BenQ Mobile last week unveiled its first sporty phone, kitting the handset out in blue and white water-resistant rubber and plastic, and equipping it with a scratch-retardant screen to protect the 132 x 176, 262,144-colour display.

Pitched at outdoors folks, the BenQ-Siemens M81 ships with navigation software - Jentro's Activepilot - and a dedicated weather outlook application. A GPS receiver - connected by Bluetooth, we presume - is extra, as is access to meteorological forecasts. The phone has a 1.3-megapixel camera with an LED flash that doubles up as a torch for nocturnal peregrinations.

BenQ didn't go into details about the phone's specifications, but it has EDGE support for faster GPRS downloads. The M81 sports all the usual music and video apps, along with video : support, and gaming features.

The M81 will ship in August, BenQ said, in blue-and-white and black-and-white versions. Final pricing will depend on network subsidies and so on, the company added. ®