Sony Ericsson Vivaz Review

Introduction

Sony Ericsson is an alliance of two tech giants and with phones like the Vivaz it shows. It’s a gadget all the way, one that will galvanize geeks and charm the regular user.

Eight megapixel still images and 720p video with continuous auto focus make the Sony Ericsson Vivaz a predator of point-and-shoot cameras. The Vivaz is not just a cameraphone though, it’s a smartphone as well – a tricked out Symbian running on a 720MHz CPU with a 3.2” nHD display to show it all off. That’s all in a package more compact than any combination of a stand-alone camera and a phone you can think of.

Key features

3.2" 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution

8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, face and smile detection, geotagging and touch focus

HD 720p video recording @ 24fps with continuous auto focus

Symbian OS 9.4 S60 5th, topped with a custom-brewed homescreen and media menu

720 MHz CPU, PowerVR SGX dedicated graphics accelerator

Quad-band GSM support

3G with HSDPA 10.2Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps support

Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS

microSD card slot (up to 16GB, 8GB card in the box)

Built-in accelerometer

TV out

Stereo FM Radio

microUSB and stereo Bluetooth v2.0

Web browser has full Flash support

Preinstalled Wisepilot navigation software

Office document viewer

Decent audio quality

Main disadvantages

No camera lens protection

No auto mode for the flash/video light

LED flash not powerful enough

The S60 5th edition UI isn't to the best in class standards

No proximity sensor sensor to lock the screen during a call

No DivX or XviD support out-of-the-box

No smart or voice dialing

No office document editing (without a paid upgrade)

No stereo speakers

No digital compass (magnetometer)

Videocalling uses only the main camera (no secondary one)

The feature list leaves very little to complain about, so is it time retire your old compact camera and make the jump the Vivaz? That’s what we’ll try to find out. As for its performance as a smartphone the list of key features suggests smooth sailing most of the way.
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