When You Train for a Marathon, Even for just a 5K One, Train Outdoors!

So, there’s a typhoon right now here in my neck of the Philippines. I can tolerate running in light rain but I am not comfortable running in extreme, typhoon-level rain! So, because the wind is blasting outdoors, I decided to run on a treadmill instead. What I found out was, it was relatively easier to run on a treadmill than running outdoors. I know it should be obvious but I only just realized that the difference is that great!

As proof, I will compare here the two runs that I did, with the help of my Fitbit Alta HR, the first one on a treadmill, while the second one is outdoor on a running path near my place. I generally run outdoors at, for long runs (more than 40 minutes), a speed of around 7 minutes per kilometer. I mostly kept that pace in both of my runs.

In my indoor run, I burned 581 calories and my heart rate had an average of 136 beats per minute. More so, my heart rate zone only briefly went outside the cardio zone. And I didn’t even finish the water bottle that I brought with me even after running 9km.



In my outdoor run, however, I burned 630 calories, had an average heart rate of 156 beats per minute and I was at the peak zone most of my run! The water bottle that I brought was empty even before I finished my 7.6km run!



But of course, it should have been obvious: when outdoors, the terrain changes, there are people (and dogs) you have to veer away from, and you have to contend with the wind. In my last outdoor run, even before the typhoon entered the Philippine area of responsibility, strong winds were already swirling and I had to run against some headwind in some part of my run. I knew indoor running would be different, but, as I've said above, I just didn’t realize that the difference would be this stark!

So, when you train for any marathon distance, at least for me, the best way is to do it outdoors and only run on a treadmill when absolutely necessary.

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Sennheiser HD 4.5 BTNC Review on the Esquire Philippines website

I wrote about the Sennheiser HD 4.5 BTNC on Esquire Philippines website.

An excerpt:

"BTNC stands for Bluetooth Noise-Cancelling, and yes, it's exactly as advertised. Even in the noisiest part of the mall, the Sennheiser HD 4.5 BTNC takes you to a completely different space devoid of outside noise. You don't need to blast your device to full volume just to block out the ambient noise (I swear, noise-cancelling tech will save your auditory senses in the loing run). The negative here is that you'll need a heightened sense of your surroundings—especially when you're walking in public places. Or...well, just take them off if you're mobile. That just spells trouble…"

To read about the full post, please click on the article below:

These Sleek Headphones Will Put You in a Music-Filled Bubble

Also, more photos below!

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Scosche MagicMount Pro Vent

It is never a good idea to use your phone, smart or otherwise, while driving. So, it is always a good thing to have your phone mounted. Aside from getting penalized, mounting your phone and using it hands-free can prevent you from being in an accident.

Enter the Scosche MagicMount Pro Vent.

As the name implies, you attach this mount via your AC vent (or in the Philippines, the "aircon" vent). Then, you attach your phone on the mount via a metal plate and some really strong magnets.



There are two metal plates that come in the box: a small one and a big one. Supposedly, the big one should be used for larger smartphones - the phablets ones - and the small plate for the moderately sized phones. But, to tell you the truth, even the small plate is good enough for my iPhone 6s+. The plates have adhesives on one side and what you can do, if you are brave enough, is to stick the plate to your phone directly. As I am not that brave - I saw some people on the internet having a really hard time removing the plate off of their phones - I leave the cover of the adhesive on and just let the plate sit under the iPhone case.



Actually, it's also a good idea to leave the adhesive cover on if you plan to move the plate from one phone to another.

Before I bought this mount, I was worried that the plate might demagnetize my cards, but, after doing a little investigation in stores, I found out that the plate themselves are not magnetized. (Yep, I looked ridiculous in the store when I got two boxes and tried to bring the plates from each box together.) So, yes, your cards are safe even if you bring your wallet next to the Scosche plate on your smartphone. But don't ever, ever bring your wallet next to the mount itself!



And yes, the plates are thin enough that you wouldn't notice it under your smartphone case.

The mount works as advertised. My phone does not fall inside the car and the phone is safely ensconced within reach - if needed. What's more, I can use my phone hands-free to answer calls, choose my music, and navigate around the congested Metro. You can even use the mount to park the business end of your charging cable - no more hunting inside your car for the cable when your phone is running out of juice - which is always!!!



And as an added bonus, you can even use the mount as a phone stand! As long as you don't bring the mount next to your cards or to your spinning hard drive! 

