In training mode, not only the pedometer is activated, or rather, it is not activated at all, but continues to count steps as before. And the readings of the built-in GPS sensor are used, accordingly the ascents and descents are calculated, the speed developed in certain sections, and the training route is also recorded. I still haven’t figured out what the difference is between a “walk” and a “hike” type of training (it’s possible that in the “hike” mode the GPS is not polled as often, which saves battery power). But the “cycling” and “running” modes are worth examining in more detail.
The application does not make any difference between different types of cycling; cross-country and just regular track food will be calculated exactly the same in terms of calories. Calories burned are calculated using a certain average formula, which is based on the cyclist’s weight, speed of movement and walking distance. And it is possible that it is for this reason that the results of calories burned are too different from other fitness trainers.
On the other hand, the running mode quite adequately calculates the calories expended, apparently due to the fact that cross-country running is not much different in energy consumption from running around a stadium. The only difference is the presence of descents and ascents, which, at the very least, are calculated using the built-in GPS. Additionally, in all modes a map of movement is built, and after training you can view informative statistics.
But the most interesting thing begins when using a heart rate monitor, which is worn on a person and constantly transmits information to the phone. In this case, it is possible to conduct training in the most effective mode possible. The system will track not only the maximum heart rate (determined by the formula 210-0.65*age). And if the threshold is exceeded, it will signal the need to reduce the load. But, a special technology is also used to ensure a safe increase in the load on the body. The technology was developed by sports doctors from Finland and is proudly called FirstBeat.
The essence of the technology is to change the load (issuing recommendations) for a more complete loss of calories. The device, analyzing the speed of movement, heart rate and weight of the athlete, gives him recommendations when to increase the pace, and when, on the contrary, to reduce it. This technique is used not only by Samsung, but also by many other manufacturers of electronic sports trainers.
The Finns promise that from readings of load and heart rate, they can obtain information about oxygen consumption, calories burned and the body’s readiness for stress. In addition, the shamans of the cunning northern tribes also modify your training to achieve the most optimal results (depending on the task at hand). The functionality is very useful, especially so as not to overload your internal fiery motor. But all this only works if a heart rate sensor is connected to the phone. The sensor built into the phone, due to its location, is completely unsuitable for continuous analysis of heart activity.
Of course, during physical activity, measuring your pulse in this way will not work at all. And if the phone is in a case, placing your finger on the sensor is not so easy. In general, I have very big questions about why you need a heart rate monitor in a phone in this design. Yes, of course it’s cool to know what my resting heart rate is. Well, what next? What to do about it? Keep statistics? Yes, it is underway, a full schedule is being built. But such measurements are of little or even zero use. After all, the phone does not take into account the state when the measurement was made. And, naturally, after a 3-kilometer cross-country race, my puls will be quite high, and after waking up in the morning, it will be incredibly low. But there is just no benefit from such information, because there is no division according to the state in which the measurement was made.
Food
To keep your body in shape, it is important not only to lose calories from physical activity, but also to consume calories. A built-in module with the laconic name “Food” comes to the rescue here. In food, the user independently enters the type of dish consumed and its weight. For input, four different meals are available every day. In addition to the three traditional ones, breakfast, lunch and dinner, there is also an additional category “Snacks” (in our opinion, a snack). Based on the user's weight, the phone automatically calculates the daily calorie intake and then visually displays the intake in the form of a pie chart. In keeping with the spirit of tinkering, no fitness energy expenditures are taken into account. All entered data can be edited. When consuming fewer calories than calculated by the program, the user is given a virtual medal, which is added to those already available on the motivation page of the application.
To the delight of domestic users, the application is connected to the FatSecret Russia product database. On this service, users enter data on the calorie content of those products that are found in our local stores. Therefore, the database contains both chebupels and navy-style pasta. Since the information in the database is entered into the database by Fat Secret users themselves, in some cases it may not be entirely accurate. Although, the community is open and such inaccuracies are gradually being corrected. Please note that in addition to the FatSecret database (and it is only available when connected to the Internet), you can also enter your own products (they remain available in Offline mode).
Like FatSecret, S-Health allows you to enter your food intake in both servings and grams. But, since portions differ from case to case, it is still better to get a scale to make the measurements more accurate. Yes, sometimes the app calculates portions based on the weight of 100 grams, and not on the actual portions of the product. Therefore, you need to keep your eyes open and always check, otherwise you will end up with a lot of uneaten food.
