Nokia N79 Active to come with heart rate monitor, guilt

We knew something was up with these Bluetooth heart rate straps from Polar, and sure enough, Nokia has announced a partnership to get serious fitness monitoring integrated with its products. The first to take advantage will be a special version of the N79, creatively dubbed the N79 Active, which will include 4GB of onboard memory the requisite strap right in the box and sell for about €375 ($494) when it ships "soon" in "select territories." Of course, the new hardware isn't any good without new software, and it just so happens that the N79 Active will include a new version of Nokia's Sports Tracker app for keeping tabs on workouts. We'd heard that other Polar accessories like cadence sensors for biking fanatics were in the works, so this could end up developing into a whole franchise.

[Via All About Symbian]

[Bob @ Jan 14th 2009 1:29PM]

I don't like the way that guy is looking at me...

[Like_A_Glove @ Jan 14th 2009 1:36PM]

Guess that makes two of us

[bandigolo @ Jan 14th 2009 1:58PM]

3.

is it just me or does that guy look like Nathan Petrelli?

[superhobo @ Jan 14th 2009 2:13PM]

4

[Sean @ Jan 14th 2009 2:15PM]

I think he's looking for a bathroom.

But this guy seriously looks familiar. Who is he?

[vcx @ Jan 14th 2009 6:15PM]

The file name says: nokia-n79-active-dude.jpg

[Unregistered @ Jan 14th 2009 7:56PM]

@Albanian_killa: are you really sure the n95 can do everything the iPhone can? I don't think the n95 can do multitouch. (ya and you can bring on the retort about what the n95 can do that the iPhone can't such as mms etc but the fact it that the n95 can't do EVERYTHING the iphone can)

[Wwhat @ Jan 15th 2009 7:30AM]

The guy looks dutch or norwegian to me.

[ILoveApple @ Jan 14th 2009 1:43PM]

This. This is why Nokia lost marketshare. My God.

[kjb434 @ Jan 14th 2009 2:03PM]

Maybe some marketshare, but they are far from going out of business. Losing some marketshare usually means there is more competition and choice. That's good for us consumers.

[Aaron @ Jan 14th 2009 2:10PM]

They're losing market share because they're catering for fitness fans rather than obese slobs? Huh? I guess that explains why they've never cracked the US market...

[ILoveApple @ Jan 14th 2009 2:12PM]

I didn't ask for a silly lecture. Nokia lost marketshare. That is a fact which you can not dispute. No where in mycomment did I mention that Nokia were going out of business. Besides, the reason Nokia lost marketshare is because in '08, they were stupid enough to decrease build quality and then offer practically the same phones from '06 as 'upgrades'.

[superhobo @ Jan 14th 2009 2:15PM]

No, I'm sure ILoveCrapple meant the guy in the picture was the reason.

[Fernando @ Jan 14th 2009 2:16PM]

Yes, innovating makes companies lose marketshare.

[ILoveApple @ Jan 14th 2009 2:22PM]

Innovating? How the hell is this innovating? This is nothing special at all, and knowing Nokia, it'll be poorly marketed, carried by very few retailers and will FAIL just as soon as it leaves their factories.

Can you hear the drums, Fernando?

[ILoveApple @ Jan 14th 2009 2:26PM]

Superhobo, you are correct. Nokia's employees suck. Just look at that shirt. No wonder Nokia's employees aren't as proud of their company as Apple employees are... Apple's shirts are much better. That's not the only reason, though... their CEO is a deluded fool. What's his name again? Olli-Pekka Kalashnikov, wasn't it?

[Albanian_Killa @ Jan 14th 2009 3:58PM]

Oh yeah, the Apple employees, the drones. Apple is by far one of the worst companies to invest your money in for a product. It's outdated every year, the support will fall, and has stupid rules like "no removable batteries", etc.

I have a Nokia N95 and I love it. It can do anything an iPhone can, and this is for a device that's been out for a few years. It's innovation at how strongly built this device is.

And what's so funny about Icelandic names? And I didn't see why it was necessary to put Kalashnikov at the end of his name? WTF?

Anyway, go back to hugging your iPhone, even though it will be outdated pretty soon.

