Sony Ericsson touts HD capture on new Vivaz phone

The Vivaz boasts an 8.1-megapixel camera

Sony Ericsson has announced the Vivaz, the second handset in its family of communication entertainment phones designed to capture and share video as well as link to social networking sites.

Set to be available sometime this quarter, the Vivaz joins the Xperia X10 announced late last year, and is the first of its models with HD video capability and TV output, according to the firm.

Based on the Symbian platform with Nokia's S60 5th edition user interface, the Vivaz has an 8.1-megapixel camera capable of recording 720p video as well as still images, and allows users to upload content via Wi-Fi to YouTube and Picasa.

"With Sony Ericsson Vivaz, we have created a mobile phone that makes it easy to catch life in high quality video and upload that self expression onto the web to share with the world," said Sony Ericsson marketing head Lennard Hoornik.

The new handset has a 3.2in widescreen display supporting 640 x 360 pixels, and ships with an 8GB Micro SD Flash card with up to 16GB supported.

As a phone it has quad-band voice capability with connectivity options including HSPA as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Pricing and network availability for the Vivaz have yet to be disclosed.