Sony Ericsson Xperia Active Review

Lastly, the Xperia Active comes with ANT+ support, which is an important tool, if you actually want to use this phone rigorously as your fitness device. ANT+ is a Wireless Personal Network protocol that runs on a 2.4GHz frequency range and turns the Active into a portable logging tool. ANT+ might initially seem like an unnecessary feature to some, but if you’re using any sport or health device like a blood pressure or heart rate monitor, this technology will wirelessly sync all your data from that device to your phone, thus making the Active - an active logging device. 

The Fitness app using ANT+

With the embedded ANT+ technology, the Active aims to turn your lifestyle into a more active one. The app iMapMyFITNESS+ is easy to use and after a quick sign up, you can map and log all your fitness details. The nutrition sub menu is quite interesting – it lets you input the food type and based on your weight and height, it helps calculate how much weight you need to lose or gain, the calories required, etc. The application in itself is productive and useful even if all you’re looking for is a diet assistant on your phone. 

The misc. features

Misc. Features

We spoke earlier about how this phone has got the potential to take care of you and your fitness needs, and with the amount of pre-loaded apps that Sony’s got onto the phone, it further solidifies our claim. Besides the miscellaneous apps we spoke about in the earlier sections, the phone comes with an in-built compass, a flashlight app and Walkmate, that counts the number of steps you’ve walked today. It also allows you to keep a monthly or weekly goal, so if you’re one of those people wanting to keep a track of how much you have walked or jogged, this application does become pretty handy. The other apps include Xperia Hot Shots, OfficeSuite, Uefa.com and NeoReader. 

An underwater snap

Camera

The phone is strapped with a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with an LED flash. Outdoor and indoor images come out quite well and the flash is powerful enough for close shots. Camera options and customizations are pretty standard, like the other Xperias. Macro shots are quite impressive. The camera also supports 3D sweep panorama shots.