Buddy Runner

Summary

All the runners amongst you will probably agree that it’s nice to take one’s phone along when going for a run; most of us also feel weird when we can’t be reached via mobile phone.

Buddy Runner is an Android software that installs a professional GPS tracker on your phone. The app’s website, the ‘Dashboard’, keeps track and displays information collected during a jog—automatically and without having to make any manual editing changes.

Find out more in today’s review.
 

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Buddy Runner’s main screen displays the following details:

• The route
• The time, i.e. for how long you ran
• The distance dovered
• The average pace

Three tabs can be found in the menu:

• Map: The route is displayed via Google Maps. Choose between map and satellite view.
• History: Runs you’ve done so far, displayed in chronological order. The software also keeps track of times and dates of runs and of how many calories were burned. Individual routes can be accessed.
• Settings: Users have to submit their email address so that information can be sent to the Dashboard. You can also pick if you want distances to be displayed in kilometres or miles. You have to enter your weight as well so that Buddy Runner can calculate how many calories are burned.

Bottom line:
The app is super functional and we love the audio feedback that feeds you information throughout a run, but there are a few small flies in the soup: the run stats collected on Buddy Runner’s Dashboard are not private, meaning your page can be accessed by others. There’s no heart monitor, either.
 

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Buddy Runner’s GUI is impeccable: a bright blue background and nicely designed displayed and navigation elements—nice and simple. Controls are equally simple. Top points for using big, bright font that makes it easy to read even whilst running.

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Buddy Runner runs quite smoothly and the software is reliable – provided there’s GPS reception – even when the run turns into one of those epic jogging sessions. However, accessing the internal Android GPS can sometimes take a while, seeing as Buddy Runner is dependent on real GPS localization. During our test runs we experienced occasional crashes that could only be solved by restarting.

As with any GPS app, Buddy Runner is a bit of a resource monster.
 

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Buddy Runner can be downloaded for free from the Android Market.