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Phone to check your fitness

CHIBA: It can take your pulse, check your body fat, time your jogs and tell you if you have bad breath. It even assesses stress levels and inspires you with a pep talk. Meet your new personal trainer: your cell phone.

The prototype Wellness mobile phone from Japan’s NTT DoCoMo targets users with busy lives who want a hassle-free way of keeping track of their health, according to a company spokesman.

The phone, unveiled this week at an electronics show outside Tokyo, has an in-built motion sensor that detects body movement and calculates how many calories you burn.

The sensor can tell whether you are walking, running, climbing stairs, or resting, and counts the calories accordingly to tally daily totals, the spokesman said. “It’s with you wherever you go, like a portable personal trainer.”

Like Nike’s +Nike technology, the handset also keeps track of jogs, letting users set targets and keeping track of time, distance, and calories burnt — all while listening to music through headphones.

Hold the phone with outstretched arms, and it turns into a mini body fat calculator. A sensor at the top of the phone takes your pulse from your fingertip.

Worried about bad breath? Use its breathalyser. After one blew on a tiny hole on the side of the handset for about three seconds, the screen flashed, “Not too bad.”

The phone, developed by NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi Electric, asks questions to assess stress levels and offers advice. When one answered “Yes” to a series of questions — including “Do you feel lethargic?” and “Do you go to bed after midnight?”— a message appeared on the screen warning one was under a lot of stress. “Don’t worry, tomorrow’s a fresh new day,” the phone then flashed. “Keep your chin up!”

NTT DoCoMo is still testing some of the phone’s other technology options, including a function to keep track of meals and calculate calorific intake.— AP

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