Sony Ericsson Vivaz Review

Sony Ericsson need to produce some amazing handsets during 2010, because truth be told, over the last few years the handsets delivered under the Sony Ericsson name have usually been one of two things, either uninspiring or unreliable! Which is a shame, because handsets like the Sony Ericsson Satio deserve to be premium products with a loyal fanbase, and quite frankly the market needs Sony Ericsson, inspiring and pushing the competition, the same way the market needs the rejuvenated Motorola to do well, keeping the likes of Nokia and HTC, LG and Samsung on their toes. The end result will be we the consumer benefit.

One of the new range of handsets coming in 2010 from Sony Ericsson is the Vivaz. This is another handset running on the S60 v5 platform, similar to the Satio. The main focus of the Vivaz is enabling the easy production and sharing of user generated content, high quality images and video, which can be shared via messaging and the web with family, friends, and anyone else that happens to pass by in Cyberspace. The Vivaz will be available in a range of striking colours, including Silver Moon, Cosmic Black, Galaxy Blue and Venus Ruby. The handset has a large, 3.2 inch TFT touchscreen, supporting up to 16 million colours and with a pixel resolution of 360 x 640. The device itself isn’t overly large, measuring 107 x 52 x 12.5mm, and weighing in at 97g. This compares well with the Satio, which was a rather large device. The Vivaz is shorter, narrower, slightly slimmer and almost 30g lighter, making it much easier on a trouser or jacket pocket.

The device is equipped with an 8.0 Megapixel camera, supporting autofocus, with touch focus, face and smile detection and geotagging. There is a flash, but it is only an LED flash, not Xenon. Past experience with Sony Ericsson devices suggests that the image quality should be optimal, but imaging is only half the story with the Vivaz. For a while now manufacturers have been pushing the still imaging functionality of their phones, and it is about time the same emphasis was put on video capture. To this end the Vivaz will offer the option to capture video clips in HD quality, with a resolution of 1280 x 720, and the video recorder supports continuous auto focus for the perfect video clip every time.

The connectivity options on the Vivaz leave nothing to be desired, as everything you could want in a modern mobile device is included. The device is a quad band GSM phone for complete roaming coverage in all GSM countries and for data the Vivaz utilises HSPA, with uploads at up to 2Mbps and downloads at up to 10.2Mbps supported on the phone. Class 10 GPRS and EDGE support backs this up when outside 3G coverage, and the handset also includes WiFi 802.11 b/g with support for DLNA which should mean integrating your device into an already existing WLAN should be a simple process. For local connectivity the Vivaz supports Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, and there is, almost uniquely for a Sony Ericsson device, a MicroUSB port for connecting to a PC.

Of course, all of this connectivity serves to enable the easy sharing of content with all the main social networking and imaging sites, so expect full support for Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and so on. The Vivaz has a full messaging suite on the phone, allowing you to access push email on the device, with support for multiple accounts. Very often these days email is the forgotten communication option on a phone, with the focus so much on social networking sites, but devices like the Vivaz utilise a simple email setup so within minutes you can record video or take a picture and be emailing it to friends and family in an instant.

As much as it is a functional tool, the Vivaz is also a pocket entertainment device. Naturally full web access is available on the phone, so you can browse your favourite websites on the move, plus the Vivaz boasts a complete media package to make the hours pass quicker on long journeys. The music player on the handset has support for multiple audio formats, and visually presents well on the large screen with support for album art. There is ample storage available for music, as well as video and captured content, with the Vivaz using MicroSD memory cards, and supporting up to 16GB, with an 8GB card included in the final retail package (network operator differences may apply) The video player is also well featured, supporting many video codecs, the only real disappointment here is the lack of support for DivX and XviD files.

Being a S60 handset, all the benefits of that operating system are included, allowing you to add additional features to the device by installing third party software, such as the excellent Opera browser or Google maps. The Vivaz includes a GPS receiver, and supports aGPS for location based services, and the device ships with Wisepilot SatNav software, offering a free trial to the full package for a selected period.

So the Sony Ericsson Vivaz stacks up to be a really excellent device, utilising all the best that is available in mobile technology, and pushing forward with excellent HD video capture. But so many times in the past we have come to expect so much from Sony Ericsson devices, which only ends in disappointment with poor software, and embarrassing moments when networks and retailers remove devices from sale. I truly hope that Sony Ericsson has learnt from past mistakes and that the Vivaz is able to deliver on what it promises, because what it promises is very appealing indeed.

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