Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Pocket Workout Wizard 3 mini review
Being an avid fitness fan, one thing I have been on the lookout for is a good quality guide to weight training. I have tested out several pieces of software, some better than others, however have yet to find one that helps you target a good workout but also offers a good and clear instruction on how to correctly carry out this workout – until now. Let me give you a brief introduction on Pocket Workout Wizard 3 and how this software can help any would be gym users define a good weight training program.
First, let me clarify that this application targets weight training only, there are no cardiovascular exercises or complete training guides and no dietary information on offer. If you are looking to include this kind of information into your workout then this program is not for you. What this application offers are three distinct sections – an animated exercise guide, a workout planner and a workout journal.
The exercise guide is a very well executed component that is integrated cleverly into related areas of the program. From the Home page, you can select ‘Anatomy Chart’ which brings up an illustrated front on human profile with the major muscle groups listed. Tapping on the change view button flips this round to the rear view with the corresponding groups on offer. Selecting any of the available groups takes you to the exercise screen for that muscle group. From here you can tap any of the exercise names which will take you to the animated screen showing the exercise being executed. A brief description of the exercise is also on this screen with the ‘Exercise’ menu taking you through more detailed information such as alternative equipment to carry out the exercise, the starting position and finally how to correctly perform the exercise. The animation can also be paused or slowed down or viewed from a different angle if you wish to study the movement.
If you are familiar with a particular exercise, instead of tapping its name you can use the icon to its right to add this into a custom exercise program. From here you can add the number of sets, weight used and repetitions to build your own personal workout.
Going back to the Home page, Muscle Gain will take you into one of the inbuilt workout routines. Here you select the number of days in the week you wish to train with a drop down menu letting you select between the basic routine, German Volume Training or Supersets. To start your workout proper, you then select the preconfigured muscle group and then work your way through the delivered exercises filling in the training record as you go. Once you have finished these exercises, you move onto the next muscle group and so on until you have completed that day’s workout.
The alternative type of routine on offer is Shaping which is aimed at toning your body instead of increasing muscle size. In here you can select a full or partial body workout and then select the number of days you want to train much in the same way as the muscle gain routine. For each type of routine, a detailed overview is on offer explaining things like the warm up, the level at which you should be working at and what kind of weight to utilise.
The final piece of the jigsaw is the Training Journal. This records all your workouts as you go and stores them in a daily format or by a specific exercise. Notes can be added for a workout and these can also be tracked through the journal. Looking up a workout is as simple as picking the date or an exercise from the drop down list of all completed. You can also manage this journal by deleting a full workout or a particular exercise for a given date.
I would recommend Pocket Workout Wizard to all but the advanced weight trainers out there. Unless you train daily with a fully qualified instructor or have an in depth knowledge of a wide variety of exercises, this application will be of great benefit. It also sports a very good entry system for recording your work out data with your fingertips. The only issue I found with this system is there was no key to skip back a field to correct a mistake; you would have to physically tap on the field to alter it even though there was a key to skip forward to the next field. Otherwise, top marks to the ease of use and of the clarity of the exercise animations – simple and easy to follow. Even the enclosed help file is clear and concise being straight to the point which ensures you will get the most from this title.
Clarity and ease of use seem to have been high on the agenda when Workout Wizard was being designed and thankfully this has been realised. This really is as good as having a training instructor in your pocket when you hit the gym. The price does seem a little pricy at $50 given there is no cardio or dietary assistance included but if you would otherwise have to pay for a personal trainer to achieve your results it may turn out to be a great value for money purchase.
More details and screens can be found on PocketGear.
First, let me clarify that this application targets weight training only, there are no cardiovascular exercises or complete training guides and no dietary information on offer. If you are looking to include this kind of information into your workout then this program is not for you. What this application offers are three distinct sections – an animated exercise guide, a workout planner and a workout journal.
