REVIEW Sony Ericsson Vivaz a media wizard hampered by its Symbian roots

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

By Gary Wright

The Vivaz will sell on looks alone. People who saw me using it during the test were drawn to it in a way that few others have before.

From Mobile Phone Review Its styling is dominated by a full-colour touchscreen on one side and the 8.1meg camera lens on the other and, since video and pictures are increasingly a main reason to have a phone, the Vivaz is a huge success. The phone will also shoot super-wide landscape with continuous auto-focus for HD video (which you can play through your TV straight from the phone). The camera has smile detection, which worked surperbly, to the childlike joy of some people in the office. Sony-Ericsson boffins know a thing or too about video - the led flash can be left on to light darker scenes for video (clever) - and the Vivaz's quality images beat most other phones... and even it's bigger brother the Satio. On top of that the phone comes with some neat editing software for your pics. From adding think bubbles to the person in the pic to changing the mood lighting in the picture, it is very capable.

So with your Facebook and YouTube account sorted and for pictures and video, you won't go far wrong with the Vivaz.

Music too is well catered for, as you'd expect from the company which invented the Walkman. If you have a Vivaz you really can dump your iPod for ever.

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Our test phone came in a pale lilac metallic, which looked better than it sounds and there was a faint purple glow from the side panels. Along with the green and red lights from the buttons at the bottom of the screen there was a touch of the 21st century about it.

However, I have a few reservations about the phone overall.

The touchscreen is actually very good. It's the resistive type, 3.2inch, and while it comes with a pointer in the box, it works well with your finger, and will keep most users happy.

It's not as good as the class-leading iPhone's capacitive screen, but not much is. But for Sony Ericsson, this is its best effort yet. The on-screen Qwerty keyboard was pretty decent and surprisingly accurate and no doubt practise will have you dashing off messages without problem.

If you've ever owned a Nokia, you'll be familiar with the way it works. Its called Symbian S60, this is version 5) and Sony-Ericsson has done a decent job of covering that up but you are going to have to delve inside now and again.

And it was not designed originally for a touch screen though Sony-Ericsson has made a decent fist of it.

The little Vivaz protested occasionally when it was challenged to perform some functions.

And the screen has one huge advantage: handwriting recognition. It works beautifully and for some people will be a better choice than any of the on-screen keyboard options. You definitely can't have that on capacitive touchscreens (iPhone, HTC Legend etc). So that's worth remembering and criticism of the screen is unfair. Sony have given the Vivaz a corker.


But you need to be clear on what you use your phone for. This takes brilliant pictures and video, you can easily upload them to your site of choice, Picasa, Flikr, Facebook etc, and it browses the web and does messaging with the best of them.

It also had a really good BBC iPlayer app too so you can catch up with telly on your phone.

Do you really want more? Do you really need more?

The excellent Twitter App, which comes with the phone on the main screen works better than most downloadable freebies. But setting it up proved a little difficult and the only way to make it reset was to pull the battery out.

Those little niggles aside, the phone has an excellent GPRS function so it can do directions and maps. Getting on the internet was easy, though sometimes a little slow even using Wi-Fi, and older eyes might struggle despite the impressive colour screen.

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The Vivaz ran video on the web without a hitch too. The Youtube app was one of the best I'd seen on a mobile.

The Vivaz is stylish, light and fits in the hand well. There is a lot of plastic and if you are looking to preserve its sharp good looks, a case would make a wise investment.

Without becoming too techie, this is a 'can-do' phone with a fast processor at its heart that means it performs well. You can have your Facebook, Twitter with you all the time, check the internet when you need to and watch YouTube. You can shoot video- in stunning quality and upload direct to the web. It works.

Its Symbian OS is getting out-dated but for millions the Nokia system is familiar, comfortable and does the job.

Overall 7.5/10

Good
Excellent camera performance. Music player. Attractive. Brilliant colour screen. Battery life unexpectedly good. Some excellent apps included like Twitter and iPlayer. Attractive handset

Bad
Slightly fragile feel, touchscreen not the best

Conclusion
Sony Ericsson could do with winning new friends and the Vivaz might just be the phone to do it. Be honest about your needs and you may find the Vivaz exceeds them anyway

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