Yahoo News Hack your snacks: is the Samsung Galaxy S9's calorie counter worth the hype?
Calories are controversial. Meticulously counting them is miserable but they can be a useful guide for knowing what’s in your food if you want to maintain balance.
Chains such as Pret and EAT break down the calorie content of their food, while many shops display them on the packaging. But when you’re cooking or eating out, the answer’s normally left to guesswork.
But new technology has come to the rescue. Samsung’s latest smartphone, the Galaxy S9, includes calorie estimator as part of updates to its intelligence app Bixby Vision.
Simply point your camera at the food and Bixby will generate real-time information on the calorie count and recipes. This will appear on top of the image.
It syncs to the Samsung Health app so you can keep track of what you’ve consumed and compare it with your burn rate at the gym.
Samsung says it wants the new tool to revolutionise the way we eat. Using AR technology to “read what your eyes can’t”, it offers an intelligent way of interacting with your phone, they say.
Naturally, recipes vary and Bixby can calculate estimates only based on what it can see, meaning it doesn’t always get it right.
I used it on my Crosstown doughnut, and Bixby recognised it as a maple doughnut, at 240 calories — but it probably didn’t account for the surprise strawberry jam I found inside.
My banana came out correctly as 89.9 calories, though its hot-cross bun recognition wasn’t so on point. The app initially told me it was calzone, with an off-putting 600 calories, then a second try told me it was a brioche bun, halving its original estimate.
It thought an avocado was a gulab jamun Indian sweet — and in fact they have a similar calorie content. At least it stopped me reaching for seconds.
While the accuracy is variable, it’s a fun, straightforward way to get you thinking about your food. It also makes it easier to compare energy intake between meals.
I found myself squirreling around M&S comparing side salads and missed it the next week when I returned to my iPhone, but I’m not certain it’s a luxury that makes it worth forking out £700 for the phone.
The technology is moving into wearables, too, thus bringing more personalised results.
Healbe’s GoBe2 smart band is like an Apple Watch or a Fitbit, but it counts the calories you digest, as well as those you burn, to give you a fully bespoke reading.
The GoBe2 works by analysing fluids moving in and out of your body cells to measure glucose concentrations, which rise when you eat. This reading is then applied to an advanced algorithm to generate a figure for calorie intake.
It’s the first wearable to calculate calories consumed, not just burnt, making it easier to work out how your exercise weighs up against your diet.
You can then compare this to your heart rate, step count, sleep data and hydration for a comprehensive daily health reading.
The magic is in the numbers.
Keeping count: the best nutrition apps
Calorie Mama AI
This smart app lets you take a photo of your food then suggests what it might be and gives a calorie count. The more you snap, the more accurate it gets.
It also offers meal plans and recipes.
MyFitnessPal
This app comes with a barcode scanner so you can add your food to a daily nutrition log. If there’s no barcode, you can search the name of your meal or download its recipe from the internet.
It saves your favourite foods so you can log them easily.
Nutracheck
Designed specifically for UK users, this app lets you search for foods and meals from dozens of supermarkets and restaurants and scan foods by barcode. It’s one of the more accurate ones out there.
Aiming to be your ally, it helps you set calorie and nutrient goals based on your height, weight, activity levels and personal aims.
