There aren’t many people who would argue that staying in shape is important, and an increasingly popular pastime for many. So mobile phone companies are keen to appeal to active sorts with phones that can help them in their pursuits.

Sony Ericsson markets the Xperia Active as a splash-proof, shock-proof handset that offers everything you need in a phone – if you’re someone who loves being outside, running, cycling or just walking over hill and dale.

Design

The Xperia Active is a fairly small handset, a tiny bit bigger than a credit card in width and length. It is, however, quite a chunky monkey, with a depth of 55mm, it’s quite a fat phone. It’s a decent weight too, at 110.8g, but we doubt that’s too heavy for most people.

Included in the box are a set of pretty comfortable, in-ear headphones, a lanyard of sorts and an armband, to wear the phone in when you’re out for a jog.

Nokia fans of old should also rejoice, for the changeable rear cover is now available on Sony Ericsson phones. The Active comes with two in the box – one black, one white – and there are limited editions of this phone that come with different designs. The phone also has orange trim, which as orange lovers, we’re very keen on. We’re sure some will hate this, but it does have a strangely sporting feel to it.

In terms of software, we’re looking at a slightly tweaked version of Android. This is good, because on this smallish screen (3-inches) it’s preferable to have a custom UI, to make the most of the screen. Here, Sony has “hot corners” which each have a shortcut to one or more apps. By default, SMS is in the top left, activity apps in the top right. The bottom right is the dialer, while the bottom left holds the address book.

The app tray is a slight customisation too, but we like it, because it retains the Android look, while making the most of the screen. Very sensible, very slick. Certainly nothing here to upset Android fans.

Camera

The 5-megapixel camera is a nice surprise. It produces lovely, sharp photos which have more than enough detail to please our HD-loving eyes.

They aren’t the most vibrant or saturated colours we’ve ever seen, but we’ll take accuracy over vibrancy any day of the week. Plus, if overblown colours are what you’re looking for, you can always tweak them later in a photo app. In fact, we tried this, and the Active’s images are surprisingly well suited to tweaks like this.

So all in all, we rather like this little camera. It’s better than on most small phones, and more than enough for happy snapping out and about.

Keep fit

The main fitness part of the Active is an app called MapMYFitness – although on the Active, it’s called iMapMyFitness+. It’s a fairly comprehensive little program, and quite easy to use. You can manually enter details of exercise, as well as track where you go using GPS.

There’s an online portion too, and there you’re able to check out what people near you are doing, and what runs there are completed locally. There are all sorts of tools for nutrition tracking, and you can also import exercise from other devices.

The only thing is, you don’t need to have an Xperia Active to download this free app, and the Sony Ericsson pre-installed version still has adverts too, so the company hasn’t sprung for a premium version for people buying this phone. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that the app is good, and will hopefully help keep you motivated.

You also get an app called WalkMate, which keeps track of the number of steps you’ve taken. Walking can have a huge effect on the fitness of a normal person, so we’re quite pleased to see this here. There’s a goal you can aim for, and it’s good to see, as you can just fire-up the app and forget about it. Although, the app itself does warn that it increases power consumption. Again, there are free pedometer apps in the market, so this in itself doesn’t add much value over a normal Android phone.?

As part of its rugged design, the Active also supports “wet finger tracking” which sounds perverse, but is quite clever. Many capacitive touchscreens are driven crazy by wet fingers. And, if you’re excerising, there’s much more chance that you’ll be mildly moist during your workout. So the Active can compensate for that when you’re using the touch screen. Sadly, it’s not actually all the brilliant in practice. We found that moist fingers worked okay – although not as well as dry fingers – but add any real water, from say, rain, and it all goes badly wrong, with random apps starting an inability to control the phone accurately. A shame, but for us, not a deal breaker.

One feature we do, very much like is the Ant+ sensor support. If you have a compatible activity sensor ?- Garmin, for example, offers them for use with its equipment sports watches. Ant+ sensors come in lots of different forms, from bike speed sensors to pulse rate monitors.

Also included in the pack, and part of the fitness capability, is the arm case for the phone. You slip the handset in to it, and then a clear window on the front allows you to see and control the phone while you’re out running. It’s okay, and the phone fits reasonably well, but we found that the screen wasn’t easy to control through the plastic cover, and the whole thing was a little too loose in the case to reliably ensure the screen was touching the case enough to control.

Our iPod Touch fitted better, and the touchscreen worked properly through the plastic too. Whoops!

