Most of you must have read the incident about my SD card in my previous post. So I have decided to review another running application on my iPhone. Similarly to my other reviews, I will review the Runtastic Pro application over a 3Km run. The Runtastic application comes in 2 versions: a Runtastic Pro version and a Runtastic version. Basically the Runtastic Pro version cost GBP£2.99 in the UK, while the Runtastic version is free from the App Store. Worth noting that these apps are available in iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry, but this review is done for the iOS version using an iPhone 4. Below is the screenshot of the map of my run from the Runtastic website.

The app will take a few try to learn how to operate it. But once, you get a hang of it; it is actually quite easy to operate. I will rate the App 3.5 / 5 stars. This is because I felt the App is very commercialised. With the fee of GBP£2.99 I still need to pay for viewing my route online, otherwise it is a 30 days trail: Which is what I got. This was free in Map My Run app, which I previously reviewed. The elevation tracker is again incorrect like most apps. I guess this is because the apps uses the data provided by Google, which do not take into account of bridges (at least in and around Salford Quays).

The thing I like about this App is, your pace is actually shown on the map using colours. If you look close enough on the map, you will notice that the start and end points of the route I’ve taken are mapped in green and red dots respectively, while the route is mainly in yellow. Green symbolised excellent pace, then follow by yellow, orange and red. You will also notice that the phase before I reach Lowry Outlet Shopping Mall is in darker shade of yellow. This shows that I am running at a slower pace, basically because I have to climb up the bridge to cross the Quays. Not shown here is the elevation map. On all the Apps I have reviewed, this portion will normal be a trough. This is true if there wasn’t a water body there, but for my case it should rises because I was running on the bridge.

As I said, I think this is because these Apps uses data provided by Google and I guess the “experts” at Google have not came out with solutions to overcome this issue. An interesting issue for Google to investigate: Areas with bridges: should the elevation data be at the level of the bridge, water level or bed of the water body? Or even different levels of bridges that intersect? Maybe a separate data structure to encapsulate the different dimensions will be required? Or some form of measurement to overcome the ever changing landscape of cities and towns?

Photography lesson 1: Remember to bring your SD card! The weather was good today so I took my camera and made sure the batteries were full. Then, I found a spot and prepared my camera for the shot. Snap and the camera alerted me that it was unable to save image; no SD card! Tragic!

This photo was taken with my mobile phone. I had no choice, I left my SD card on my table last night while processing some images.

Owens College in dusk.

For more sky watching, enjoy the beautiful skies from all over the world at

Forget your Prius! There are simpler, cheaper and more efficient ways to go truly green.

Let's start growing grass on our cars! lol...

The Manchester Urban Gardening Festival is currently on between 3 and 11 August 2013. If you are around the region, I would recommend this event. Below is a photo of a flower made of balloons in New Cathedral Street, followed by flowers on sale at the festival in Exchange Square.

I was flipping through my travel photos and I noticed that I've miss out blogging this photo. This photo was taken during my transit at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport 2 years ago.

For more beautiful reflections, please visit