A few weeks back there had been a big brouhaha here in the Philippines when the government decided that people who mount their smartphone above the dashboard or on their windshield will be ticketed. (As far as I remember, in New Jersey, you can mount your smartphone above the dashboard but not on your windshield. The Philippine order would have been more strict if it was implemented. Which would have been ridiculous - just take a ride on a Philippine jeepney and you would know...) Good thing cooler, saner heads prevailed. But if the Philippine government decided to go that route again, at least I am already ready.

The Scosche MagicMount Pro Vent is Highly Recommended.

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The All New Nokia 3, 5 and 6 Plus the New Nokia 3310

On June 8, 2017, at Aracama Restaurant at the Fort Strip in BGC, the Finnish mobile phone maker HMD, which currently owns the rights to the Nokia brand, together with the PR outfit The Havas Village, officially launched four new Nokia phones in the Philippines.

The HMD Global officials who attended the launch were James Rutherford, Vice President Asia Pacific, Shannon Mead, Country Manager, Philippines and Singapore, and China Tanchanco, Head of Marketing Philippines.

From left to right: Shannon Mead, China Tanchanco, James Rutherford

The phones that were launched at the said event were the Nokia 6, Nokia 5 and the Nokia 3, as well as the crowd favorite, and star of the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show in the US, the newly-revamped Nokia 3310. Pricing for the smartphones are 11,990PhP, 9990PhP, 6990PhP and 2490PhP respectively. All phones will be available by the end of the month through partner dealers. 

I was greatly impressed by the quality of the smartphones. They felt solid in the hands, the displays were bright and very clear, and the craftsmanship of each phone was superb. Of the three smartphones, the one that impressed me most as far as feel in the hand is concerned, was the Nokia 3. The polycarbonate back felt really good! But, of course, given a choice, I would pick the 6 in a heartbeat!

Each smartphone will come with Android Nougat and the officials of HMD assured us that when Android O comes out (whatever its name will be), the Nokias 3, 5 and 6 will get this update. They also assured us that the phones will receive monthly security updates.

But of course, the star of the day was the Nokia 3310. HMD made a revised version of the darling of the early aughts! The new 3310 now comes with dual-sim capabilities, a 2-mp camera, 2G data, FM radio, micro SD card slot and the new version of the game Snake!!! What more can I ask for?!?

All in all, I came away impressed. The new phones also come at a more affordable price compared to other Android phones. And with the Nokia brand, I feel that more people will be attracted to these phone.

The BeatsX Earphones by Apple - A Review

I was in the market for a new pair of Bluetooth earphones. I am currently using the Jaybirds X2 when I jog and in my day-to-day activities. I also use wired earphones when my X2's battery dies. But with the iPhone 7 and newer models, I think using a wired pair of earphones is looking more and more like a dying proposition.

I am still happy with my Jaybirds X2 but, as with all electronic devices, after two to three years, its battery started to conk out.

I've been reading a lot about how surprisingly great the new Apple AirPods are. However, for some reason, I think Apple has not anticipated the demand for those and, as of this writing, the AirPods are back ordered for up to six weeks! (So much for Apple's legendary streamlined inventory... I can still feel the pain caused by the fact that the Apple Watch Series 2 was back ordered here in the Philippines for several weeks after its official release date in the country...)

Anyway, I would have been willing to wait for the AirPods but one video dissuaded me to: the noise-cancelling aspect of the earphones. You see, I am a big fan of the Apple EarPods, the ones that come in every iPhone and iPod. (I still don't know why Apple doesn't include EarPods in iPads. I am an iPad owner and I listen to it with my EarPods... Also, why isn't the Calculator and Weather app not built into the iPad? Don't iPad users need to use a calculator nor check the weather? I digress...) 

But, there are instances where I don't like using the EarPods, like when I'm in an airplane or when I am in a really noisy environment. There's not enough seal provided by the EarPods to mute outside noise. During those times, I prefer using my Jabra headphones. With that pair, noise is muted and I can listen to my music, or movies, without the need to crank out the volume all the way up.

The same is true with the BeatsX.

With this pair of earphones, the noise of Metro Manila - inside a restaurant or a cafe, or the noise of its traffic congested streets - is greatly muted. With this earphone, I can listen to my music in peace and not be bombarded by someone else's story the next table over. When the BeatsX ran out of battery, I actually sometimes don't remove it from my ears. Even if there is no music piping through the earphones, I still could not completely hear the conversion happening next to me. The noise isolation of this pair is really good!

The BeatsX is the latest ear/headphones that came with Apple's own W1 chip. With this, pairing a new pair of earphones is such a seamless process. Just turn on the Bluetooth antenna in your iOS device, turn on the BeatsX and the earphones will immediately appear on your device! That is amazing!

After this first step of pairing, the BeatsX will appear in all of your devices where you are signed in to your iCloud account.

But, I thought that, with the W1 chip - and, say, you are using an iPhone initially - I thought that, when you stop your music or movie in your iPhone and then switch to your iPad, I thought that, with the W1 chip, the source for the BeatsX would automatically transfer to the iPad. But, no! In the iPad, you need to go to Bluetooth under the Settings app and click on the Connect button. I thought that the BeatsX with the W1 chip would be able to do more...



Oh, well...

I should note that the W1 chip makes the battery of the BeatsX last longer and, also, because of it, the earphones and the iPhone can stay connected over a longer distance than without the chip. But, yes, it still doesn't make jumping from one source to another a seamless process.

And speaking of sound quality... This is my first pair of Beats earphones (the reason for which would be made clear...) and I am blown away by the sound this pair of earphones produce! Please note that I am not an audiophile and I am just basing that statement on whether I like the music produced by the earphone or not. And I like, very much, the sound produced by the BeatsX. The bass is not overpowering as other people have described other Beats products that came before the BeatsX. I don't like overpowering bass, hence my hesitance to own other Beats products! It is great when I listen to rock or hip hop but it is essentially useless when it comes to classical music - something which I listen to every once in a while. The sound produced by the BeatsX is more rounded and the earphones is more flexible in terms of the kind of music you want to listen to.



The BeatsX earphones are connected by a semi-stiff band, which the company calls Flex-Form, that you position across the back of your neck. At the left end of the band, you can find the lightning port: yes, the same cable you use for charging your iPhone, iPad or iPod can also be used to charge the BeatsX! It takes about two hours to completely charge the BeatsX from empty. There is also a quick-charge feature, called Fast Fuel, where charging the earphones for five minutes will give you two hours of battery time. It's a neat feature to have if you are in a hurry to listen to your music.

On the same left end of the semi-stiff band is the remote control: the Play/Pause/Answer button and the volume up and volume down buttons. If you double press the Play/Pause button, you can skip to your next song. Triple pressing the same button will restart your song. A long press of the Play/Pause button will call up Siri.

On the other end of the Flex Form band, you can find the switch to turn the BeatsX on and off.

Inside the box, you get three additional pairs of ear tips and two pairs of ear fins. My ear canals are weird in the sense that, I can use the medium-sized tips, the one that comes pre-installed, but, it turned out my left ear canal is slightly bigger than my right ear canal. So, I need to use the ear fins to make sure that the earphone stay in my left ear!!! (The same is true with the Jaybirds X2.) The large size ear tips, however, is too big for my left ear canal...

(What's more weird is that the EarPods fit my ears perfectly! They don't fall off no matter how much I "bang my head”.)



Finally, build-quality of the BeatsX is great! Everything feels premium in the hand. The only downside to the overall feel of the BeatsX is the case. Yes, it feels nice to the touch but getting the earphones inside is such an ugly task! There is no easy way to put the earphones inside the damn case! The case falls under the heading of (in my categorization) "Come on Apple!!!" I wish they could have just included a zippered case inside the box...



The battery lasts for eight hours and I proved it in several occasions already. And yes, the quick-charge is a boon for consumer tech: five minutes of charging from empty will give you two hours of listening time. I love that!



So, am I regretting not waiting for the AirPods? Heck no! I would still like to listen to it and try it but I am loving the BeatsX right now despite that ugly case.

The BeatsX is Highly Recommended!

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The Fitbit Flex 2 Review

Recently, I took up swimming. I don't know how to swim actually, so, I enrolled myself in a swim class. And, of course, as a tech guy, I want to know how I do when I am in the water.

So, I got the Fitbit Flex 2, the only Fitbit, so far, that you can take swimming.

The Flex 2 is essentially just a pill-shaped tracker. It can measure steps (of course), auto-track exercises like running and elliptical, measure sleep quality and, yes, auto-detect swimming! It can also prompt you to move if you've been stationary for a period of time.

