Sony Ericsson Vivaz User Reviews

Tarkin_Jr posted on 15 Oct 2011, 11:03

Poor 4

WASTE OF MONEY

Tarkin_Jr has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

the worst part of Vivaz U5 is that symbian system , maybe why its made for nokia phones , but there more : the touch screen accurate is not good , even after calibrate , the phonebook (contacts) sucks too, and something important, if you try to take a photo > 6megapixels with others applets running (such as facebook or twitter) the phone will freeze because of low memory and you need to restart it (grrr !) . About photo quality is like an 3.2megapixel enhanced with more image tools, another thing important : in this phone YOU CAN'T ENJOY MUSIC BY PLAYING FOLDERS because the original player don't support this function , i need to use another music app to listen mp3. and the worst of all : The WIRELESS management is the WORST EVER ! Too much complicated and inefficient ! i can't acess my files on the phone via local wireless network because the phone won't stay connected >:|

The only good thing is the video recording quality , instead of this phone, i recommend Nokia N8 , LG Optmus 3d or Motorola Milestone, please don't waste you money , sorry for my beta version of english , greetings from brazil ;]

Build quality 4/10
this phone have the shape like soap dont have grip to hold , you may let fall if you hand are sweaty

Reception 4/10
Sansung Galaxy series , Motorola Milestone series and LG Optumus series is much better

Call quality 4/10
the audio quality on this phone is not soo good who looks like , WORST than my Walkman W705

Internet 4/10
the only diff about using internet on this phone and older phones is the larger display , nothing else, you maybe wanna install opera mini, because the original browser sucks too!

Multimedia 3/10
This sony Ericson dont come with walkman player like W705 or W995 , dont have multimidia side buttons , this phone auto search the whole MMC card and make an annoying heavy and large playlist , and cant play music by folders

Camera 5/10
the 5 for rating is only for video recording quality . For example motorola milestone have 5.0MP camera and take photos best than this phone

UI speed 4/10
what can i say for UI about an phone whos freeze about low memory for using more than 2 or 3 apps and we need to restart it . if you wanna to take a photo , make sure if close all the others apps fist !

Everyday usage 4/10
Bad touch-screen interface, phonebook contacts incompatible with contacts from SIM card , the phone freeze with low memory if you try to open 3 or more apps.

Text input 3/10
like i said, the touch screen is not accurate for finger touch , making this phone worst than T9-keypad

Display 5/10
is like any other ordinary smartphone , nothing special,

Battery 3/10
stand-by average time 4 days, listening music drops for 2 days , for example my Walkman W705 : stand-by average time 6 days listening music drops for 3.5 days

Pros

• Video recording quality

Cons

• Low battery performance
• Wireless management
• BAD music player
• BAD interface overall
• Symbian S60
• Low memory

Tarkin_Jr alternatives:

LG Optimus Hub

Samsung GALAXY S WiFi 3.6

Motorola DEFY

Nokia E7

Nokia N8

ivyorr23 posted on 13 Jun 2011, 18:28

Excellent 9

pretty dang good

ivyorr23 has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

overall i am happy with this phone,its better then my friends phones and Iphone....and there are way more pros than cons.affordible.I like the fact that this phone is very upgradible and easy to use.there are many themes and modes sice everybody has diffrant prefrances.I like the basic mode because it makes everything very simple and easy to use.I dont like the face that you either have the camera light on or off,not auto.

Build quality 9/10
happy!

Reception 9/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 9/10
good if you know how to use it...wait after you click,or it will start over(loading web page)

Multimedia 10/10
good good!

Camera 10/10
good,good!

UI speed 8/10
lags sometimes

Everyday usage 8/10

Text input 7/10
good ,but could be better.

Display 9/10
clear views.

Battery 9/10
good battery life.

