Sagem have developed a decent looking device in collaboration with Sports company Puma. The device is designed for the outdoor life and has some particular features that will be useful to the more active mobile user.

The Sagem Puma Phone sports a 2.8 inch TFT resistive touchscreen, supporting up to 256,000 colours. The pixel resolution on the display is standard QVGA, and there is a built in accelerometer for auto display rotation. The device is a nice size, which is just as well; the last thing you want to be carrying around during exercise is a chunky handset! The Puma Phone measures in at 102 x 56 x 13mm, and weighs in at an acceptable 115g.

With a focus, then, on activity, some of the more noticeable features on the Puma phone are applications such as Bike Tracker, Run Tracker, and a Pedometer, all designed to allow you to track your movements during exercise. These can be recorded, and you can keep track of your progress over a period of time. The information can also be uploaded to the web, so you can compete with friends with times over distance at various events. To facilitate the tracking of movements, the Puma phone comes complete with a built in GPS receiver, with aGPS support which helps get a faster fix on you location.

As well as focussing on activity, the Puma phone has some solid green credentials, coming in an eco friendly (read recycled materials) box, and also includes a solar charging panel on the rear of the phone. The solar panel has a charge indicator so you can see just how much of a charge the device is getting.

Entertainment, particularly music, is a great accompaniment to have when enjoying the outdoors life and the Puma delivers here with a full media player supporting various audio and video formats, as well as including a stereo FM radio with RDS support. A standard 3.5mm audio output jack is included, too, so you can listen to music with your favourite headphones, plus the device offers stereo Bluetooth connectivity if you find all those wires just get in the way. The device incorporates a 3.2 Megapixel camera, which can be used for taking images on your run or bike ride, and uses the GPS receiver to include geotagging information in the digital file of the captured image.

The Puma Phone has some impressive connection options available. Disappointingly there is no WiFi, but the Tri Band GSM handset offers Dual Band 3G connectivity, with support for HSDPA at up to 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA at up to 2.9 Mbps, facilitating a comfortable web browsing experience. The phone has a full HTML web browser, but with Java support you can always choose to install Opera Mini, if preferred.

The Puma Phone also includes some ‘extras’, to keep you entertained during those moments of rest. These include a sarcastic calculator, and a ‘scratching turntable app’. There is even an on demand digital cat, whose name, apparently, is Dylan.

The user interface on the Puma Phone is pretty standard, in comparison with some other top of the range touchscreen devices; the menu operates on a carousel type design, and the device offers full integration with popular social networks, and there is also support for accessing live feeds on the device to keep up to date with all the latest sports news and headlines.

There is a possibility that the Puma Phone will have little impact in the mainstream, but there is enough on the device to make it a popular enough niche device for people who genuinely are attracted by the facilities and features it offers. The handset should be available from April 2010, and initially will be available in Black.

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