On FatSecret, all products are described not only in terms of calorie content, but also in terms of protein, fat and carbohydrates. However, wise Koreans decided that there is no need for the average person to clutter their head with unnecessary information. Therefore, they took and left only calorie information in S-Health, thereby reducing the usefulness of keeping a food diary in the application tenfold. If a person restricts himself in nutrition, then it is absolutely important for him what type of calories he consumes. And so, all that remains is a breakdown by type of meal (breakfast, lunch, etc.) with calories consumed.
Weight
You can’t write much about weight, but it is measured and recorded in the database. The entered data can then be viewed in graphs. It is understood that the user can use not only ordinary scales and enter their weight by hand, but also special fitness scales from Samsung, which will enter weight data into the phone themselves.
Dream
In order to use the “Sleep” section, you need to use a wearable accessory from Samsung. This is either a smart watch or a fitness trainer on your wrist. In any case, it should be a device with an accelerometer that will monitor the user’s movements and determine the phases of sleep, its duration and quality. All the results obtained are naturally presented in the form of diagrams. Why it was impossible to use the accelerometer built into the phone remains a mystery.
Additional Applications
Since S-Health was conceived as a portal application that combines all the tools for leading a healthy lifestyle, it is possible to integrate third-party applications into the overall S-Health ecosystem. There is enough space on the main screen of the application to place at least a dozen icons of additional programs. However, as of Autumn 2014, only two programs are available for connection:
Lark Activity Trainer
Nothing more than an almost complete repetition of all the functionality of the pedometer implemented in S-Health. Installing it additionally and having duplicate functionality is not very prudent.
Skimble Workout Trainer
Oh, here’s a trainer from Skimble that’s already something interesting. The application will never let you get bored. The application is paid and not available in Russian. However, for Samsung users there is a non-full-featured mode that can be used for free.
The main focus of Skimble is on increasing the motivation of the amateur athlete to train. When registering, the master asks what is the most impeding factor to constant training. It could be a lack of time, energy, or something else. And based on the answers, as well as the user’s progress, the application tries to adapt the program so that interest in the classes does not disappear or disappear.
Skimble is designed primarily for sets of exercises (work outs) that combine both pure fitness and strength training methods. But, I would especially like to note the quality of the materials for the exercises. All exercises are not only described in detail, but also provide high-quality video instructions. And the base of exercises and training is constantly growing and updated with more and more new sets. Of course, the application contains the much-needed diary of physical activity, where all the exercises done, approaches, etc. are recorded in detail, but there is also a built-in trainer who will squeak angrily, urging you to reduce the rest time between approaches and start repeating the exercise.
All this looks very rich and you can immediately see that it was done with great love for sports in general.
In general, application integration is a good thing, but the overall disadvantage of S-Health does not receive any additional value from the integration. I would much rather use Sport Tracker for running and cycling, Skimble for exercise, and Fat Secret for my food journal than using the half-baked functionality of S-Health.
Equipment
The creators of S-Health were guided by the fact that at least a wrist fitness tracker would be used with their application. But, in addition to simple trackers, a wide variety of devices can be connected to a device with S-Health, ranging from weights and exercise bikes to extremely sophisticated “smart” watches. But you should be very careful when choosing additional accessories, because the lifespan of the same simulator is several times longer than that of a modern smartphone. And don’t forget about compatibility issues. ANT+ is certainly good, but it’s not a fact that a device from a third-party manufacturer will work properly with S-Health. The app has a short list of compatible accessories, but it's updated with the app, which doesn't happen very often.
conclusions
What can you say about Samsung S-Health? Yes, in general, everything is the same as about most of their products. At first glance, it’s not bad at all, but as always, it’s the details that let us down and completely ruin the whole impression. Minor flaws, coupled with the lack of normal documentation, make it impossible to use S-Health normally, in the form in which it was intended. Therefore, after trying the functionality offered by S-Health, an advanced user will simply switch to another program, implemented with great attention to detail. And indeed, the attempt to cover everything at once led to the fact that everything at once is impossible to use together with the phone and S-Health. Why can I get statistics on calories consumed in the context of proteins, fats and carbons with Fat Secret, but I can’t with S-Health, which uses the same database? Why is it that with Sport Tracker I can choose the type of cycling I want to do, but with S-Health this is no longer possible? Why can I use the phone's built-in accelerometer with various sleep programs, but this cannot be done with S-Health? After all, such minor restrictions do not require any too serious modifications and do not require thousands of man-hours to implement. You just need to initially think through all the functionality, and only then start developing.
UPD. Literally a week after the review was published, Samsung updated its product. And then a week later again. The general meaning of S-Health has not changed, but something new and interesting has appeared.
