Having a running tracker (GPS on a phone and Garmin Forerunner 15)

Once you start running, you might want to check on your progress and performance. You might have seen people running with their phones strapped on their arms, or in their hands, or people looking at their watches occasionally. Well, that’s technology in the picture! It perhaps starts from a basic stopwatch if you just want to keep a record of your times (very useful for short repetitive intervals). But to accurately (yeah may be 99% accurate, not the perfect accuracy) measure the distance, pace and other things, you need something more.

GPS enabled phones loaded with an appropriate APP such as Runtastic, Nike+, Runkeeper…. can do the job. I used Runtastic for over an year to track my runs. This kind of tracker allows you to run pretty much freely. All you need to do is to start your running session, strap your phone around your arm, and run. That’s it. Since you’re having a phone with you, you can also enjoy your music en-route. Ample number of runners use their phones to track their runs and why not? Who does not have a phone and an internet today?

But I had to switch from this phone-based tracker to a GPS watch!

The reason being my sweat. I do not have a waterproof phone. Even while being contained inside my arm-strap, my phone got chunks of my sweat which in turn made my phone malfunctioning. Luckily the phone was under warranty!

That’s when I bought a Garmin Forerunner 15. It is an entry-level smartwatch and therefore the functionalities are limited. High-range smartwatches include heart-rate sensor and triathlon training support. My watch supports HR sensor (I have to buy it additionally but I didn’t).

It does more or less the same thing which my phone was doing. But there are differences.

1. What used to be a phone loaded on my arms earlier is now a tiny watch. Running wise, it is much more comfortable.The difference is sensed and felt.
2. But because it is not a music player, I have lost the luxury of listening to music simultaneously.
3. Now since it is a watch, I can look at it anytime to check my progress during a workout, which wasn’t possible on a phone (if it is strapped). I used to get the feedback after every kilometer or so.
4. This is also an activity tracker i.e. to track my steps and sleep. It allows me to have a check on my activity level which if I want to use with a phone, isn’t very accurate with APPS like Google Fit.

One more thing, I am also connected with the running communities and I can see the progress and training patterns of other people which is very helpful at times.

No matter what tracker you use, the most important part is that you get out there and run. You run till you can. Once you will start running, you will sort out other things, they are not big that of a deal. Trust me.

Keep running and stay fit!

Celebrating the launch of Windows 10 with MultiEMOtions Windows 10 APP

It is 29th July in here but the moment is yet to come in Redmond when Microsoft will make it’s brand new OS Windows 10 public, finally. I have been using the technical preview version on my Acer Aspire 5745 for quite some time and it has been a really good experience so far. Not only the desktop, I had my hands on the earliest technical previews of Windows Phone Mobile 10. I have been quite happy with the Windows ecosystem so far and I expect the same trend in future.

Coming back to the point. As some of you might have noticed that MultiEMOtions has apps dedicated to Android and Windows Phone. I am not an app developer but Microsoft has made it really easy for people like me to develop some basic apps using App Studio. I had developed the current app for Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1. But with Windows 10, one can use the same app on desktop as well as on the Mobile. So, for developers (I am gonna consider myself this time), they have to write their code once and it will work on devices of all shapes and sizes.

Microsoft has already added the option to develop apps for Windows 10 on App Studio and I was just porting the content of my Windows 8 app to Windows 10 app. Because in this way, my app can be accessed to many more people once Windows 10 will arrive and I expect to reach out to more people, in a technically better way. I am quite excited for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile because it really seems much cooler than the previous editions of Windows. Once it arrives, I hope my readers are gonna give this new app a try considering all the work I have been doing, not only for the content of MultiEMOtions but also for the ways in which it can reach you.

MultiEMOtions Windows 10 APP: http://1drv.ms/1fFSp5C (OneDrive link)

Spinning gears of death: Nokia Lumia/Windows Phone

(Read it on MultiEMOtions Android App)

First of all, what the hell is spinning gears of death? This does sound a little scary but when it happens, it turns out to be even more. Lumia phones running Windows phone sometimes are trapped in this problem. This usually happens while you update your windows phone and the gears that rotate in the update process at the time of reboot never seems to stop. Usually if you update your phone, it takes about 10-30 minutes to complete the process. But, for some unlucky cases (about which I am quite much) your phone seems to be never gets updated.