The exercise guide is a very well executed component that is integrated cleverly into related areas of the program. From the Home page, you can select ‘Anatomy Chart’ which brings up an illustrated front on human profile with the major muscle groups listed. Tapping on the change view button flips this round to the rear view with the corresponding groups on offer. Selecting any of the available groups takes you to the exercise screen for that muscle group. From here you can tap any of the exercise names which will take you to the animated screen showing the exercise being executed. A brief description of the exercise is also on this screen with the ‘Exercise’ menu taking you through more detailed information such as alternative equipment to carry out the exercise, the starting position and finally how to correctly perform the exercise. The animation can also be paused or slowed down or viewed from a different angle if you wish to study the movement.
If you are familiar with a particular exercise, instead of tapping its name you can use the icon to its right to add this into a custom exercise program. From here you can add the number of sets, weight used and repetitions to build your own personal workout.
Going back to the Home page, Muscle Gain will take you into one of the inbuilt workout routines. Here you select the number of days in the week you wish to train with a drop down menu letting you select between the basic routine, German Volume Training or Supersets. To start your workout proper, you then select the preconfigured muscle group and then work your way through the delivered exercises filling in the training record as you go. Once you have finished these exercises, you move onto the next muscle group and so on until you have completed that day’s workout.
The alternative type of routine on offer is Shaping which is aimed at toning your body instead of increasing muscle size. In here you can select a full or partial body workout and then select the number of days you want to train much in the same way as the muscle gain routine. For each type of routine, a detailed overview is on offer explaining things like the warm up, the level at which you should be working at and what kind of weight to utilise.
The final piece of the jigsaw is the Training Journal. This records all your workouts as you go and stores them in a daily format or by a specific exercise. Notes can be added for a workout and these can also be tracked through the journal. Looking up a workout is as simple as picking the date or an exercise from the drop down list of all completed. You can also manage this journal by deleting a full workout or a particular exercise for a given date.
I would recommend Pocket Workout Wizard to all but the advanced weight trainers out there. Unless you train daily with a fully qualified instructor or have an in depth knowledge of a wide variety of exercises, this application will be of great benefit. It also sports a very good entry system for recording your work out data with your fingertips. The only issue I found with this system is there was no key to skip back a field to correct a mistake; you would have to physically tap on the field to alter it even though there was a key to skip forward to the next field. Otherwise, top marks to the ease of use and of the clarity of the exercise animations – simple and easy to follow. Even the enclosed help file is clear and concise being straight to the point which ensures you will get the most from this title.
Clarity and ease of use seem to have been high on the agenda when Workout Wizard was being designed and thankfully this has been realised. This really is as good as having a training instructor in your pocket when you hit the gym. The price does seem a little pricy at $50 given there is no cardio or dietary assistance included but if you would otherwise have to pay for a personal trainer to achieve your results it may turn out to be a great value for money purchase.
More details and screens can be found on PocketGear.
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Proporta launch their new music site
Those busy people at Proporta are at it again – this time with the launch of their new site devoted to portable music players. With the recent launch Apples’ iPod nano, this is great timing as they already have a good line up of accessories for the new baby of the iPod family. Its not just iPod that is covered though with Sony, iriver and Creative supported amongst others. Check it out at the new Proporta Music website.
Monday, September 26, 2005
More WM5 VGA PPCs on the horizon
Well after Dell officially releasing their X51v and my report on the Acer n300 series, Fujitsu Siemens LOOX range is set to be updated with the N500 series. While the Acer looks set to be the smallest VGA Pocket PC available, the LOOX is a very pocket-able size as well and if the 720 series is anything to go by, will sport an excellent screen. Throw in Dell’s X51v with its built in 3D graphics accelerator and it seems there will be a healthy range of Windows Mobile 5 VGA devices in the not too distant future.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Acer n300
I just caught wind this morning of a new Pocket PC from Acer – the n300. What impresses me about this Windows Mobile 5 VGA device is that it has the same physical dimensions as my HP h4150. Specs look great including Bluetooth and Wireless, a 1200mAh battery and USB host functionality. Pictures and a little more information can be found in this link over at Pocket PC Thoughts.
Friday, September 09, 2005
Resco Explorer 2005 5.21 mini review
As a user, I think that Windows Mobile offers some great functionality however the majority of users would agree that certain included applications are a little on the anaemic side of things. File Explorer is one such application that does the very basics however could use a good boost of functionality. There are a few third party alternatives to the MS delivered explorer and my favourite has to be from Resco.
