Smartphones are meant to be versatile. Taking a smartphone with you on a trip, to the park, and on the bus is never an issue. Yet, as rugged and durable as these phones are, they also have many weak spots. For example, it’s never a good idea to take your iPhone to the beach or place it next to the pool. Phones don’t like water.

Following this logic, smartphones shouldn’t like sweat either. After all, sweat is just as wet as water. Strangely, there are many different exercise apps that encourage you to lift weights, run, bike and carry on with strenuous and sweaty activities as if nothing will bother your phone. This is, as many have found out, not true. The minute your phone gets wet, you’ll face some problems. Then again, sweat may not be any match for the new Sony Xperia Active.

Sony Wants You to Sweat

The Sony Xperia Active was meant for sweat. This phone is water-resistant (no, you can’t take it surfing with you), dust-proof, and it was built for browsing while sweating. Sony claims that you can use the Xperia Active while you are working out, and it won’t bother this phone a bit. Sony has also included a touchpad with extra traction, so that your sweaty fingers won’t slip.

Sony has developed the Xperia for smartphone users who are active people. Unlike other smartphones, Sony claims that the Xperia won’t be bothered by profuse sweat. We have yet to see the Xperia in action, but we still think it’s best to keep water away from your smartphone until the Xperia has been proven capable of handling sweat.

Availability and Specs

Aside from the fact that the Xperia was made for active people, Sony also claims that this Android phone will outdo the rest. Then again, all Android phones have been claiming this very same thing, though none of them have delivered. Ever since the dawn of Android, smartphone manufacturers have been rolling out new phones as fast as humanly possible.

Are any of these phones better than the rest? A handful of Android phones stand out from the crowd. The Sony Xperia Active may be one of them, but only time will tell. The Xperia Active is not available quite yet. Sony has released some information about the phone (not much), but it won’t hit consumer shelves until fall of 2011 (so the rumor goes).

Competing With Apple

Presumably, Sony wants to release the mighty Xperia around the same time that Apple is set to release the iPhone 5. Then again, nobody knows when Apple will release the latest iPhone, or what the iPhone 5 will include -- an anti-sweat shell, perhaps? There’s no doubt that Sony is competing with Apple for the smartphone crown, but what cell phone manufacturer isn’t?

There haven’t been any real complains from athletic iPhone users (yet), and the iPhone does come with a number of exercise apps. However, the iPhone, like all other phones currently available, is susceptible to water damage. It will be interesting to find out if the Xperia Active can truly withstand a fair amount of sphitzing.