Keeping Fit and Measuring Your Heart Rate With The Samsung Galaxy S4 [Sponsored]

The Samsung Galaxy S4, has no doubt pushed the boundaries when it was released, and it is one of the best phones I’ve had. For those who may not be able to afford the new S5 with a built in heart rate monitor, the Official Samsung Heart Rate Monitor band will be the next best thing.

One feature that I absolutely love in the Galaxy S4 and S5 is the inbuilt fitness tracking functionality of S Health App.

In my review of the Samsung Galaxy S4, I touched upon the S Health App. To refresh your memory, the S Health App has an inbuilt pedometer that can accurately measures how many steps you take in a day and allows you to look at how active you have been in the past through the graphing and reporting features. It also allows you to measure your calorie intake and how much you burn through workouts and general day-today exercise. It can keep track of the food you eat, and can even go as far as to measuring the surrounding temperature and the humidity.

But did you know that you can purchase devices to take your phone to the next level? There are Wi-Fi scales that keep a track of your weight, fitness bracelets to keep a track of your sleeping patterns and running activity, and heart rate monitor chest bands.

MobileZap.com.au provided me with the Samsung Heart Rate Monitor for the Samsung Galaxy S4 to review. The heart rate monitor for Samsung Galaxy S4 works like any other heart rate monitor, although it can connect to the S Health App through a Blutooth connection.

Samsung Heart Rate Monitor for S Health

I’ve been using the heart rate monitor for about one month now, primarily to track my heart rate while playing tennis and attending personal fitness training session with my tennis coach. It’s worked quite well, and seems quite accurate.

When I unpacked the heart rate monitor, I had trouble pairing it with my phone – it couldn’t be detected. I thought the internal battery could have been flat because it only lasts up to 1 year if you use it 1 hour a day. There was no plastic insert to pull out like you get with some battery operated devices.

I eventually manage to connect to it… I don’t know what I did, but I seemed to wipe my 12000 steps I  did for the day. But once I got it working, it was great.

The app usses GPS data to measure your speed, distance and altitude, and with the data from the heart rate monitor, it allows you to focus on your intensity.

heart_rate_workout

 

Connecting the heart rate monitor is as simple as putting it on your chest and selecting the top right icon and search for nearby devices.

heart_rate_connecting

The heart rate monitor worked great for my personal fitness training, and the graph is a great tool to see how hard you actually worked.

heart_rate_graph

The top line is my heart rate, and the bottom line is the speed. As you can see in this exercise graph, I increased my intensity quite quickly, reaching 200bpm. While recording, as you can see my speed flat lined. This is because I didn’t have my phone in my pocket. The heart rate monitor had a range of about two tennis courts, so it is great for those who find it difficult to exercise with a phone in your pocket.

heart_rate_map

Would I buy?

If you’re into buying a heart rate monitor, and you already have a Samsung Galaxy S4 or S5, I would buy one. There are defiantly cheaper options out there,  but some fail to record and graph your activity or make it difficult to view the data. Some of the other heart rate monitors I have used just show your current heart rate, and that’s it. Then there are more expensive heart rate monitors that come with software to access your device recordings, which requires a computer. So if you want something to use just on your phone, the Samsung Heart Rate Monitor in conjunction with the Samsung Galaxy S4 is great.

For me, it’s a great, convenient device that I leave in my tennis bag for when I want to record my heart rate.

MobileZap provided the Samsung Heart Rate Monitor free of charge to review. For Galaxy S5 Accessories, look at mobilezap.com.au

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