My Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro

I got the phone from Fido. They are pushing Vivaz too much these days. Why? In any case it's not a bad phone, considering that I don't have to take a data plan with this phone. With all other smartphones, we need to, be it iPhone or any of those fancy Android devices. I have never used those devices too much. So I can't compare.

First thing,Vivaz is so difficult to open. No clear instructions were given in the quick manual. The keyboard is nice. It should be better that on-screen keyboard.

Vivaz has Symbian OS. It used to be a leader but not anymore. The UI is ok but using it with touch screen is a pain most of the times. YouTube app is already there. But it doesn't stream continuously in 3G connection. I think not even with wi-fi. Is it a phone problem that it's not able to play continuously. I am not sure. But the screen is big and the resolution is not bad. I installed Opera mobile. Websites look good now. I had a really bad experience with Opera mini on my Blackberry curve 8530. Oh! man, I was not able to use the Blackberry touch pad to do anything in Opera. Maybe I had to do some other settings. But a fresh install of a software should at least do things half right and be at least usable. I still use Blackberry browser, which I feel is doing things half right.

Vivaz's Address book is a pain. You cant just type the first few letters and get the matching names. How painful. My old Samsung blackjack could do it. Really Symbian/SE, you need to get your act together. The customization of themes is good enough. There are lots of apps. some of the apps will not work on Vivaz even if it works on S60 5ed. Like Best answering machine. It tried, it didn't work. I really need to get some answering machine for this phone. hmm.. I need to search more...

Google maps is good. I tested the voice commands in G maps. It's pretty good. Ndrive is working fine I guess. Didn't get enough time to play with that. OVI maps didn't work. I didn't install any other apps. Kinetic scrolling works for photo viewer only, I guess. The media player is good. The pics taken are good enough at 5MP, but not the best at night. The video at 72op is also good. A little bit grainy at night. There is an LED flash, which is to be mainly used for video (it may not be powerful enough for night and it's not attached to digital camera-like you click the shot and the flash flashes. Many reviewers have criticized this in the review). I am yet to shoot videos with LED on. It should be better than now for sure.But HD videos are nice and 720p is best for my current needs.

Overall I am not going to return the phone, I got it for $80 with 2 yr contract. The rates I got is pretty good. Free incoming, caller ID, 200 min, free evening/weekends, unlimited browsing (no downloads) all for $25.