SONY ERICSSON VIVAZ REVIEW
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is the successor to the Satio but it does it come with the same flaws?
Camera
The prize feature of the Vivaz is quite clearly the 8.1 megapixel camera (image stabilisation, facial recognition, smile detection, 16x digital zoom – you name it, it’s got it) which as you can see in its promotional video is being shown off by some goof-ball with a clear hunch for scopophilia. Indeed, this is what the phone is best at: recording and filming, with an HD camera none the less.
Everything on the Vivaz is geared towards the capturing the world around you, even its “human curvature” design that is made to hold comfortably in the hand for steady camera work. With the drool-worthy 8.1 megapixel camera, 720fp HD video recording and general quality feel of the phone, the Vivaz has an amazing feel of quality about it. You really feel like your holding onto something special – and it goes for sleekness this time, rather than the Satio-esque box shape.
Operating System & Interface
The Vivaz has the Symbian S60, which, while a decent OS, is a little disappointing because the platform is pretty outdated now. However it still remains the world’s most popular operating system and Nokia’s default choice of OS.
You can customise the homescreen that traditionally houses 5 widgets across the top but can be changed to your favourite functions such as contacts and social networking. The homescreen and menu system feels clean and sleek and is similar to but must second the Android interface.
Touchscreen
The touchscreen is resistive is still a resistive screen but works much better than many we’ve used before (would put the Blackberry Storm 2 to shame anyway). It also comes with a stylus even though no one really wants to use a stylus in the 21st century, rather than to just check out the handwriting recognition feature which is pretty damn cool.
The on screen keyboard was at times was inaccurate but its resistive so what else should we expect? Still, as mentioned, better than most resistive smartphones.
Connectivity
3G, FM radio, aGPS, wifi are on the handset and a TV-out is very welcome to allow you to share all your recorded movies or whatever slideshows you’ve come up with.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is an immaculate phone, and a pleasant (and welcome) surprise successor to their flawed Satio attempt last year. And though the camera is by the best feature here there’s much more to this phone that shows change in the world of Sony Ericsson – namely, the interface, the shape and the features – and yikes, did we need that change.
QUICK-FIRE FEATURES
Display: 3.2” TFT HD resistive touchscreen
Weight: 97g
Dimensions: 107.0 x 52.0 x 12.5 mm
Camera: 8.1MP autofocus and face-recognition, LED flash
Video: 720p@24fps, continuous autofocus, video light
Music player: MP3, AAC
Operating system: Symbian S60 5th
Memory: 75MB phone memory, 8GB SD card included, up to 16GB available
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB
Internet: HSUPA, HSDPA, EDGE, wifi, 3G
★★★★☆
GO TO SONY ERICSSON VIVAZ SILVER OFFER PAGE