Music

Music is a huge part of exercise, for most people. Without it, after all, running becomes such a soul crushing hate-fest that quickly becomes as depressing as the torrid state of the banking system and our ever-corrupt politicians. Happily, the Sony Ericsson is pretty good in this regard. Sony has a customised music player, which works well on the smaller screen of this device.

Our biggest concern really, is that with music being such an important part of fitness phones, the inclusion of only a 2GB memory card seems a little mean. When we work out, we like to have a lot of tunes to choose from, and 2GB hardly provides that. Sure, 16GB microSD cards are cheap as chips these days, but when you’re paying for a phone, it seems like a nice perk to get a good chunk of included storage. The phone itself adds an extra 1GB of capacity, but only 320MB is user accessible.

The supplied headphones are decent enough – a little bit better than most pairs that come with phones. They sit in the ear well, and should keep out a fair bit of external noise, and they’re certainly among the most-comfortable we’ve used.

Battery life

Once again, small phone generally equates to a small battery, and that’s true here. It’s not a catastrophe, but at 1200mAh, it’s not the most powerful battery you can get. We used our phone with data off for most of the time, because we were using a pay-as-you-go SIM from Orange, and that increased our battery life. It still wasn’t brilliant though, and you’ll need to keep this phone topped up when you’re near a power socket.

Verdict:

The Xperia Active is an interesting phone. We took too it pretty quickly, and while it isn’t the sort of phone that we would probably buy, if you want something tough, water resistant and designed for workouts, then this is really an ideal phone.

It’s a little bit too expensive to replace an MP3 player, but if you take exercise seriously, it’s the same price as a Motorola ACTV, for example, and offers you a full mobile phone too boot. So perhaps it could be a second phone for people who like specific tools for specific jobs.

Do bear in mind though, that there is nothing here that you couldn’t get on ANY android handset. The fitness app is free to all, via the market – although support for heart rate monitors is a nice extra, and one you don’t get on many phones. Of course, monitoring your heart rate is singificantly less important to most people than tracking how much exercise they have done.

Judging this phone as a phone though, and we’re very happy with it. The battery is good enough, especially if you’re a light user and the rugged design is good for those who are accident-prone. We just can’t help but like it, to be honest.

Tags: Phones Sony Sony Ercisson Sony Ericsson Xperia active

Sony Ericsson Xperia Active originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:58:43 +0000

Claudia Schiffer Clive Owen Colin Farrell Colin Firth Colleen Haskell Constance Marie

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Connelly Jennifer Garner Jennifer Grey Jennifer Holland

Gavin Henson Gena Lee Nolin George Clooney Georgestephanopoulos Georgie Henley Gia Mantegna

Michelle Williams swung through today’s Oscar nominee luncheon, where she told reporters she’d rather listen than ask questions if she ever had the chance to sit down with Marilyn Monroe. The My Week With Marilyn star admitted she hasn’t secured a dress for the award show just yet, but she is planning ahead for the big day. Hear what snack the mother of one will be packing for herself in this cute backstage chat.

Christina Ricci Claire Forlani Claire Foy Claudia Schiffer Clive Owen Colin Farrell

Toshiba doesn’t actually manufacture the panels and tech inside its TVs, but this 40-incher provides yet more proof of why – as a brand – it continues to be one of the most popular around. One word: value. There’s no sniff of absolute top quality here, but nor is there anything remotely tacky about this Edge LED-lit effort; it’s a mid-range TV that will suit living rooms after an affordable flatscreen.

Even the plastic frame manages to make a decent effort at looking faintly metallic (the new vogue in flat telly land), though it’s the super-slim bezel that’s the 40RL858’s key design flourish; it’s barely a centimetre in thickness, quite something for such a low-priced set.

Add a Freeview HD tuner, almost total digital file support from its USB slot, and a BBC iPlayer app, and the 40RL858 is so far looking every bit the every-man TV. There are, however, some significant problems that take this telly down a few notches in the flatpanel pecking order.

Wi-Fi, USB & digital file support

A big problem is Wi-Fi, or lack thereof. A TV that can access web content only via wired connection is hardly cutting-edge; we’d argue that a Wi-Fi dongle is crucial – one is available for a paltry ?30, happily. Secondly, the 40RL858’s ins and outs are a tad restrictive. Most alarmingly there is only one USB slot, leaving us wondering whether to install that dongle or dock a USB stick full of DivX files. Choices, choices. We’re also put out by the three HDMI inputs – hardly generous.

Also note that this USB slot cannot indulge in any kind of recording, pausing or rewinding of live digital TV, which although something of a relative oversight on a TV of this price, is hardly a deal breaker – a dedicated PVR does a far, far better job in any case.

