Samsung has pulled out all the stops to make its flagship of 2013, the Samsung Galaxy S4, the best yet, putting a great deal of focus on how the device can help improve the health and wellbeing of its users.

This functionality comes in the form of S Health, a suite of new apps, each with a different purpose from monitoring your food intake to keeping track of your exercise regime, alerting you when you need to start taking extra care of yourself.

S Health is easy to set-up and once you’ve entered personal details, such as height and weight, all the results produced will be done so with this information in mind.

To enhance its new software even further Samsung has integrated nine new sensors into the S4, which include a barometer and a temperature and humidity sensor to inform users how their environment is affecting their health and fitness levels.

Upon the release of the S4 Samsung said “the combination of sensors built within the device systematically and automatically monitors your health, surroundings and so much more to help improve your quality of life.” Here are three main elements which make up the new S Health feature:

· Walking Mate- Using the S4’s accelerometer Walking Mate clocks the number of steps you take on a daily basis. At the end of each day the app will then calculate how many calories you’ve managed to burn and keep a record of these figures to monitor your progress.

· Exercise Mate- Simply enter all the details of the exercise you do and this app will calculate exactly how many calories you’ve managed to burn, displaying them as a percentage of the total amount it thinks you need to work off. Any form of exercise can be entered, whether it’s cycling or running or even yoga and fitness classes.

· Food Tracker- This app can be used to track everything you eat before calculating how much exercise you then need to do to burn off any extra calories. Different foods can be selected from a list integrated into the app and grouped together into meals, so you can check up on exactly what you’re eating. There’s also the ability to take a photo of a meal and the app promises to read the calorific content, although it can be quite temperamental and it’s uncertain how accurate its reading are.

All the data which is obtained through S Health is collated on to the main health board screen, so there’s no need to keep flitting between lots of individual third party apps to see exactly how you’re getting on and the improvements that you’ve hopefully made.

Accessories

During the launch of the S4 in March a slew of accessories were also unveiled to boost new features such as S Health even further- all of these additional accessories are due to be released this Summer.

First off there’s the S Band which can be used when out running or in the gym to save you carrying your handset with you. Once your workout is complete all the data collected by the band can be synced back to the phone so all your results are kept together in one place.

There’s also a heart rate monitor and wireless scales, both of which connect to the device via Bluetooth, sending all the data straight to the S4, so you can really keep track of everything and see exactly how much progress you’ve made.

Samsung has really pushed the boundaries to make S Health a unique and central part of its new flagship, in a bid to help those who want to get fit and healthy. And, with extra innovations in the form of adapt display and adapt sound, which automatically tailors the screen brightness and music volumes to each individual user and their surroundings, the Galaxy S4 shows just how the latest smartphone technology can make staying healthy and getting fit even easier.

Written by Sarah Hazelwood of Phones 4u, the number one destination of all the latest contract phones.

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