Pros

• good camera,good media center,lots a memory,wifi,

Cons

• unknown errors,lags sometimes,
• att&t sucks

sean posted on 06 Mar 2011, 08:43

Excellent 10

outstanding

sean has owned it for more then one year before publishing this review

The sony ericson vivaz brings symbian technology to the budget smartphone sector. Incorporating the latest version of symbian plus a superbly responsive capacitive touchscreen, the vivaz is both easy to use and supremely powerful, with access to thousands of apps. Combined with an amazing 8 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, a media player, GPS, Google Maps, fast internet, a fast processor, plenty of memory and a big battery, this is quite probably the best smartphone in its price range.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 10/10

Mathew posted on 06 Mar 2011, 08:33

Excellent 10

amazing. Bes phone out there

Mathew has owned it for less than year before publishing this review

The vivaz is one of the most impressive phones of all time. Despite being significantly cheaper than the iPhone, it can match or beat everything that the iPhone does. A symbian smartphone with a fabulously responsive touchscreen, the vivaz packs in a huge choice of apps, brilliant web browsing, one of the best screens ever, a good camera, a music player and GPS too. You want more? Add in a superfast processor, monster battery, WiFi and a 3.5mm headphone jack and you've got the perfect phone.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 10/10

mather posted on 06 Mar 2011, 08:22

Excellent 10

absolutely amazing

mather has owned it for more then one year before publishing this review

amazing phone. I have had it for 2 years now and not a single problem with it. It is very fast, never freezes the touch screen is very sensitive and anti scratch. The battery is very good i charge it averge every four days and thats with alot of usage (browsing, calling etc). I would definetly recomend this phone and for all age groups.

Build quality 10/10

Reception 10/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Everyday usage 10/10

Text input 10/10

Display 10/10

Battery 10/10

Pros

• ver fast , brillient camera , never freezes

Cons

• none

deds fddr posted on 02 Dec 2010, 08:33

Excellent 10

No camera lens protection - No auto mode for...

deds fddr has owned it for less then month before publishing this review

No camera lens protection
- No auto mode for the flash/video light
- The S60 5th edition UI isn’t to the best in class standards
- No DivX or XviD support out-of-the-box

Battery 10/10

Display 10/10

Text input 10/10

Everyday usage 10/10

UI speed 10/10

Camera 10/10

Multimedia 10/10

Internet 10/10

Call quality 10/10

Reception 10/10

Build quality 10/10

Pros

• + 3.2″ 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution + 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, + HD 720p video recording @ 24fps with continuous auto focus + 720 MHz CPU, dedicated graphics accelerator + Quad-band GSM support + 8 GB microSD memory card in the package + 3G with HSDPA 10.2Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps support + Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS + microSD card slot (up to 16GB, 8GB card in the box) + TV out

Cons

• No camera lens protection - No auto mode for the flash/video light - The S60 5th edition UI isn’t to the best in class standards - No DivX or XviD support out-of-the-box - No smart

hamza posted on 12 Nov 2010, 16:30

Average 5

not bad

hamza has owned it for less then month before publishing this review

i bought this phone because of the camera. i see every where it has a good camera. but my old phone which is LG renor it also has 8MP but it is much better than this one. i don't like the camera that much because old phone is better that this. the screen touch isn't good aswell because sometimes i have to press hard for it to work and it is not accurate aswell. i need to uppload some softwares but they are not compatible with the phone.

Build quality 6/10

Reception 9/10
not sure about this because i don't have a good reception in my house but the reception is better with this phone

Call quality 6/10

Internet 6/10
slow sometimes and complicated

Multimedia 5/10

Camera 6/10
my old phone which is 8mp has better quality than this one

UI speed 3/10

Everyday usage 3/10
slow

Text input 3/10

Display 3/10

Battery 8/10

Pros

Cons

• the camera is not good quality

AlonShtrafun posted on 29 Oct 2010, 12:19

Excellent 9

The best Symbian

AlonShtrafun has owned it for less then month before publishing this review

Have this one for 2 weeks, over from a Samsung Omnia. Bought it for the camera, and got more than I expected in that regard. Stills are great, recorded videos - even better. The design is perfect, good looking, simply sticks to your hand when holding it. Having a dedicated video record button, is also helpfull. Audio quality with my regular JVC headphones is good, but could be louder with a bit more bass. Don't use the included headset for music. WIFI & computer connection work as they should. Didn't test bluetooth yet.

