The Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro seeks to amend our biggest gripe with the original Sony Ericsson Vivaz: the “awful” touchscreen, as we described it at the time. Does bolting on a slide out QWERTY keyboard solve it? Read on and find out in this part of our Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro review.
Read the rest of our Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro review
Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro review
Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro review: Symbian S60
While we absolutely loathe Symbian on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro, the build of the phone is mostly pleasant, save for that touchscreen – yes, it’s still awful.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro takes most of its design cues from the original Vivaz, as you’d expect, though it’s a shade thicker. On the right hand side, the volume rocker and separate camera and camcorder shutter buttons (Tick) still sit, while on the left, you’ll find the micro USB slot behind a rubber door, and the 3.5mm audio socket (Though they’ve now been switched around. It’s unfortunate that the audio port is on the side, but to get that tapered, curve look, necessary.
The change that will irk most however is the power button’s move to the back. On the top of the original Vivaz, it was tiny but easy to activate, but on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro, it’s almost flush, and we found it difficult to trigger without a fingernail prod.
The touchscreen, alas, hasn’t improved on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro. It’s still the pits. While videos and images look crips on the 640×360 resolution 3.2-inch screen, it’s resistive and utterly unresponsive. You will sometimes feel the screen flex slightly underneath as you push at an icon, it’s that difficult to trigger, and that’s not acceptable on even the cheapest touchscreen phones these days – see Samsung’s move to a finger friendly capacitive screen on the Samsung Genio Touch.
The Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro’s saving grace however is the keyboard. Unfortunately, Sony Ericsson has barely tailored Symbian to take advantage of it, but it does mean improved typing speeds (Though nothing compared to the Xperia X10 Mini Pro, Aspen, or any BlackBerry), and it is backlit, which is always welcome of an evening.
It would have been better had Sony Ericsson raised the keys as it did on the Xperia X10 Mini Pro: they’re rubber and sit too low down here, and some space has been wasted by pointless keys like a Language Switch button, as though many people would change language mid text. Maybe they do in Sweden. At any rate, we can’t complain about the locking mechanism, which keeps the QWERTY fairly rigidly in place.
The camera on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro meanwhile, surprisingly, is a downgrade on paper from the 8.1 megapixel sensor on the original Vivaz, down to 5.1MP here. But actually, that difference is negligible unless you have a habit of printing out your phone pics at A3 (If you’re doing that, we strongly suggest you invest in an actual camera), and the shooter on the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro is still one of the best at the price point, even if it’s only rocking an LED rather than xenon flash.
Pictures are still reasonably sharp and look ace in daylight, Sony Ericsson’s comprehensive settings are present, and best of all, 720p video recording is still possible. The clips we shot didn’t match the iPhone 4 or Samsung Galaxy S for quality, with the same mottling we noticed on the original Vivaz, but for what you pay, it’s still decent.
Wi-Fi, GPS and the respectable call quality haven’t changed, and the battery life hasn’t either: we still got a good two days of normal use out of it, and it survived one full day of intense use with Wi-Fi turned on with ease.
Overall, however, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro’s build is disappointing. The QWERTY keyboard is a crutch rather than a panacea, and we still hate the touchscreen and Symbian S60 with a passion. There are better mid-range smartphones with a slide out QWERTY keyboard on sale today. The problem is, Sony Ericsson makes them – and we can’t recommend the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro over them.
Read the rest of our Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro review
Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro review
Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro review: Symbian S60
