Sony Ericsson Vivaz

“The handset does not offer perfect in-call quality, but the sound is loud enough on the both ends of the line. At any rate, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz performs significantly better than the OMNIA HD with this respect.However, this is just not enough to become one of the best multimedia smartphones today. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz has other strengths that make it a viable option and preferable alternative, especially for people who would never go for the bulky size and hefty weight of Samsung’s multimedia monster. The list of advantages includes compact size, enjoyable appeal, brilliant HD video playback and innovative camera shutter with two separate buttons.The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is, however, far from perfect in every single respect. Its 8-megapixel camera is mediocre in terms of image quality, not to mention the handset can get annoyingly unresponsive in certain situations. Finally, it doesn’t come with built-in DivX and Xvid support and anyone willing to use it as a fully functional audio player replacement will have to fork out extra cash for a decent headset pair.”

“The Sony Ericsson Vivaz works surprisingly well as a rough and ready 720p camcorder, but its unresponsive touchscreen and fiddly user interface mean it's an annoying phone to use for day-to-day tasks. With low-cost high-definition camcorders like the Flip Video UltraHD proving so popular, Sony Ericsson's looking to get in on the action with the touchscreen Vivaz media phone. Sporting an 8.1-megapixel camera, it's capable of shooting 720p high-definition video.”

“Sony Ericsson's no stranger to phones with decent cameras, and the Vivaz with European 3G frequencies aims to be one of them, after all these months we've finally got hold of this S60 device, which is the first phone capable of continuous autofocus on 720p video recording courtesy of its speedy 720MHz Cortex A8 and PowerVR GPU. Compared to its predecessor, the Vivaz bears a similar button layout and GUI to the Satio's, but lacks a front-facing camera, Fast Port (replaced by a micro-USB port and 3.5mm headphone jack), and a slide cover for the camera. The resistive touchscreen (sigh, more on that later) has been downsized from 3.5 inches to 3.2 inches but retains a similar resolution (640 x 360), while the camera sensor is also scaled down from 12.1 megapixels to a more sensible 8.1, possibly for the sake of picture quality and component cost. But enough with the comparison -- let's get cracking with the review.”

“Following a similar release schedule like the Xperia X10 we've recently checked out, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz manages to retain that same level of luster we found when it was launched a while back – which is mainly due to its on-contract price. Come to think of it, this has to be one of the better S60 5th Edition handset released stateside by a national carrier that we've been lucky to experience. Although it might not lay claim to having the biggest or baddest camera specs out there, it suffices in achieving a reasonable level that's considerably supplemented with its strikingly good looks. When it's priced at $79.99 and packs all of the goodies that the smartphone platform has to offer, it does make for one rather appealing device – despite being launched much later than expected.”