Since its reveal on Thursday, the buzz in the mobile tech industry has been surrounding the Galaxy S 4 and all of the features it entails that make it "The Next Big Thing". Smart Scrolling, Smart Pause, and S Translate are among the top of the list - but the one that I'm most interested in is the integrated app that brings every element you could ever want in a health-oriented phone together - S Health 2.0.
I come from a family where type 2 diabetes runs strong on both my mother and father's side, so watching my health is very important in order to avoid developing diabetes myself as I'm at a considerable risk for it. While I've only just started learning about how to stay healthy and active I've already picked up on healthier tendencies than when I was growing up. I drink more water, I take more stairs, I park farther away, and I recently picked up the app C25K. While all of this is certainly helping with my energy levels and staying healthy, I'm not really noticing a whole lot of progress where I think I should and I think it has a lot to do with my bad tracking habits.
It's not that I don't want to track; it's that I forget. I officially lost my mind two and a half years ago when my son was born, and so far I haven't been able to completely recover it. I'm forgetful as ever and remembering to record my weight has become infrequent. With S Health, it's like an all-in-one system for both casual and expert athletics alike. The app and the Bluetooth accessories work together to keep your health in check - even if you forget. You don't have to worry about forgetting to weigh yourself, track how far you walked, ran, or jog each day. When you wear the S Band, it tracks how many steps you've taken even if you don't have your phone with you. The Bluetooth scale weighs you and keeps the record of present and past weights in your phone. The heart-rate monitor (HRM) tracks, well... your heart rate. The S Band doesn't look that outrageous either (especially if you get it in a neutral color) so you can probably wear it even in professional settings and pull it off.
What I like about S Health is it does more than just track the normal bits that are tracked in a regular exercise App. It also tracks your pulse and blood pressure, and serves as a food diary. Not only that, but according to your entries the S Health app can also provide suggestions to help improve your progress in your weight loss or weight training journey. I think Samsung stretched it a bit far when they said it was like having a "doctor" in your pocket, but it does go above and beyond your basic exercise and tracking apps by eliminating the need to use several apps, and also eliminating the "guesstimate" part of tracking things such as weight loss, blood pressure, etc. It's more like a very lax personal trainer, if you ask me.
What S Health won't do for you is get you motivated, so if you're like me some days and you just don't feel like doing your exercise routine it's not going to give you a swift kick in the rump to get you in gear (if it did, I would most certainly change my answer on which phone I would rather have between the Galaxy S 4 and the HTC One.) If I were to begin using this device I could see this easily being my favorite feature. It is annoying to have to go through three to four different apps a day to record the information I need to record and retrieve the information I need to retrieve.
Readers, what do you think about S Health? Is it a feature you're interested in or do you prefer another app to get you into shape? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Image via Hexus
