The UK Mobile Phone Blog

Sony Ericsson Vivaz Review Part 1: Design, Build & Touchscreen

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz was officially launched last week to much excitement and fanfare and for good reason; this smooth and stylish touchscreen phone is packing 720p HD video capture. Quite the party piece I think you’ll agree, but how does the Vivaz shape up as an all rounder? What’s it like to live with? Well, that’s what we aim to tell you over the next few days with our in-depth review of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz. In part 1, we’ll take a look at the design, build quality and touchscreen found on the Vivaz.

The Vivaz, like so many other Sony Ericsson phones before it, started life with a rather kooky codename; Kurara. As the Kurara, the phone was outed in various leaks and sneak previews so by the time the phone was officially unveiled as the Vivaz we already felt we knew all there was to know about the phone before we’d even seen it in the flesh. We were very wrong though, as the design and build quality of the Vivaz is one of its strongest features.

Employing Sony Ericsson’s new ‘Human Curvature’ design philosophy, the Vivaz is itching to be picked up and played with. The subtly curved back fits snugly into your hand whilst the curved top and bottom give the phone a nice symmetrical look. On either side we find a bit of flair in the form of deep blue strips that run the length of the phone whilst the physical keys are made of premium plastics that compliment the smooth lines well. On the reverse, the large round camera lens sits in between a Sony Ericsson logo and the two most important letters in the Vivaz’s alphabet; H and D (more on this later). The phone is also incredibly light weight at a mere 97 g. To put that into perspective, the iPhone 3GS weighs a whopping 135 g and the Satio (Sony Ericsson’s 12MP camera phone) comes in at a hefty 126 g so the Vivaz is definitely a feather weight in comparison. The dimensions of the Vivaz are similarly svelte at 107 mm long and 12.5 mm thick.

The front of the phone is dominated by the 3.2 inch touchscreen display which does well to use most of the real estate on offer which is why the Vivaz is able to be so compact. Above the display, we find the earpiece and below is a curved strip of three hardware keys; call answer, end and menu. On the top of the phone we find the power button and on the right side, from top to bottom you’ve got a volume/ zoom rocker, video key and camera key. On the opposite side sits a Micro USB port which is used for both data connectivity and charging the phone (yay!) and puzzlingly a 3.5 mm audio jack. This is our only gripe with the design of the Vivaz. Whilst it’s good that Sony Ericsson have seen sense and added a 3.5 mm audio jack (rather than their own proprietary port), it seems an odd choice to put it on the side where the headphones will undoubtedly stick out in an awkward fashion. This is fine when the phone’s in your hand but can prove troublesome when in a pocket. This is a minor blip in what is otherwise a great looking, incredibly well designed phone that boasts a premium look and feel through out (something you couldn’t always rely on Sony Ericsson to deliver in the past).

The Vivaz boasts a 3.2 inch resistive touchscreen capable of displaying 16 Million colours on screen. Visually the display on the Vivaz is excellent with bright vivid colours and sharp textures making the phone incredibly easy to use. This is also the case when using the phone outside as the Vivaz doesn’t seem to suffer at all in direct sunlight. Watching video, browsing the web and the phone’s many menus is a real feast for the eyes. The touchscreen also includes an accelerometer that not only handles rotating the screen in certain applications but also boasts intuitive features such as turn to mute calls and alarms. Usability of the touchscreen is competent though it does seem a shame that Sony Ericsson opted for a resistive unit rather than a capacitive touchscreen. Opting for the former rules out multi-touch and in turn nice features such as pinch-to-zoom. It also has an impact on the responsiveness and overall usability as you do need to be quite deliberate with your pokes and prods; simple swipes simply won’t cut it.

Despite the disadvantages, using a resistive touchscreen does have its advantages most notably in the fact that the Vivaz can be used with a stylus. Though the phone doesn’t incorporate one in the actual design, the retail box does include a stylus which can be attached to the bottom of the phone with a lanyard. Using a stylus in areas such as the web browser provides added accuracy so tapping on microscopic icons and links is a possibility that simply wouldn’t be available in a capacitive touchscreen. The touchscreen experience on the Vivaz is comparable to that found on the Satio or one of Nokia’s latest touchscreen offerings such as the N97 Mini; competent without hitting the heights of capacitive touchscreen phones such as the iPhone or HTC HD2.

First impressions of the Vivaz are promising. The design and build quality of the Vivaz is second to none and Sony Ericsson’s Human Curvature ethos is something we hope will continue for many more phones to come. Join us tomorrow on the blog as we take a look at the all important HD video capture to see if it’s all it’s cracked up to be and also take a look at the still camera as well.