In today’s first post, I’m comparing Runkeeper stats for the same activity using an iPhone 3G and an iPhone 4. Both iPhones were running iOS4 and running version 2.3 of the Runkeeper Pro app.
First, here’s a side by side comparison:
Side by side comparison (iPhone 3G on left, iPhone 4 on right)
In the image below, the map screen is presented for the activity captured via the iPhone 3G:
iPhone 3G map of activity
In the image below, the map for the iPhone 4 captured activity is shown:
iPhone 4 map of activity
There are a lot more GPS points in the iPhone 4 tracked activity and it more accurately follows the actual route taken.
Below are the stats captured as presented on the Runkeeper activity page for the activity captured via the iPhone 3G:
iPhone 3G activity stats
Below are the stats captured as presented on the Runkeeper activity page for the activity captured via the iPhone 4:
iPhone 4 activity
Given more GPS data points, the total distance is almost 100% accurate (the estimated distance travelled was 1.07 miles) with more detail presented on the pace/elevation chart.
Overall, it’s clear that the iPhone 4 does a better job at capturing more accurate tracking and therefore activity stats. This can be attributed to:
- improved GPS chipset in the iPhone 4
- improved antenna
I’m using RKFree v2.3 (latest) on iPhone 3G (not 3GS) using iOS4, and I actually find that there are a lot more GPS points on my activities compared to pre iOS4. My activity map looks exactly like your 2nd picture after iOS4, whereas pre iOS4 is like your 1st picture. This is in terms of GPS points obviously, not the actual route 🙂
Considering that, I believe (but I haven’t done much research on this) the increase in points is actually attributed to either (or both) of iOS4 and/or updated version of RunKeeper.
I shall be doing further comparisons later. However, as mentioned in the post, I was running the same version of Runkeeper and iOS4 on both devices.
After owning my own iPhone 4, I now am in an agreement with you. There are just a lot more GPS points on the track. Having said that, there must also have been an improvement made to the application because the app did record more GPS point on 3G compare to pre-iOS4.
I’ve also noticed that my iPhone 4 easily acquired (green) GPS signal in the same location where my iPhone 3G wouldn’t even register a GPS signal.
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finally i found the right post…thanx man