As soon as you delve into the various options of Resco Explorer you realise just how powerful and close to a desktop equivalent this is. The main components comprise of a file manager, file encryption, ZIP compression, network browser, registry editor and a file viewer. The latest releases of this application also throw in an optional Today screen plug in for good measure giving you the vital statistics of your device including battery and memory status as well as a program launcher.
Getting into the application proper, the file explorer allows you to set up the view as a split between the folder tree and contents viewer making navigation a breeze and as familiar as Explorer on the desktop. Options allow you to change the appearance of fonts, show or hide certain types of files and extensions, alter how files are copied, moved or executed and the types of confirmation messages you will get amongst others. Built in zip compression and encryption are also present and correct which facilitates space saving and security at the file level. Further functionality allows you to tailor how files are selected, how files are arranged and if they are displayed in iconic or textual format and at which level of detail.
The Networking component allows you to connect and browse other computers on your network and carry out the normal file manipulation. Where this component excels is in allowing you to stream files from other computers and servers on your Pocket PC – something the basic explorer never could.
My Registry is the next optional component which gives you full access to your device’s registry with the ability to create, change or remove entries as well as searching for a particular key or string.
The final optional add in is the FTP client which is simple yet fully featured. This includes a site manager that allows you to set up and manage ftp connections and allows such options as changing default local and remote directories, transfer types, managing duplicate and incomplete transfers and prompting for adverse scenarios.
The various options are easily found in the menu system but the toolbar provides quick access for popular activities such as properties, searching, compressing files and edit functions like copy and paste.
There are many more features available in this application and I have never known anyone to try it out and not be very impressed with the truly vast improvement over the inbuilt explorer. This is one of the first tools I install on my device and I urge anyone familiar with file manipulation on the desktop to check it out. I genuinely would be lost without it. More details and screens can be found at the Resco website.
As soon as you delve into the various options of Resco Explorer you realise just how powerful and close to a desktop equivalent this is. The main components comprise of a file manager, file encryption, ZIP compression, network browser, registry editor and a file viewer. The latest releases of this application also throw in an optional Today screen plug in for good measure giving you the vital statistics of your device including battery and memory status as well as a program launcher.
Getting into the application proper, the file explorer allows you to set up the view as a split between the folder tree and contents viewer making navigation a breeze and as familiar as Explorer on the desktop. Options allow you to change the appearance of fonts, show or hide certain types of files and extensions, alter how files are copied, moved or executed and the types of confirmation messages you will get amongst others. Built in zip compression and encryption are also present and correct which facilitates space saving and security at the file level. Further functionality allows you to tailor how files are selected, how files are arranged and if they are displayed in iconic or textual format and at which level of detail.
The Networking component allows you to connect and browse other computers on your network and carry out the normal file manipulation. Where this component excels is in allowing you to stream files from other computers and servers on your Pocket PC – something the basic explorer never could.
My Registry is the next optional component which gives you full access to your device’s registry with the ability to create, change or remove entries as well as searching for a particular key or string.
The final optional add in is the FTP client which is simple yet fully featured. This includes a site manager that allows you to set up and manage ftp connections and allows such options as changing default local and remote directories, transfer types, managing duplicate and incomplete transfers and prompting for adverse scenarios.
The various options are easily found in the menu system but the toolbar provides quick access for popular activities such as properties, searching, compressing files and edit functions like copy and paste.
There are many more features available in this application and I have never known anyone to try it out and not be very impressed with the truly vast improvement over the inbuilt explorer. This is one of the first tools I install on my device and I urge anyone familiar with file manipulation on the desktop to check it out. I genuinely would be lost without it. More details and screens can be found at the Resco website.
Monday, September 05, 2005
Lexipedia goes unabridged
Lexipedia, the standalone pocket version of Wikipedia has now been updated to a full, textually unabridged version. Those who have been using the application up until now will appreciate not reading through an article only for it to stop abruptly before the end. The smaller abridged version only contained the first one or two paragraphs of an article. Info junkies should point their broadband towards the Revolution website for more details. You do have room for a > 600mb application on your Pocket PC don't you! ;)
