I remember when the first mobile phones came around in the 1990s. I tended to turn my nose up and think who would want to get one of those? A few years later I, of course, had my first mobile phone. I never used mobiles much (save texts from students to say they had slept in for lessons) so I tended to have cheap phones on pay as you go.
Anyway to cut a long story short I decided to buy the new iPhone 4. Despite all the hype, I was surprised to realise how good it is. I still don’t get any phone calls (apart from now my mother who has now also worked out how to send text messages…) But, it is great for cycling. The camera is good quality, and means I don’t really bother taking my Panasonic compact camera now. There are also a few apps for cycling that I have founded very useful.
Useful iPhone Apps for Cycling
Cycle meter – £1.49
The advertised price is £2.99 but I got it for £1.49. I just can’t believe anything so good and useful can be so cheap. It tracks your ride, distance, average speed, height, and after your ride you can follow your route on the map. This is the kind of thing I have been wanting for the past 15 years of cycling. My average speeds are suspiciously low, though it is supposed to automatically stop when you stop. It also shows how unreliable distance on standard bike computers can be. It is simple to operate; I found you can even use your nose to start and stop, when you are wearing three pairs of gloves in winter.
I was toying with buying a purpose built GPS for the bike. It would be useful to view whilst cycling, but, with this App it is hard to justify the cost of buying a specific GPS speedometer.
Bike Hub Cycle Journey Planner
A dedicated GPS for cycling. This offers specific GPS support for cyclists showing cycle paths and bike shops. Reviewers suggest it has a tendency to crash when in use. The kind of product that has potential to be very good. Hopefully future versions will correct this problem and enable excellent cycle journey planning.
Bicycle Gear Calculator
I’ve been cycling for 15 years, and I still have little idea what it actually means when people talk about 93 inch gears. As I’m considering a fixed gear bike for hill climbs, I thought I would get this for an easy way to calculate various gear combinations.
Bike Repair App
Useful for showing some bike repairs. I rarely do it on move. But, seeing screenshots is often more helpful than reading ordinary text book.
Related
More bike apps for iPhone at London Cyclists
CycleStreets is also a good app. It plans routes for you from one point to another based on your preference between how fast you want to get there and/or how safe you want the route.
I have an iPhone and I use the Cyclemeter app that you’ve pictured above. I think it’s fantastic, if you can overlook the occasional gps errors. I’ve a few tips for you (in case you didn’t already know them).
1: You can use the squeeze button on your iPhone headphones to control the application. Particularly useful if you don’t feel safe putting your £500+ phone in a pocket while cycling (assuming that you take a backpack with you). I have a set of bluetooth headphones that allow me to easily listen to my music, start/stop Cyclemeter and request updates on my rides (or hear them at time intervals/distance intervals) without the bother of wires.
2: If you’re having issues with gps fidelity, try turning off wireless or taking the phone out of its case (if you use one).
3: Unfortunately, my iPhone3G has a crap battery. If I want to do a long ride I have to be sure my phone is charged before I go and sometimes I use an Mp3 player instead of using the phone’s built in iPod. I’m sure you have fewer battery problems with the iPhone4, but it may be worth getting a battery accessory.
4: Make the most out of the Twitter and Facebook integration. You can customise when the app Tweets or posts to Facebook and how much information you show, including a map link so people can follow your route. It can even read out Tweets and Facebook comments to you.
The most useful thing for me by far is the ability to start/stop the app recording from pressing a button on my headphones (it’s a slow double-click, as a normal double-click skips to the next track in the iPod). It makes using it really hassle free.
I have used the SportsTracker application for Symbian works fine, supports multiple sports and uploads to a site where you can analyze workouts. It can also export as gpx and is compatible with a Polar HRM transmitter, too. I use it in a Nokia handset because previous experience with a gps app for the iPhone 3G drained my battery in a couple of hours and was transmitting data over the network. Is the same with the iPhone 4?
Much the same apps are available for Android phones (like HTC Desire etc) for much the same price – or free if you don’t mind tiny little adverts…..
the gps stuff available on phones is pretty amazing. i use ‘mytracks’, and it gives you your average speed including stops, and without stops. and tons of other stuff – the elevation is particularly useful. you can put in a marker to time yourself on a climb in the middle of a longer ride.