Firstly, the interface has changed slightly; now the main measurement indicators are displayed on the main screen of the application, and shortcuts to built-in and downloaded applications are located on the bottom line. It is unlikely that it has become more convenient, but there is no free space left on the screen and it begins to look less empty.
Secondly, statistics on consumed proteins, fats and carbohydrates have been added to “Food”. But, it is not displayed on a general indicator, but only if you delve into the details of each specific meal. The usefulness has not increased, because athletes need to know which foods to lean on more, but for now they can still focus only on calories.
Thirdly, a “stress” meter has appeared in the application. Stress is measured based on heart rate variability, so the same heart rate sensor is used to measure it, but the measurement itself takes longer. The functionality is very interesting, but how high its accuracy is is not very clear. Yes, and there is nothing to check. In general, the more different your heart rate cycles are, the higher your stress levels. In addition, this functionality is not legally supported in the UK, South Korea, Angola, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria, Slovakia, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, Algeria, Iran and Canada. The sanctions also included a heart monitor, blood glucose and pressure (the last two are apparently only accessible through some external equipment).
Fourthly, the application now has its own virtual trainer. The manufacturer of the algorithmic trainer is Cigna. The essence of the trainer is that it motivates the user to perform certain actions and draw up a plan to improve their lifestyle. The trainer creates individual goals in terms of fitness and health parameters and helps you achieve them.
To program a virtual trainer, you first need to go through a short questionnaire, from the answers of which the phone understands who is using the phone, a nerd who is dead or a well-fed ghoul. But not only questions help in planning to achieve goals. If you diligently enter all your workouts, your weight and consumed foods into the program, then they will also affect your physical activity plans.
In addition, the virtual trainer tries, to the best of his ability, to suggest to the user what other type of activity he would like to engage in in order to achieve his goals. The activities are sometimes quite interesting, for example, starting your day by clapping overhead or doing a couple of exercises in the grocery store (cute, isn't it).
UPD. July 2015.
The S-Health update to version 4.4 arrived on the phone, quite unexpectedly. There were no signs of trouble, but the beautiful, green S-Health interface was redesigned into the hated Material Design. Who came up with this crap? But the programmers tried to make at least something intelligible out of the fundamentally “blind” concept of “material design” of the user interface. All functions of the program turned into tiles of nondescript colors, and convenient graphics into incomprehensible “bars” and unsightly broken curves. However, the program has finally begun to calculate both calories burned during training and distance with decent accuracy. And the voice assistant has become more talkative. But he speaks using a Samsung “engine,” so the distorted voice of the “robot” may shock others at first.
In measurements of stress, heart rate and some other functions, states appeared during the measurement. Thus, the heart rate can be marked with several different statuses, such as “Before training”, “At rest”, “After training” and others. It has become more convenient to enter data on food consumed in the calorie counting function. Apparently, the programmers were finally expelled from the design department and several user interface specialists were hired there. The database of products has become more interesting; in the search you can search not only products, but also entire establishments. In this case, dishes from the menu of the selected restaurant are displayed on the screen.
Interface of the "Walking" mode (not to be confused with a pedometer), selection of products for the calorie consumption tracking function.
I was a little confused by the presence of two overlapping functions. Pedometer and “Walking” are not the same thing. The pedometer is implemented in hardware and simply reads data from the pedometer sensor. And it doesn’t matter to him at all whether you are riding a bicycle, running or shaking in a subway car. It will count your "steps". But the “Walking” function is implemented like other functions related to tracking distance, speed and elevation. Walk uses GPS to track your activity.
The number of functions has increased noticeably compared to the previous version. They can be toggled on or off to appear on the home screen. In addition to the usual food, tracking has appeared for those who like to crack coffee too much or drink water. All this can be tracked, goals can be set and achieved. In addition, the “Sport”, “Blood Sugar” and “Blood Pressure” functions are of interest. The last two are for manually entering readings. In the “Sports” mode there are several dozen activities, which are tracked mainly simply by time with some average calculation of calories. There are only a few workouts and goals in the app right now, but I hope there will be more of them soon.
S-Health in the new version now supports more third-party applications. In addition to the Workout Trainer present in the previous version, you can install about a dozen more different applications. Samsung is placing particular emphasis on Nike+ Running, a popular app among amateur runners. You can remove Nike+ from the main screen by clicking on the cross in the upper right corner of its tile.
Overall, I liked the update to version 4.4. It is clear that Samsung is aimed at further development of the program and does not intend to stop at the achieved results. And with well-functioning software, you can tolerate an unsightly interface.