[Albanian_Killa @ Jan 14th 2009 3:59PM]

And if this is why Nokia lost marketshare, good. It's not their fault they're real, and fat slobs can't accept they're fat and need to lose weight. Denial is something I hate.

[Al @ Jan 14th 2009 4:01PM]

Hmmm, how typical of an American is ILoveApple?
300? 400lbs?

[Newone @ Jan 14th 2009 6:20PM]

The more bitchy apple fans get, the more they wish apple had it.

What really makes my day is the sorry poke at Kallasvuos name. How lame can you get?

Ps. If Jobs wasn't addopted, he would be called Steven Schieble, now make a crack at that

[kangbp.nyc @ Jan 21st 2009 4:43PM]

yes, nokia fill have horrible marketing, unlike apple who market crap as the most fantastic sh*t on earth

and no, no pun intended

[andrew @ Jan 14th 2009 1:51PM]

Awesome! About time, should be better then keeping the gps on all the time. I have been using sport tracker and the gps in my N95 to keep track of my skiing. I can't wait till I have cadence and heart rate data saved to my phone for biking as well. I hope google will run with this in earth, maybe polar or nokia will create a PC app to go along with it.

[rcappo @ Jan 14th 2009 2:24PM]

Tell me when they've made something to use with my iPod & Nike+ setup to monitor heart rate. They could make a lot of money with that.

Or will it be possible to add the bluetooth adapter listed a day or two ago here to an iPod touch and then use the heartrate monitor with some software (or the Nike+ software would be ideal)?

It shouldn't be that hard for Apple to implement this feature anymore.

[BCre8v @ Jan 14th 2009 2:27PM]

"The requisite strap"?

If worn by athletes, is this the Jock Strap?

[dukemang @ Jan 14th 2009 2:28PM]

If you heart rate goes to 0 does it call 911 for you?

[ILoveApple @ Jan 14th 2009 2:53PM]

No, it won't call 911 for you because it'll be a cold day in hell before Nokia sells one of these to an American. Try 999 instead.

[Wwhat @ Jan 15th 2009 7:32AM]

The euro alarm number is 112, although in britain both 999 and 112 work.

[Wwhat @ Jan 15th 2009 7:34AM]

Oh and did you know it sometimes snows in jerusalem? Just saying.

[GLC @ Jan 14th 2009 3:32PM]

Chest straps just plain suck. Why not a wrist strap already?

[mkpaa @ Jan 14th 2009 7:27PM]

Because it is not possible to get correct heart rate from wrist. It is hard even from chest. Polar+Adidas also sell shirts thats are compatible with these heart rate monitors.

[Wwhat @ Jan 15th 2009 7:37AM]

You can get heartrate from shining an IR light through a thin part of your body, like a finger, and countless other ways, it's 2009 not 1950.
Cheststraps are indeed cumbersome and outdated.

[marsromangod @ Jan 14th 2009 5:42PM]

Sweeeet and i was about to but a heartrate monitor but this changes everything. I hope N97 supports it when it comes out. oh and Iloveapple your sooo cute i just wanna pinch your fat cheeks, maybe Jobs can use this on his road to recovery.

[Senor Dave @ Jan 15th 2009 4:11PM]

You guys are hilarious. I mean it! I was literally LOL at all the banter and the dogpiling on the Apple guy. Hoo-boyy (wiping eyes)

[brad zdanivsky @ Jan 15th 2009 9:49PM]

Open Source project for Hear Rate Monitoring here:

http://code.google.com/p/zephyropen/

[brad zdanivsky @ Jan 15th 2009 9:55PM]

Does any one know if the new polar devices will be "open"? The hackers will figure it out one way or the other, like the Wii etc... but it would be cool if they opened the API.

[mkpaa @ Jan 16th 2009 7:31AM]

Open API would be a dream come true. I very much doubt it.

Then we also need a more general standard for exercise data portability. Has anyone heard of such project? Synchronizing, sharing and editing general exercise/fitness records.

[Giovani @ Jan 16th 2009 8:59PM]

this is awesome, I really lke how Nokia partners with others to provide free services to their customers.

[micke-m @ Jan 27th 2009 3:51PM]

This Nokia N79 Active package really works well. It's not as competitive sports driven as Polar or Suunto's offerings but has great entertainment and community features for us normal fitness sports people. A test review can be found here:
http://www.400days.net/?p=850