The battery lasts for about 4 days, though at 3.5 days, the tracker is practically begging me to put it in its charger - which is proprietary, by the way… (You can't even swap out chargers between different Fitbit trackers...) The battery rating of 4 days is, for me, quite short for something that doesn't have a display.



You can find two bands inside the box, a large one and a small one, so you can use whatever size band that will fit your wrist. I wish Fitbit will include a different-sized band in all of their products, like what Apple does with the Apple Watch sports bands...




It has 5 LEDs and it can tell you when you have a call or a text message, though I couldn't remember what the blinking lights stand for... I can only remember the "Stand Reminder" and the light combination for how far away you are from your set goal. For example, my main goal is to get 14, 000 steps everyday, and if I double tap on the tracker, and if only one of the four white LEDs light up, it simply means I am only within 25% of my goal.




The Flex 2 also can auto-detect when you go to sleep just like the Charge 2. I thought the way Fitbit does it is by measuring both my movement *and* my lowered heart rate. However, the Flex 2 can also automatically measure when I go to sleep, when I wake up and the quality of my sleep even if it doesn't have a heart rate sensor. *That* is impressive!

However, I noticed that the Flex 2 cannot tell when I take a nap, whereas the Charge 2 easily can. Also, sometimes, when I am not wearing the Flex 2, it thinks that I am sleeping… So, I had to delete that inside the Fitbit app.

But, I got the Flex 2 to measure how I swim! First, you first have to tell the Flex 2, via the app, to auto-recognize swimming; this is not switched on by default. Also, you can tell the app what is the length of the swimming pool you are swimming in.

Then, when I went swimming and after I synced the Flex 2 to the Fitbit app on my iPhone, it automatically said that I swam!

I really couldn't figure out what the graph means but what is important was, it was able to tell that I covered the pool 23 times and I burned 158 calories in the process. (Goddamit, how much do I have to swim to burn off that candy-sprinkled donut?!?) However, as I am not (yet, I hope) a good swimmer, it took me more than an hour to cover that distance. Maybe that is the reason why my calories burned was only that amount. Maybe more experienced swimmers will get a better, more realistic swimming metric.

But on the whole, I am really happy about the Flex 2 and how it helps me to know how I do in my swimming. I still believe that the Charge 2 is still the best when it comes to fitness tracking, but until such time Fitbit releases a water-resistant Charge 2, I'll be using my Flex 2 in the water.

And, Fitbit, when you release that water resistant Charge 2, I will be the first in line!

The Fitbit Flex 2 is Highly Recommended.

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The Apple Watch Series 2 as a Sleep Tracker

So, I've been using the Apple Watch Series 2 for more than three months now. In this short span of time, I used it, with a couple of apps, to monitor my sleep quality. After all, this is one of the best selling points of most fitness trackers... For me, Fitbit is still one of the best when it comes to automatically tracking your sleep health, particularly the two that I have already tried and used, the Fitbit Surge and the Fitbit Charge 2. 

So, how did the Apple Watch Series 2 fare?

My Apple Watch Series 2 with the beautiful orange sports band!

First off, the Series 2 made sleep tracking possible because of its bigger battery. From my own experience, my Series 2 can last up to at least 36 hours on a single charge and I think that it will last for 48 hours if it is stretched to its battery limit. I don't know, though, how the Series 0, the original one, nor the Series 1 will be able to fare when it comes to sleep tracking. 

To use the Watch overnight and the whole day the next day, what I do is, at night, when I have completed my circles, I put the Watch on its charger and charge it for at least an hour. Then, in the morning, after my morning run and while I shower, I put the Watch on the charger again to top the battery off. So far, this system has worked for me and the watch battery hadn't died on me yet.

And what surprised me the most is, during the overnight, the Apple Watch's battery only loses about 3% of its charge.

However, sleep tracking is something that the Apple Watch on its own can't do. First, it cannot do automatic sleep tracking on its own. Then, the Health App nor the Activity App on the iPhone do not give you a summary of your heart rate readings. The only thing the Health App will tell you is the latest reading made by the Watch. And speaking of readings, the Apple Watch will only measure your heart rate when you are stationary... This is quite different to what the Fitbit Charge 2 does which measures your heart rate 24/7.

So, the Apple Watch nor the Health App will not be able to tell you your resting heart rate. I know that you can just use two fingers and use the timer functionality of the Watch but it would be much better if the Watch itself can do it automatically.

So, the Apple Watch, on its own cannot measure sleep quality nor will it give you your resting heart rate automatically. But, the watch can be made better, in this regard, with the help of two apps.