The software is the weaker part here, but I'll start from the good part. Sony Erricson have included a great media suite, that concentrates all your photo, music & videos in one place. Looks good, works good, playback is great, podcast and audio book options are there. The SE home screen with tabs is also nice, and usefull with quick contacts, apps, twitter (why no facebook tab?), camera album, and other tabs. You can variate those between the 5 tabs on screen. Both the homescreen and the media suite feature kinetic scrolling, unlike... everything else on the phone.

The soft here is Symbian touch. The icons are large enough, you can re-arange the main menu and it's folders. But no kinetic scrolling, double tap to activate, or is it? Depends on the application. Some preinstalled apps can't be erased, and not an app store in sight. If you want a camera with a phone+internet+music, that's it. Otherwise...

Build quality 9/10

Reception 8/10

Call quality 10/10

Internet 6/10

Multimedia 10/10

Camera 10/10

UI speed 7/10

Everyday usage 8/10

Text input 8/10

Display 8/10

Battery 10/10

Pros

• Excellent foto & video recording
• Great design, really compact, pleasant to hold
• Very good visuals on screen
• Sony Erricson home screen & media suite
• Stylus, phone stand included. Good SE sync soft

Cons

• Symbian S60 5th edition
• Poor loudspeaker, and boxed headset
• Camera inerface is slow, no auto flash function
• Occasional errors (no memory left & no apps running)

AlonShtrafun alternatives:

Nokia X6

Motorola MILESTONE XT720

Philly posted on 19 May 2010, 10:43

Good 8

Not bad, but certainly not great

I've had the phone for a while now, and yes, its camera is great. The shots I've taken with are sometimes better than my pretty serious compact camera... That is saying something. Haven't been shooting videos yet.What I am unimpressed with is the accuracy of the keyboard, or rather the alignment. Even in the initial allignment (hitting a certain spot with the available stylus) it shows that it is off a bit. Seeing that its screen is not overly big (which I like btw, pants pockets are still available for carrying it around) you get typos even when you shouldn't get them. That is pretty annoying. The weird thing is that the mistakes happen in both orientations. Something to check if you consider buying one.Call quality is ok. Sound quality is ok, but I feel there could be more volume. There are some interesting tools on board, amongst which a (water) level. It's not unique obviously but it works quite well. Quicker use however (like in games) shows too slow response by the sensor and makes for too strong reactions, rendering the games quite useless. Also, but this is just personal - coming from the SE W890 (which I really liked but was somewhat fragile) - I feel that operating the phone is actually less intuitive. The W890 used to suggest texts when texting, and upon sending a text, would suggest recently used numbers/names. A lot more steps need to be taken, in my view. Considering the extra functionality, I wonder whether this OS actually adds that much?It's a quality phone,...  

I've had the phone for a while now, and yes, its camera is great. The shots I've taken with are sometimes better than my pretty serious compact camera... That is saying something. Haven't been shooting videos yet.What I am unimpressed with is the accuracy of the keyboard, or rather the alignment. Even in the initial allignment (hitting a certain spot with the available stylus) it shows that it is off a bit. Seeing that its screen is not overly big (which I like btw, pants pockets are still available for carrying it around) you get typos even when you shouldn't get them. That is pretty annoying. The weird thing is that the mistakes happen in both orientations. Something to check if you consider buying one.Call quality is ok. Sound quality is ok, but I feel there could be more volume. There are some interesting tools on board, amongst which a (water) level. It's not unique obviously but it works quite well. Quicker use however (like in games) shows too slow response by the sensor and makes for too strong reactions, rendering the games quite useless. Also, but this is just personal - coming from the SE W890 (which I really liked but was somewhat fragile) - I feel that operating the phone is actually less intuitive. The W890 used to suggest texts when texting, and upon sending a text, would suggest recently used numbers/names. A lot more steps need to be taken, in my view. Considering the extra functionality, I wonder whether this OS actually adds that much?It's a quality phone, the screen is pretty good when used indoors and location tools/GPS work well. But I (should I say I say instinctively?) expected more from it.