What is the cause of this problem? Multiple. May be your update package was corrupted or your phone might not be able to install the update correctly. I am not very sure about the technicality of the problem. But since I have faced this many times in the past, I know some nice solutions. First of all, always backup your data on the OneDrive cloud. Why? Because when you reset the phone, this backup will help setting up your phone like the old days.

In case of spinning gears of death, try these solutions, some of them could work, if not. There is a last option which will definitely work.

Option A: Hard reset: Some people have got out of this problem by a hard reset (pressing volume down + camera + power buttons together). On their reboots, gears disappeared in some 10 minutes. Lucky you if you could do this way. Never worked for me.

Option B: Nokia told someone about this solution. never worked for me either.

1. Hold in “Volume Down” and “Power” until the phone turns off
2. From off, turn the phone on by holding the “Volume Down”, “Power” and “Camera” buttons.
3. Release the “Camera” button when the phone vibrates
4. Release the “Volume down” and “Power” when the phone turns on

Option C: Remove your SD card and SIM card and then soft reset your phone. Wait for sometime. This makes the update process go faster as your phone might not confuse with having SD card as one more memory option. Worked for me.

Option D: Turn off the phone, Once the phone is off, Hold the Volume down key then plug the charger (charger should be connected to the power source) Once you see the exclamation ( ! ), remove your finger from the button. Then press the following keys in, Volume Up, Volume Down, Power Key and Volume down. The phone will turn on automatically, this may take several minutes and it will show two gears that are spinning just wait for it to finish. I have tried this one too, worked just one time.

Last option: Microsoft and Nokia have released their recovery tools by the name of Windows Phone Recovery Tool and Nokia Software Update For Retail. I prefer using NSU because it can detect my phone while spinning gears are on. In case of Windows Phone Tool, I waited for battery to die and then it identified my phone. These tools reset your firmware and could make your phone alive again. having a cloud backup could make you feel better if resetting was an awful thing to do.

Updated link for NSU: http://www.mediafire.com/file/i74x4b3hccx51xx/NokiaSoftwareUpdaterForRetail_4.1.0.exe

My Experience with Windows Phone.

It was May 2014 when my Android phone was too weak to handle the modern affairs of that time as it was around two years old. It was rooted because it had an internal memory of JUST 150 MB out of which some was eaten up already by the core apps of HTC. Phew. Only I knew how much I had to wait after tapping the screen sometimes. I was looking for new phones over the internet. My aim was a budget phone therefore apple was always out of league. Then it comes down to market winner android and the underdog Windows phone. I had heard some good things about WP from few friends of mine who were using Lumia. My android option was Moto G which was quite popular at the time of release.

Probably I searched for around 10 or 15 days all over the internet about Android and WP. Reading reviews, comparing specs, benchmarks and everything I could do. In the end, I made my mind to give a try for WP as I was a little frustrated with Android. At that time, my choice was either Lumia 630 or Lumia 1320. I chose 1320 because of the better hardware although it was more expensive than 630. I started with WP8 which was really not so good when I use WP8.1 Denim update now. Probably within a month, I got the Cyan update on this phone and everything was super lovely. People complain a  lot about lack of apps on WP but I have all the apps that I use for my daily needs. On the contrary, I know about some apps which were made available first for WP and later on for Android or other platforms e.g. trainenquiry.com OFFICIAL app. Right now, Microsoft are working on Windows 10 and I think it is a nice idea to unify desktop and phones because for people like me who use windows on desktops and laptops, it would be even much better when I have a WP in my pocket.

If I have to describe WP in one line, I would call it a perfect blend of Android and iOS because it gives a better performance than android on the prices cheaper than an iPhone.  And yeah, last thing, I love Windows Phone.