Sony Ericsson Vivaz Smartphone Reviews and Deals

Sony Ericsson Vivaz review

Good

Elegant design, reliable

Bad

Clunky OS, unattached wand for touchscreen

Overview

While you may think of Sony Ericsson and Nokia as bitter rivals in the mobile market, there is a long history (close to a decade) of Sony Ericsson producing handsets powered by the Symbian operating system, owned by Nokia.

The Vivaz is the latest in a line that has included the likes of last year’s Satio, the G700, the P1 and one of my old favourites, the old W950 Walkman phone. So how does the Vivaz hold up?

Well, for starters, it is a very elegant handset, the curved silver fascia nicely offset by the incredibly dark blue clear plastic sides. I would say it borders on the feminine, although manly men could still get away with carrying one (just).

It feels good in the hand, having just about the right amount of heft (97g) and the perfect shape (107x51.7x12.5mm) for comfortable operation (it’s the ergonomics, don’t you know). The 3.2-inch screen is nice too, when you turn it on - crisp and bright.

Work

In fact, until you start using the Vivaz, it’s impossible not to be impressed - Sony Ericsson has done a great job. However, it seems Symbian has let them down somewhat. I’m afraid it really is no surprise that consumers are currently abandoning Nokia in their droves.

However, one design fault can be levelled at Sony Ericsson; the combination of resistive touchscreen and unattached wand to use it. Handsets such as HTC’s Touch and the aforementioned W950 had the wand cleverly concealed in the handset body. With the Vivaz, it’s extra - I presume they want you to put it on your key chain, or similar.

I expect a few millimeters on the width would’ve accommodated this. Less ergonomic, perhaps, but infinitely more usable! I wound up using a key or a Biro most of the time, removing any elegance the handset had too. It’s just the kind of user unfriendliness that blights the Vivaz throughout. But suffice it to say, any kind of keyboard use isn’t a strong point.

Elsewhere, the Sony Ericsson/Symbian mix works quite well, with the interface being generally clear, if more than a little clunky compared to the likes of Apple and Android. Symbian really needs to step up its game, and fast.

Play

With an 8.1-megapixel camera capable of shooting HD quality video (allegedly), I’m sure Sony Ericsson would argue that this is where its strength lies. So does this make up for the slightly disappointing start?

Sadly, for me at least, not really. Functionality for both video and picture taking is straightforward, with a strong array of settings, modes and visual effects on show. There are separate buttons on the edge of the handset for either starting to record and snapping a shot - as they’re next to each other though, you need to be careful which you press.

As you’d expect for an eight-megapixel snapper, uncomplicated, close-up pictures taken in reasonable light conditions come out very nicely. However, peripheral detail is still an issue, while the flash and zoom are inadequate and taking pictures of moving objects is pretty much a no-no. As for recording video (in apparently glorious 720p HD), don’t get your hopes up.

The novelty value of having a camera on a phone is long gone, replaced simply by the ability to take some happy snaps or quick vids you can upload to Facebook etc. Whether it’s a two-megapixel or eight-megapixel snapper, the truth is the tiny little lens and un-camera-like shape of a handset means cameraphones will struggle to make the final step to the kind of quality needed to be taken seriously - it may never happen.

This begs the question, why continue to make smartphones that rely on this feature at the expense of others? I guess while people continue to buy them, they’ll keep making them. And some will say I’m being unduly harsh - however, I just think that if you want a good camera, but one. If you want a cameraphone though, the Vivaz is hard to beat right now.

Elsewhere, you’re treated to a nice Walkman player and FM radio (plus 3.5mm headphone jack), with good audio quality. There’s not much on-board storage, but Sony Ericsson does supply an 8GB microSD card in the box (it will take up to 16GB cards, and its relatively easy to switch them).

Connectivity

Getting connected is certainly not a problem with Sony Ericsson’s Vivaz. It ticks all the boxes, being quadband for 2G and dual band for 3G, with HSPA supporting strong data speeds if you can pick them up. There’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth too, a microUSB port, plus GPS.

The Wisepilot app is included for SatNav, and seems to work well enough. There’s the now obligatory Facebook app too, plus a few others, but not a huge array. Symbian can’t compete with the likes of Apple and Android on apps right now, but you should be able to download most of what you need.

Getting online is simple enough, and pages look good on the sharp screen, but browsing is fiddly and unintuitive.

Performance

And for me, this is at the heart of the Vivaz’s problems. Sony Ericsson has done a pretty good job with the Symbian OS, but you can only do so much with an operating system that is clearly behind the curve and seems to offer no endearing features that set it apart from its rivals.

I had absolutely no problems with the performance of the handset, yet I was continuously frustrated using it. I can’t count the times I seems to have to make a click more than I felt I should have, no matter what I was trying to do.

Verdict

If you want an elegant, ergonomic smartphone with a camera/video recorder that is better than most other handsets out there (but not nearly as good as a proper camera or camcorder), then the Vivaz may well be for you. However, the vast majority of people will find a more suitable and user friendly option elsewhere.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz specification and features

Model

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Manufacturer

Sony Ericsson

Operating system

Symbian S60 5th edit

Colours

Black, blue, red, silver

Mobile internet

WiFi

Yes

3G

Yes

HSDPA

Yes

Size

Size

107mm x 52mm x 12mm

Screen size

3.2"

Screen Resolution

360x640

Weight

97g

Features

Talktime

13 hrs

Standby

430 hrs

Touchscreen

Yes

QWERTY keyboard

No

Camera

8 megapixel

Video

Yes

GPS

Yes

Bluetooth

Yes

Music Phone

No

FM Radio

Yes

Quad Band

Yes

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