The first app that I use to measure heart health is the app HeartWatch. This app pulls the heart rate measurements from the Health App as provided by the Watch. From this, the app shows you several graphics related to your heart health, like your regular heart beat, your resting heart rate (the one the app calls "Waking Heartbeat") and your workout heart beat. It will then tell you your different zones like, the more blue for your regular heartbeat, the better. It can also tell you your fitness zones like if you are just burning fat or you are already building fitness. If you click on any of the circles, then you will be able to see all of the heart rate measurements. 

When you click on the Dashboard within the app you can get a summary of your activity, etc.

But what I find most amusing with this app is the mascot Timogotchi! Essentially, Tim, as he is fondly called, is a plump guy in the morning. He will then change based on your day and the app will actually forecast what Tim will look like at 10pm based, again, on your movements. If you move a lot, then Tim's love handles will go away and he will actually turn into a superhero!!!

It's a fun way to see how your day looks! Oh, I wonder why Tim doesn’t have a female counterpart…

I just wish that this app will tell you your V02 Max level, like what is determined by the Fitbit Charge 2...

(And speaking of heart rate measurements, the Apple Watch, while I was jogging, sometimes give me measurements above 200 beats per minute! And one time, it measured my heart rate to be below 30 beats per minute while I was asleep! Weird! In the former, I know my heart rate was not that high since the Charge 2 measured my heart rate at around 150 bpm. Also, when I saw that reading in the Apple Watch, I re-adjusted the watch, waited for a couple of seconds, then waited until it gives a measurement that is equivalent to the one given by the Charge 2. It is so weird that sometimes the Apple Watch can give really wild measurements!)

The other app that I use is the app Pillow. With this app, you can determine the quality of your sleep with the use of the Apple Watch; yes, you have to wear your Apple Watch to bed... The data is then presented with a beautiful and colorful graphic. However, I still think the Apple Watch is overly sensitive, hence, a little movement can be misconstrued for a big one (see Stand below). Because of this, there is a large discrepancy between the measurements made by the Apple Watch and made by the Fitbit wearable. My sleep pattern is always worse based on the Apple Watch!

Pillow is a very nice app but sleep detection is not automatic... And the process of using tracking is a convoluted process:

1. set the time you want to wake up on the iPhone app
2. press start on the iPhone app (the iPhone app will then tell you to press the "Start" button on the Watch)
3. after you press start on the Watch, you will select a mode on the Watch app (you can actually tell the app on the watch to remember your preference in this step)
4. you can choose to enter sleep notes
5. put the phone face down or turn off the screen
6. when you wake up, remember to turn off the sleep tracking of the app

With the Fitbit Charge 2, you will have to do the following steps to activate sleep tracking:

1. go to sleep. The Charge 2 will automatically determine that you are already asleep...
2. there is no step 2, nor step 3...
3. oh, when you wake up… you just wake up: you don’t need to turn off sleep tracking or anything. you just need to open the Fitbit app to see the quality of your sleep

But at least, with these two apps, the shortcomings of the Apple Watch as a sleep tracker is somewhat rectified...

Lastly, one of the circles that you have to close is the Stand circle. The Apple Watch requires you to stand, or, in reality, walk for at least a minute, or about a hundred or so steps every hour for 12 hours. It need not be consecutive hours.

The problem with the Stand circle in the overnight, in my experience, is that the Apple Watch thinks I stood and walked for a minute - while I was sleeping!!! The worst I got was, the Watch thought I stood for 5 hours during the night. Either I move very much, or I actually sleep walk, or that the Watch itself is overly sensitive...

Compare this to the measurement of my Fitbit Charge 2. Looking at the Fitbit app for the same night that I got the 5 "Stand" hours, the Charge 2 said I was "awake", as in I wasn't in "deep sleep" for three times during the night, but the Charge 2 didn't actually measure steps during those times!!! That was so weird!!!

Anyway…

I can understand why Apple didn't focus on the sleep tracking capabilities of the original Apple Watch. But with the increased battery life, I wish Apple would make the Series 2 watches capable of analyzing your sleep quality. I think a simple WatchOS update would be able to help with this.

And when the Apple Watch can measure sleep quality, is not overly sensitive, and can measure V02 Max, then it'll be a more complete fitness tracker.

Will hold my breath for those to happen!

You can download the HeartWatch and Pillow apps on the links below.

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