runstar FREE: The Simple Runner’s Companion
Ever gone out for an afternoon jog and wondered “Exactly how far was that?”. Have you been running in the park while your friend is on the couch eating chips and just wanted to brag how far you ran? Developers Color Monkey and Whiletrue have created the free application runstar FREE to satisfy all your running needs.
runstar contains a very simple interface, just select “free run” and you’re off. runstar will track your time and distance, with a choice of either miles or kilometers. Included in the app are music controls with options including the choice of playing a playlist or shuffle all music, as well as the inclusion of a “power up” song which can be triggered to provide a little extra motivation.
Once the run is completed, a summary displays all kinds of information that runstar tracked. There are charts showing the time of the run, the distance, the pace and even a chart showing the changes in speed compared to the changes in elevation. runstar allows this data to be easily shared with friends by any social network feature you have installed on your phone, including SMS, Twitter and Facebook. The route taken is also plotted using Google Maps, with flags positioned at each mile displaying the time to that mile marker. Finally there is a section when you can create a monthly goal and track how close you are to accomplishing that goal. The developers say they are working on the ability to have the results uploaded to an online account and access them from a computer, which is good because that is the only drawback I had regarding this app.
Pros:
Clean, easy to use interface.
Built in music controls.
Tracks run time and distance and plots route in Google Maps.
Run data can be shared immediately via a number of social networks.
Needs Improvement:
You can only access data from the phone, right now there is no option to upload results to a website.
No weight loss information tracking like calories burned or heart rate.
There is no ability to add a run after the fact if no GPS signal is found.
Final Verdict:
runstar FREE is a free app that will do almost everything an avid runner wants. It tracks the time you ran as well as how far you went and in the end that is all some people will need. I enjoyed my time with runstar and will certainly continue to use it to track all my runs.
What is next?: The version of runstar currently in the Android Market is only the small free version. Updates to this version will include support for both QVGA and WVGA screen support, updated graphics and the ability to upload workouts to the web. Color Monkey and Whiletrue are also working on an enhanced version of runstar with more run options and results options.
Note: This review was submitted by Pat Dameron as part of our app review contest.
Version tested: 0.8.0
Reviewed on: HTC Droid ERIS running 2.1
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Source: Android and Me