In terms of file support we’re impressed by the 40RL858; it plays everything, including MKV video and Apple Lossless M4A music. If USB slots are a tad too manual for your tastes, know that the 40RL858 also indulges in DLNA networking, though here MKV isn’t supported.

Smart TV hub

Our main complaint about Toshiba Places is its drab European-ness. We’ve nothing against our continental cousins, but do we need to read Euronews or France 24? Unfortunately, that’s all that’s on offer in the News Places area. We would much prefer local services, after all isn’t that supposed to be the beauty of web-connected devices that know your IP address and location?.

Better is the Social Places section, which comprises Facebook, My Photos (Flickr-hosted) and My Videos (DailyMotion), while Games Places contains just Funspot, a tiny collection of slightly fiddly remote control-powered games including chess and Sudoku.

Music Places is virtually empty (iConcerts & Aupeo), and though Video Places (Viewster, BBC iPlayer, YouTube, Dailymotion, BoxOffice 365, Woomi, Cartoon Network, HiT Entertainment & Acetrax) is acceptably full, it’s got few must-have attractions. Toshiba Places is also rather slow to load and to navigate using the remote.

Graphical user interface

Although the general GUI is rather lacklustre, it does at least build-in some excellent shortcuts. For instance, the Media Player menu, accessed via a dedicated button on the remote, gives one-touch access to the application tab of the main onscreen menu; cue links to core services such as Toshiba Places, BBC iPlayer, YouTube, that USB media player and the network media player.

The quick controls shortcuts cover the same ground, but add a sleep timer, a roster of various picture presets, and some aspect ratio choices.

However, the Freeview HD electronic programme guide is ugly, slow and lacks basic functions; it’s not a patch on the likes of Samsung and Sony TVs.

Picture & sound quality

With our test disc Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy engaged, it’s obvious straight from the off that the 40RL858 has some issues with light leakage. Although it’s most obvious with a blank screen, the dingy corridors aren’t just lined with secrets; around the edges an uneven amount of blotchy light blights the picture’s darker elements. If watching on dynamic mode in a brightly lit room, it’s not the huge problem it may at first appear to be, though even with the lights turned down low and some panel brightness sacrificed, it’s still noticeable.

Let’s not pretend this is a reference level TV, but we spotted some shadow detailing within blocks of convincing darker colours. Colours are actually where this TV excels, showing off its nuanced palette that can deal with well saturated reds and greens as well as paler and more subtle, natural tones.

There is some motion blur, but again, it’s not a serious problem if you engage the 100Hz mode. There’s plenty of detail and sharpness in images; certainly enough to add to our impression of the 40RL858 as a tremendously good value screen for hosting Blu-ray images. It’s worth exploring the myriad picture presets, which include two Hollywood settings that are about as close as this TV get to a cinematic look, and also take some of the picture noise from non-HD sources.

If you’re careful, the 40RL858 is a jack-of-all-trades picture-wise – and that’s actually quite rare at this price.

Audio is via a set of stereo speakers on the 40RL858’s undercarriage, both of which are rated at 10W. Results are fairly poor, with a distinct lack of detail and low frequency in the basic soundstage that’s really only good enough for watching news programmes and the like.

Verdict:

It may lack the pizzazz and must-have appeal of higher-end brands, but an extraordinarily thin bezel and good-value pictures make this a decent budget buy.

Granted, there’s no slinky user experience, top-quality pictures or acceptable audio, but at this price we didn’t expect there to be; Toshiba has come up with another budget winner that will get many living rooms a first taste of smart TV.

Tags: Televisions Home Cinema Toshiba Toshiba 40RL858

Toshiba 40RL858 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Ewan Mcgregor Fabolous Faith Hill Felicity Huffman Fergie Frank Lampard

Jennie Finch Jennie Garth Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Connelly Jennifer Garner

Jake Gyllenhaal James Blunt James Franco James Mcavoy James Pickens Jr Jamie Foxx

It isn’t just Netflix and Lovefilm racing around Hollywood trying to sign up all the movie studios (we like to imagine this is literally happening, Wacky Races stylee) – BT has got in on the act by signing up Miramax for its BT Vision platform.

The partnership means that BT Vision customers will now have access to a collection of movie classics that have totalled 284 Academy Award nominations and taken home the Oscar 68 times. Movies such as Chicago, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill 1 and 2, The English Patient, Good Will Hunting, The Aviator and Scream.

