Sony Ericsson Vivaz Review

Packed with some of the most awesome features that can be in a smartphone, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is the successor of the Satio. It has HD video shooting capabilities and is packed with a powerful 8.1 megapixel camera. It works under the Symbian OS 5th edition platform. Vivaz has a large resistive touchscreen, video calling, 3G enabled video calling and other impressive multimedia features.

BODY DESIGN
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is a work of art in terms of design. It does not even look like a mobile phone with its curvy tapered ends and its deceptive controls on the left. The body design of the Vivaz is really unique. It has a physical dimension of 4.2 x 2.0 x 0.5 inches which is truly incredible. This whole piece of art weighs just 3.4 ounces. The device comes in four glossy colors which attracts smudges on the body of the phone.
The smart phone has a curvy back to match the natural curve of our hands. Though it does not rest firmly when placed on a flat surface, it does feel more natural and comfortable than the other phones available in the market,
Sony Vivaz has a 3.2 inch resistive touchscreen display. There are only 3 physical buttons under the display. They are the home, the Talk and the End buttons. The volume controller and the camera shortcut are on the phone’s right spine while the 3.5 mm jack and the micro USB charger port is on the left.
MULTIMEDIA
An array of impressive multimedia features is in the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. It has an 8.1 megapixel camera that can capture high quality pictures and images. The camera has cool features like smile detection, face detection and image stabilizer with which you can avoid blurry pictures caused by sudden movements. On top of that, the camera of Vivaz can shoot high definition videos at 720p at 24 fps with continuous auto-focus which is a feature that even most of the latest smartphones like Samsung Omnia HD don’t have. The image gallery has a lot of customization options. You can edit, delete, tag or even Geo tag a photo
To entertain you more, Vivaz comes with the Walkman series music player. The features are all the same but the look of it is different. It has a very good sound quality with the right bass and treble, but the absence of the equalizer and the visualizer is a big let down.
Watching a video on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is an experience. Top notch image quality, the 16:9 aspect ratio combined with a high resolution makes watching videos on this phone a moment to remember. But after all is said too, the video player in Vivaz also has its limitations. The video player does not support most commonly used Xvid or DivX format and the player does not have screenshot and slow-motion functions.
The integrated FM radio has an intuitive interface and uses the TrackID service to the max.
Vivaz has the S60 5th edition as its web browser. Three applications namely RoadSync, SMS Preview and Facebook are preinstalled on the phone. RoadSync provides wireless, secure and direct push synchronization of corporate emails while SMSPreview is a tool with which we can screen the content of a message without unlocking the phone.
Vivaz also has an integrated GPS receiver and Wisepilot navigation software which makes going for long trips and journeys very interesting.
MEMORY
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz has an internal memory of 75 MB which is mostly for the installed applications, the contact details and messages. But the most wonderful thing about this Sony Ericsson phone is that it uses the standard microSD card instead of the expensive proprietary Sony memory stick. The phone memory can be expanded up to 32 GB.
CONNECTIVITY
All the modern forms of data transfers are supported in Sony Vivaz. It comes with a Wi-Fi connectivity that includes DLNA support. This smartphone has the quad-band 3G network compatibility as well as the GSM and EDGE support. It can reach a data transfer speed of 10.2 mbps HSDPA and 2 mbps HSUPA. Connection between Bluetooth enabled devices and Vivaz is made possible with its Version 2.0 Bluetooth technology with A2DP. Furthermore, It has the microUSB port for wired connection like connecting the phone to a PC. The microUSB port is also much better in terms of speed and compatibility compared to the FastPort in its predecessor, the Satio.

PERFORMANCE
The battery life of 13 hours of EDGE talktime and more than 5 hours of 3G talktime is pretty good for a phone loaded with all the good features. The call quality of Sony Vivaz is quite good. The Symbian web browser is not quite impressive. The resistive touchscreen is not quite as handy as the capacitive one (Iphone4). You have to apply pressure to register a click in the resistive touchscreen whereas the conductors on your fingers register a click in the capacitive one. The media player works fine and the best feature of the phone is its HD video recording. The user interface of the Sony Vivaz is intuitive and people who have used a Sony Ericsson phone will love it from the first go.
VERDICT
If you are looking for a phone combined with a good quality camera and a camcorder, then you should definitely buy the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. The phone is available for $349.
REVIEWER’S RATING: 3.5/5