Mobile phones have always been about helping you keep in touch and now they're helping you stay healthy.
These new handsets work with a new service from Japanese carrier A-U called Smart Sports.
Inside the phone a motion sensor and GPS work together so that when you're running the number of steps taken, distance, and calories burned are measured and recorded -- and it does this even if the phone's dedicated Run&Walk application isn't launched.
And because the beat of music can help you on your daily exercise the service links in with A-U's Lismo download service and can send selected tunes to a pair of wireless headphones. Using the "Beat Run" playback mode it will also match musical tracks and the pace of the exercise.
Work-out information can be sent to a server and later your run can be mapped and analyzed through a PC.
The system was on show at this week's Wireless Japan exhibition where rival carrier NTT DoCoMo was also demonsrating a health-related feature that's under development.
These scales can send, at the push of a button, basic health data to the user's cell phone over Bluetooh. DoCoMo is hoping to get organizations like health clubs and hospitals on-board so that automatic monitoring of basic wellness data can be easy done, with the user's consent, of course. Similarly this blood pressure reader also has the same function.
Back on the A-U booth and the EZ Styling service makes it easy for ladies to check out how they might look with a new hair style or different outfit. Just access the service's mobile Web site and choose a hair salon. From there you'll be offered a selection of hair styles. Choose one you think might suit you, snap a picture of yourself and send this to a server. About 10 or 20 seconds later a message comes back with a link to a Web site that carries a pretty good simulation of how you might look with the new hair-do.
The service is aimed at women and while it accepts pictures of guys, the results aren't that pretty.
At Wireless Japan 2008 in Tokyo this is Martyn Williams, IDG News Service.
