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Review: Sony Ericsson Vivaz

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Menus Calls/Contacts Messaging Social Networking

The Vivaz offers most of the typical messaging features, including text messaging, picture messaging, email, and instant messaging. Seasoned S60 users will be all-too-familiar with the tools needed to interact with the Vivaz's messaging apps.

Let's start with text messaging. For starters, there are two text messaging applications. Yes, really. The first is the nearly useless S60 messaging application. It offers the barest of basics. No threaded messaging here, but you can choose to sort messages into lists by sender. The second text messaging application is called Conversations, and was birthed from Nokia's Beta Labs. Conversations offers threaded messaging, albeit an ugly variant thereof. What's worse, is Conversations has two different text input methods. There's an on-screen tool that brings up the software dial-pad for typing in T9. However, if you press the Reply button, it opens an entirely different text entry screen - the one you're used to from S60 devices.

Here's the killer, though: when you rotate the phone onto its side to use the software QWERTY, it doesn't adjust automatically. The screen rotates, but keeps the T9 keypad active. You have to manually select the QWERTY keyboard, which takes two steps. This is ridiculous. They QWERTY should appear automatically. Every text input method is atrocious to use. T9 is always the default, and it offers different buttons and characters depending on what application you're using. Some consistency would be nice here.

The Vivaz has two email clients. The first is the typical, kludgy S60 email application. It works fine for POP3/IMAP4 accounts, but again it suffers from text-entry issues. The Vivaz also comes with DataViz's RoadSync email client. This is an enterprise-grade piece of software that uses Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocols to grab email. This application is robust and works well, but it's complete overkill for a device of this grade. I suppose it's nice to have the option, though.

The IM client works with AIM, Yahoo and Windows Messenger. It's not the best IM client, nor the worst. I'd love to see support for Google Talk, but no dice on that one.

Next page: Social Networking

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Sony Ericsson Vivaz

3.2" display 360 x 640 pixels
1,200 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot, Headphone Jack (3.5mm)

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