Review You'll have seen from our review of the Nokia N79 that, even in bog standard form, it's an extremely capable multimedia powerhouse, equipped with a 5Mp camera, HSDPA connectivity, Wi-Fi and Assisted GPS.

Nokia's N79 Active: complete with hear-rate monitor

This latest incarnation, however, is aimed squarely at gym warriors, and comes with a heart monitor which connects to the phone over Bluetooth to help you plan and monitor your workouts.

Nokia hasn't reinvented the wheel here. The heart monitor is provided by fellow Finnish firm Polar, which just happens to be the world's biggest name in wireless heart-rate monitors. It's one of the company's standard models and normally works with a dedicated wristwatch-style data calculator but here teams up with an updated version of Nokia's Sports Tracker app to calculate your training stats.

The N79 makes it simple by bundling the devices together, but you could conceivably do the same with any smartphone and suitable software. There's an iPhone heart monitor app already available, for instance, but you need to hold the iPhone - or microphone - to your chest or pulse for it to work, which is nowhere near as convenient.

The heart-rate monitor clips onto an adjustable strap which you tighten around your chest. You'll need to wet the inside of the strap before you put it on to ensure good electrical contact - we tried it without doing this at first and it didn't work. The strap's made of comfortable fabric and it's easy to forget it's on after a while. It's washable too, which is just as well. The battery promises to run for 150 hours of workout and while there's no on-off switch, it automatically fires up when it detects your pulse and switches itself off when you remove it.

It's a full-scale smartphone too

The first time you pair the two devices with a Bluetooth link, you need to be ready to go – they won't link unless the Polar is on its strap, and receiving signals from your body. Once phone and monitor have been paired, however, the phone will automatically detect the heart-rate monitor when you strap it on for subsequent workouts.

The other extra in the N79 Active box is the padded armband phone holder, which attaches to your arm using a Velcro strap. There's a clear neoprene window for the phone screen and a little keypad mark-up so you can see where the relevant buttons are on the handset. It's comfortable enough, but the pocket for the phone is extremely snug, and we're not sure the thin plastic cover will survive too many insertions. Another slight niggle is that the strap's really too long to attach snugly to your lower arm so you'll need to fasten to your upper arm where it's not so easy to read.

Track your activity

The phone comes with the latest version, 2.05, of Nokia's Sports Tracker app preloaded. It's a powerful little tool that uses the phone's AGPS, motion sensor and the heart monitor to provide maps, graphs and readouts of your training route, pace, distance covered, altitude, calories burned and, of course, heart rate.

The Sports Tracker display shows all your primary stats while you're working out, with time elapsed in large figures and both distance travelled and heart rate prominently displayed, as well as a map of where you're going. You can scroll down to view screens with additional on-the-go info, including your speed and step rate.

Sports Tracker doesn't just display your stats as you go along, it also collates them and builds them into a training diary so you can track your progress. There are graphs showing your speed against time and distance, heart rate against time, a bar graph of your exertions based on heart rate, and even a map of the route you've walked/run/cycled/skied etc. All useful stuff, though we weren't so sure about the altitude vs distance chart, which didn't seem to accurately reflect our route.

You can also store and share your training info online at the Nokia Sports Tracker Beta site, which is steadily building a community of like-minded workout fans – handy if you need that extra push to get yourself out there.

The strap's easy to forget when it's on

Even the camera gets in on the act. If you take pictures or film video during your workout they can be automatically geotagged and included in your submission to the website, offering a breakdown of your workout that's visual, as well statistical and cartographical.

When you're working out with a standard Polar heart-rate monitor, you need to add your own soundtrack. Nokia's solution allows you to play music at the same time as you exercise, which at least cuts down on the amount of gadgets you need to take with you.

Are the case and 'phones tough enough?

It works well but it could have been easier. You can adjust the music player - or the FM radio - mid-workout but to do so means exiting the Sports Tracker app, which seems like an unnecessary palaver. Dedicated music player controls would have been useful here so you could start, stop and switch tracks at the push of a button. Since Sports Tracker is theoretically available to all Symbian smart phones, such a device could well be on the way. But at least once you return to Sports Tracker it will have carried on logging your stats while you've been off acting the DJ.

The headphones are different to those on the standard N79: a sporty pair with noise isolating rubber grommets in three different sizes to help them fit snugly. They stayed in alright, but we found that we needed to push them quite deep into our ears to avoid the rubber sleeves moving while we jogged, which resulted in an unacceptably loud rubbing sound. Fortunately, it's easy to add your own favourites using the N79's standard 3.5mm jack plug, which is conveniently located on top.

Polar makes other related devices too, such as cadence sensors for bikes, pedometers, blood pressure systems and body temperature devices, all of which could conceivably be partnered with phones. This first collaboration is likely to be a tester, but if it's successful, it could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Verdict

The combined technology of the N79 Active adds up to a powerful multimedia device that's optimised for physical training. There are more specialised training monitor devices available but for non-professionals this provides everything you need to know plus a bit more. We'd have liked to see dedicated music controls to make it easier to act the DJ while you're working out but otherwise it's an excellent personal trainer. ®

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