My Weight Loss Coach iPhone Application Compared to the Expensive Nintendo DS Version
About the game
My Weight Loss Coach is a comprehensive software designed, not surprisingly, to help you shed some pounds. When you first turn on the software you are greeted with a stick figure who will give you an introduction to the program and take your basic information like height and weight. Then you’ll go into the two main areas of the software. The two main sections are the Backpack and the Daily sessions. These two areas house that whole of the program and have everything that you need.
Backpack (3 out of 5)
This houses your training sessions. Each of these is an un-lockable lesson on some aspect of weight loss like how to fit exercise into your daily routine, or proper eating habits. The only way to unlock them is by meeting certain progress markers.
Daily Sessions (5 out of 5)
The daily session houses the bulk of the program. You can access the following there:
Pedometer
This tracks how many steps you have taken in any given day. When you use the DS a separate pedometer comes in the box. The iPhone version uses your iPhone accelerometer to measure. It was the experience of this reviewer that the pedometer resets when you don’t tell it to and broke frequently.
Challenges
These are either immediate or 24 hour spanning challenges related to either exercise or diet. You can take up to 6 in a day on both versions.
Physical Activity
This is where you put in your workouts that can’t be tracked by the pedometer. You can do a detailed input or use the quick mode to give a general estimate on exercise.
Food Balance
Input your daily intake (3 meals & 3 snacks are allowed) and then you will see a set of old fashion scales that help you determine if your food intake and your exercise are even or imbalanced.
Calendar
If you want to see the results of days past here is where you should head for.
Design and Graphics (4 out of 5)
The app has a simple interface and your guide is a stick figure. The yellowish tan colored background with blue letters was no doubt designed to give the feeling the apps so simple a child could use it, but it fails to have any appeal to a grown up eye. Would have benefited from a cleaner look no doubt, which other iPhone apps provide nicely, but it won’t distract from the function and it is easy enough to ignore. It does tend to nag a bit, just so you are prepared.
Final Decision: iPhone or DS?
The iPhone version is a much better deal for two simple reasons:
1. You don’t have a cheap plastic pedometer to forget, lose or break.
2. Cost. To get the retail version for DS is about 40 dollars, through the App store it’s 4.99. Same program, 1/10th the price.
