Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro review

Sony Ericsson has upgraded the Vivaz to a 'Pro' model with the principal addition of a slide-out Qwerty keyboard.

The smartphone has been optimised for messaging and entertainment, according to the manufacturer, but in our tests we found the device fails to live up to this billing.

With dimensions of 109mm x 52mm x 15mm, and weighing 117g, the compact nature of the Vivaz Pro is one of its best features.

The Vivaz Pro looks smart until the keyboard slides out from the casing. The bland design makes the phone look like it was released a decade ago.

The 3.2in, 16:9 nHD touch screen displays 360 x 640 pixels and is capable of HD playback, but it isn't the most vibrant screen on the market and contributes significantly to giving the phone a dated feel. Users with a light touch will probably not realise that the device has a touch screen as a heavy-handed approach to swiping and pressing buttons is required to initiate any response.

Using a stylus is a must, otherwise actions such as scrolling will frequently take two or three attempts by hand to get the desired effect, a fact that will leave even the most patient users irritated.

There are three buttons underneath the touch screen, the standard 'call', 'end' and 'main menu' keys. They are quite thin, but are fairly easy to press and thankfully far more responsive than the touch screen.

Operating system
Sony Ericsson has persisted with Symbian S60, and using the Vivaz Pro makes it clear why rival Nokia is dumping the platform in favour of MeeGo for its high-end devices. The operating system falls a long way short of the immersive experiences provided by HTC's Sense and Apple's iOS4 interfaces.

The home screen is lifeless, aside from a carousel of four applications at the top. But it is better than the main menu, which consists of a thoroughly uninspiring list of basic applications.

Sony Ericsson does throw in links to the usual social networking applications including Facebook and Twitter. The latter is preloaded into the home screen carousel, which is a nice touch. Google Maps and Wisepilot apps are also included, so the device doubles as a fully functioning navigation tool.

Meanwhile, RoadSync allows users to configure Exchange email, and Quickoffice allows access to documents on the move.