Nokia N79 Active

Available now
15th January 2009

The Nokia N79 Active takes the powerful-but-compact Nokia N79 and combines it with a heart rate monitor from Polar along with a set of software applications designed to let users keep track of their workouts and keep them entertained while exercising.

This phone is perhaps not an obvious choice for this application - Nokia's previous take on this market was the Nokia 5500 Sport  back in 2006, and that was a much more rugged device. But fear not, the N79 Active fits into a protective carrier which should help shield it from dust and the odd bump or two.

The Polar Bluetooth WearLink heart rate belt communicates with the N79 wirelessly, which should make it easy to use. The N79 Active itself uses the inbuilt GPS receiver to record your training route, geotag any photos you take and the whole lot can be uploaded to the web and shared with friends. The N79 Active does this with a set of applications loaded on the handset's S60 operating system, including a new version of the Nokia Sports Tracker application.

Nokia are keen to stress the multimedia capabilities of the N79 Active, especially when it comes to music. The current range of N-Series devices certainly make good music players, and Nokia have included a 4GB memory card in the standard sales package which should mean that you can carry plenty of tracks with you.

Underneath this, the N79 is a very capable and fully-featured smartphone, with support for 3.5G data, WiFi and a 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics. Since the N79 is a very desirable phone in it's own right, there's no need to worry about compromises.

Nokia didn't give an exact date when the N79 Active will be in the shops, only that it will be for "select markets" and will cost around €375 before tax and subsidy.

Nokia have some demonstration videos of the N79 Active here.