Marc Watson, CEO, BT Vision, said: “Movies are very popular with Vision customers – they watch well over two million films on demand every month. This deal will give our customers the chance to see a broad range of Miramax’s independent, ground-breaking and crowd-pleasing films and will further strengthen our position as the UK’s best on demand television provider.”

The films will be found in the BT Vision Film area of the service – if you cough up your ?12.50 Unlimited fee, you’ll get free access. It’s available now.

Tags: Home Cinema BT Vision BT Video on demand

BT Vision signs up Miramax for movies on demand originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:31:20 +0000

James Pickens Jr Jamie Foxx Jamie Oliver Jamie Redknapp Jane Fonda Jared Leto

Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential candidate on a roll right now, has been invoking a little-known name in his criticism of President Obama: Saul Alinsky. As a result, the 20th-century community organizer has caused a surge of searches on the Web.

After winning the South Carolina GOP primary, Gingrich said in his victory speech, “The centerpiece of this campaign, I believe, is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky.” Which seemed to have the effect of viewers nodding, then thinking, “Who?” On Yahoo!, lookups included: “who is Saul Alinsky,” “saul alinksy newt gingrich,” “saul alinsky obama,” and “saul alinsky rules for radicals” — the name of the activist’s book.

Alinsky has been dead for 40 years, and became known on campuses in the 1960s for his organizing tactics, along with a guide to the powerless (think the 99 percent) to grab control from those in power.

Born in 1909 in Chicago to Russian-immigrant parents, the writer is known as the founding father of community organizing. He worked his way through the University of Chicago, then got a job in the slums of Chicago as an organizer. Of his book, “Rules for Radicals,” Alinsky wrote: “‘The Prince’ was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. ‘Rules for Radicals’ is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.”

If the Occupy Wall Street movement is aligned with Alinsky’s teachings, so is the tea party. Dick Simpson, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, told Bloomberg News, “The tea party has understood how to mobilize their anger and turn it to political results, which is the underlying motif of Alinsky.”

Saul Alinsky’s name came up in the last presidential campaign, when it was noted that Hillary Clinton, who was a candidate in the Democratic presidential primaries, had written her college thesis on the agitator back in 1969.

Other Republicans have sought to link Obama to Alinsky, since both were community organizers in Chicago. But, as CNN points out, Obama was just 10 when Alinsky died, and he has never publicly mentioned the man.

The organizer himself would certainly appreciate the storm of controversy his name has generated of late. He said it best himself: “First rule of change is controversy. You can’t get away from it for the simple reason all issues are controversial. Change means movement and movement means friction, and friction means heat, and heat means controversy.”

Follow us on Twitter – Find us on Facebook

Heidi Klum Helen Hunt Hilary Duff Hilary Swank Holly Madison Holly Marie Combs

Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images

<P>After announcing their split last year <a href="/news/articles/1654720/miley-cyrus-divorcing-parents-put-house-up-for-sale.jhtml">Billy Ray Cyrus now says</a> that he and his wife of 17 years, Tish, have decided to reconcile. "I dropped the divorce," Miley Cyrus' dad told the hosts of "The View" during a pre-taped appearance on the show airing Friday, according to <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2011/03/billy-ray-cyrus-drops-divorce-to-put-family-back-together/1" target="_blank"><I>USA Today.</i></a> "I wanted to put my family back together." Cyrus, who appeared on the show to promote his new album, <I>I'm an American,</i> out in June, said he and his family are working out their problems. "Communication I think is one of the biggest problems that we as human beings have in this whole world," he said. "And I think for the first time me and my entire family are finally communicating with each other in a way that, it's been quite some time … and to answer your question, things are really the best they've ever been." Cyrus also seemed to retract the statements he made in a <i>GQ</i> interview, in which he said that his and Miley's hit Disney series <a href="/news/articles/1657998/miley-cyrus-hanna-montana-disaster-billy-ray.jhtml">"Hannah Montana" "destroyed" their family</a>. "I feel like I kind of got my Miley back in a way," he said. "I feel like we are the daddy and the daughter that we were before 'Hannah Montana' happened. I love 'Hannah Montana.' I love Disney. That didn't tear my family apart." The country singer did, however, say that fame had something to do with the family's troubles. "Now fame, fame is a different animal, you've got to be careful with that thing because it can … all things considered, hey, it's all good."</p>

Related Photos

• The Evolution Of: Miley Cyrus

Related Artists

• Miley Cyrus
• Billy Ray Cyrus

Christian Bale Christina Aguilera Christina Applegate Christina Ricci Claire Forlani Claire Foy