Google To Put Fitness Trackers in Your Pocket with Android

Google To Put Fitness Trackers in Your Pocket with Android is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.

In case you haven’t noticed the big trend of late is all about wearable devices. From Google Glass, Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, to a wide array of fitness bands or smart bands to count calories and more that sync to your smartphone.

While fitness tracking is nothing new to mobile, some newly found codes and API changes in Google’s Android is a big hint that Android is about to head in the direction of being healthy, eating right, and staying in shape. Apparently Google is working on adding a fitness API right into Android that developers and other products can tap into like never before, making wearable devices work as seamless as ever on Android.

With Android 4.4 KitKat Google added support for a pedometer, delivering a step detector and counter, which then lets Google Now share details like how far you’ve walked in any given month right on your Nexus 5 homescreen.

Not only will this new set of API’s help our smartphones detect all of this information itself, but also make wearables more sophisticated and smarter moving forward. Apple’s latest M7 chip for the iPhone 5s has tons of sensors built in for this type of activity, and Google adding an API offering something similar would allow Qualcomm and all other chip makers to do the same. Add in some wearable devices and we’ll have fitness tracking right in our pockets with a smartphone, sharing details as we go, as well as with third party accessories and apps.

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Google’s new API will take data from sensors inside our smartphones, glasses, bands, watches, clothes and more, and then translate the data like never before to offer an exceptional fitness solution. Wearables and getting healthy are the thing of 2014, so after no one finishes their New Year’s Resolution maybe Google can help as the year progresses.

This isn’t available yet, but could be coming soon. We’re hearing this could come as a behind the scenes update to Google Play Services, or in the next update to Android.

Google To Put Fitness Trackers in Your Pocket with Android is a post by Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile.