There are a lack of compatible Windows Phone 8 fitness trackers and apps at the moment, so Microsoft has decided to roll out its very own wellness app today.
Bing Health & Fitness Beta is available to download for free in the Windows Phone Store, and it actually rivals the M7 coprocessor-powered Fitbit and Nike Move apps on iOS.
Like its rivals, it uses a GPS tracker to record time, distance, pace and calories burned while walking, running and biking. But it goes a step further with nutritional calculations.
The Bing-themed app can help you manually record what you eat thanks to the 300,000 foods listed in its database and it comes with hundreds of workouts and exercises with step-by-step instructions, photos and even videos.
Something we haven't seen before is a unique interactive symptoms checker.
Part of the Bing series of apps
The Bing Health & Fitness app is actually part of a larger slate of new Microsoft apps including Bing Travel and Bing Food and Drink, both of which released in beta form last month.
Even if health-focused players aren't willing to bring Fitbit Force and Nike FuelBand SE trackers and their app counterparts to Windows Phone 8, Microsoft is managing to fill the "app gap."
Of course, Microsoft's name was mentioned in the possible sale of fitness tracker Basis, so its app-only fitness solution could be supplemented with hardware one day for a price.