Pros

• Camera and adherent software
• water level

Cons

• orientation sensor is too slow
• accuracy/alignment of keyboard

Rahul Srivastava posted on 13 Mar 2010, 07:15

Excellent 10

Excellent Phone

The Vivaz has an onboard 8.1-megapixel camera with image stabilization and face recognition. Thus, its HD movies to be included in 720p resolution. Moreover the device also functions as FM radio, and can be connected to a television for videos and photos taken on the big screen.
With Sony Ericsson Vivaz communication becomes truly entertaining video with high quality HD allowing customers to create and send their best experiences using the latest feature video capture and sharing.
• Capture – record spontaneous moments and memories in HD quality and high resolution video experience real. The dedicated movie button allows consumers to instantly shoot video with auto focus continues to make the perfect film in every moment.
• Watch the video content-display panel mode or online through Wi-Fi on the screen by 3.2 “.
• Share – upload via Wi-Fi on YouTube and Picasa in high resolution while you are still using the other features of the phone.
The open platform also allows users to customize their experience with downloading applications through the unique and exciting store PlayNow and Symbian Developer Community.
“The content created by users themselves, especially videos, are invading the Web,” says Lennard Hoornik, Head of Marketing, Sony Ericsson. “With Sony Ericsson Vivaz, we created a phone that makes it easy to achieve high definition video and upload it own expression of creativity on the web to share with everyone. Sony Ericsson Vivaz offers the beauty inside and out through...  

The Vivaz has an onboard 8.1-megapixel camera with image stabilization and face recognition. Thus, its HD movies to be included in 720p resolution. Moreover the device also functions as FM radio, and can be connected to a television for videos and photos taken on the big screen.
With Sony Ericsson Vivaz communication becomes truly entertaining video with high quality HD allowing customers to create and send their best experiences using the latest feature video capture and sharing.
• Capture – record spontaneous moments and memories in HD quality and high resolution video experience real. The dedicated movie button allows consumers to instantly shoot video with auto focus continues to make the perfect film in every moment.
• Watch the video content-display panel mode or online through Wi-Fi on the screen by 3.2 “.
• Share – upload via Wi-Fi on YouTube and Picasa in high resolution while you are still using the other features of the phone.
The open platform also allows users to customize their experience with downloading applications through the unique and exciting store PlayNow and Symbian Developer Community.
“The content created by users themselves, especially videos, are invading the Web,” says Lennard Hoornik, Head of Marketing, Sony Ericsson. “With Sony Ericsson Vivaz, we created a phone that makes it easy to achieve high definition video and upload it own expression of creativity on the web to share with everyone. Sony Ericsson Vivaz offers the beauty inside and out through open and intuitive experience that allows users to capture, watch and share their lives in HD quality. ”
Sony Ericsson Vivaz is characterized by the new design philosophy of “human curves, first introduced with Xperia X10, which will become a constant feature of the Sony Ericsson product portfolio. Designed to reflect the shape of the human body, and at the same time offering precise and engaging interaction with the mobile phone, Sony Ericsson Vivaz is immediately recognizable. ”
Sony Ericsson Vivaz
• Video HD – produce and transmit your best experience with the latest features video capture and sharing
• Social networking – easy access to social networks like Facebook and Twitter
• 8.1 megapixel camera – capture the moments of life in high quality
• face detection and smile – a picture perfect at all times
• Sony Ericsson Media Player
Sony Ericsson Vivaz supports UMTS HSPA and GSM 900/2100 GPRS / EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS and HSPA 850/1900/2100 EDGE 850/900/1800/1900.
Sony Ericsson Vivaz will be available in selected markets from Q1 in colors Silver Moon, Cosmic Black, Galaxy Blue Ruby and Venus.

Pros

• + 3.2″ 16M-color resistive touchscreen of 640 x 360 pixel resolution
• + 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash,
• + HD 720p video recording @ 24fps with continuous auto focus
• + 720 MHz CPU, dedicated graphics accelerator
• + Quad-band GSM support
• + 8 GB microSD memory card in the package
• + 3G with HSDPA 10.2Mbps and HSUPA 2Mbps support
• + Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
• + microSD card slot (up to 16GB, 8GB card in the box)
• + TV out

Cons

• - No camera lens protection
• - No auto mode for the flash/video light
• - The S60 5th edition UI isn’t to the best in class standards
• - No DivX or XviD support out-of-the-box
• - No smart or voice dialing