Sony Ericsson Xperia active Now Available in the U.S., Priced at $340 (250 EUR)

The handset maker soon to be known as Sony has just introduced the Xperia active in the United States. The smartphone is now available for purchase unlocked from various authorized retailers.

 

Sony Ericsson fans who think themselves as active people may want to check this one out over at Newegg. The retailer offers the unlocked Xperia active for $399.99 (250 EUR), along with a consistent sales package that comprises an arm case, wrist strap and a 2GB memory card.

 

Sony Ericsson Xperia active is one of the latest Android smartphones launched by the Swedish-Japanese joint-venture in the market. Unveiled back in June, the device hit shelves a few months later, in October.

 

We had an unusual encounter with the Xperia active about three months ago at IFA 2011, in Berlin. We spotted the smartphone submerged and took a quick tour of the phone’s user interface and features that seem more than decent at first glance.

 

The Xperia active is powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Sony Ericsson’s proprietary Timescape user interface on top. However, the smartphone is on the handset maker’s list of devices that will be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich next year.

 

The mid-budget smartphone is equipped with a 1 GHz single core Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor and an Adreno 205 graphics processing unit.

 

However, the device is mostly aimed at active people, so expect this one to be dust and water resistant. There’s also a flashlight function and a scratch resistant 3.0-inch touchscreen display.

 

On the inside, the Xperia active packs 1 GB of internal memory (320 MB user available), 512 MB of RAM and microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB, 2GB memory card included).

 

The phone lacks a secondary camera for video calls, instead it offer a 5-megapixel rear camera with autofocus and LED flash.