The latest Sony Ericsson Vivaz UK prices & deals

The first thing you’ll notice, and most definitely appreciate is the sleek, curved design of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz.

Sony Ericsson calls it ‘human curvature’ and we found it most pleasing. The rear casing is ergonomically designed to fit in the palm of your hand and, in our case, finished in “moon silver”. It also comes in ruby, black and blue hues.

The handset’s flowing curves are complemented by its size and weight to make for an attractive and appealing device you can’t help but want to show off.

At a relatively small 52x12.5x107mm and weighing lightweight 97g, this device is uber pocketable, yet doesn’t skimp when it comes to the display, serving up a 3.2inch, 360x640 pixels touchscreen.

If sibling rivalry were encouraged, we’d definitely say the Vivaz is better looking and more refined that its older and bigger brother the Satio.

Looks and feel aside, the Vivaz conforms to the (almost) standard for touchscreen handsets, by relying on a number of buttons around the sides, including camera and the usual volume rocker switch, in addition to the three function buttons below the screen.

Having said this, having physical buttons isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as many touchscreen phone users will know, having the camera shutter button on the screen just doesn’t work. This is where the Vivaz really stands out. Alongside the 8.1 megapixel camera’s shutter button is a dedicated video button so you can take full advantage of the 16:9 HD camera.

Pictures and video are both of high quality, but unfortunately such delights don’t make up for shortcomings elsewhere. The handset comes with a stylus that we’d love to say you don’t need, but favouring a resistive rather than capacitive screen means you have to give in more than we’d like to ensure your commands are met. 

Symbian-based with a Sony Ericsson skin doesn’t make the user experience and interface as smooth as it could be, leaving us with many of the same niggles we had back in October 2009 when the Satio was on review.

While it didn’t crash while we were using the device, we found the onscreen keyboard quite cumbersome and frustrating to use. Flipping from portrait to landscape smoothly was also hit and miss.

The only way round the keyboard is to use the provided stylus. Again, this niggles us.

While it will always be a matter of personal preference, styluses are now generally the preserve of business-oriented handsets, whereas multimedia touchscreen models benefit from a more user-friendly tactile approach. The need here detracts from the other qualities the Vivaz should be shouting about.

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