Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro Review

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Phone rating:

In a nutshell: The Vivaz Pro is a Symbian smartphone with a touchscreen user interface and a slide-out keyboard. While it has plenty of toys to play with, including HD video recording, the phone lacks the smoothness and quality of some other smartphones. Available in Black or White.

Review: September 2010. Last updated September 2010.

Reviewing the Vivaz Pro has been on our to do list for a while now. Why did we put it off? Because Sony Ericsson have disappointed us so many times. Can the Vivaz Pro match our expectations of what a smartphone with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard can do?

Like the original Vivaz, the Vivaz Pro is a Symbian smartphone with a touchscreen and HD video recording. It's also got a slide-out keyboard. Sony Ericsson have done a decent job of fitting the keyboard into the phone. The Vivaz Pro is hardly any larger than the original, and the keyboard isn't a bad one either. Not as nice to use as the Nokia N97 Mini, but better than the Xperia X10 Mini Pro. At Mobile Phones UK, we're big fans of real keyboards, and the keyboard is probably the Pro's best feature.

And to be fair, the Vivaz Pro has plenty of other great features too - HD video recording, assisted GPS, Wi-Fi, video calling. When we wrote our original review, prices for the Vivaz Pro were very high - too high - and that coloured our review. Now, just a short while later, prices have dropped and the Vivaz Pro is also available on Pay as you Go. As a result, we've decided to be kinder. We note that the Symbian operating system is looking way past its sell-by date, that the user interface feels sluggish and the resistive touchscreen is a slog. The build quality is poor, but despite these shortcomings we've warmed to the Vivaz Pro. Not everyone wants to sell their soul to Apple or Google, and for those looking for a well-featured smartphone with a full keyboard, the Vivaz Pro may be worth a look.

Features of the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro include:

5.1 megapixel camera with LED flash, face detection autofocus, smile detection, geo-tagging and 4x digital zoom
Video camera with 720p HD video recording, continuous autofocus, video light and video stabiliser
Video calling
Display: TFT touchscreen, 16 million colours, 360 x 640 pixels (3.2") with auto rotation
Media player, FM radio
MP3/AAC ringtones
Speakerphone
Voice recorder
aGPS with Wisepilot navigation and Google Maps
Messaging: SMS, MMS, Instant Messaging, Email with Exchange ActiveSync
3D Java games
Document readers
Animated wallpaper
Personal organiser functions
Flight mode
Vibration alert
Memory: 70 MB plus support for microSD memory cards (up to 32 GB)
Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB mass storage, WiFi, TV-Out, 3.5mm audio jack
Internet: Web browser, web feeds, Google search, Facebook, YouTube, HSPA
Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900) plus 3G (900/2100 )
Size: 109 x 52 x 15 mm
Weight: 117g
Talktime: 5 hours (3G) - 12.5 hours (2G)
Battery standby: 440 hours

Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro User Reviews

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Average rating from 20 reviews:

Reviewed by Clare from UK on 4th Jan 2012
Had this phone for about 4 months before it started showing how much of a waste of money it is. Flight Mode comes on randomly around 8 times a day. Rings people as and when it pleases, can't even be counted as pocket dialing since it's happened when it was on the table also. Didn't tell me about texts I was receiving for about 3 months and if you type too quickly in texts it crashes and has to be left alone for about 5 minutes to catch up. Will be throwing it away and buying a Nokia 3310 being as that was the first and last phone to have ever impressed me.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by alleyd from UK on 19th Oct 2011
Terrible phone. The features (when you hear about them) and appearance may make it sound like a lovely phone, but should definitely be avoided. Within 6 months the camera had cracked, the screen was unaligned and hung slightly on one side as if it would fall off soon, and it would not charge. The first two I could deal with, but when I took it into the o2 store they said it was a software problem and Sony needed to repair it. So, it was sent for a repair and Sony said it was not working because of excessive force used on the charging port. I was then left with a broken phone and 18 months still on the contract. Received £13 from Mazuma Mobile for it (the only site of that kind I could find that accepted non-working phones), and bought a £35 PAYG phone from a supermarket that I had no problems with, and apart from no wi-fi capability, does exactly the same as the Vivaz pro. I thought I would give it another chance, I bought a used (but almost new condition) Vivaz Pro online, along with a protective leather case and stylus to avoid as much damage as I could. First, the phone didn't accept my SIM card, despite it coming with the same phone in the first place. Then, within a week of receiving it, this phone then proceeded to have wiring/chips (I don't know the technically correct terms) hanging out from between the screen and keyboard. This phone too was only just over a year old. Overall, an awful phone and it has put me off Sony Ericsson completely. The Vivaz Pro is a terrible phone and DO NOT waste your money on it.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Grace from UK on 25th Sep 2011
When this phone works it's great, but sadly that's not very often. I've had mine for just over a year and recently it's started crashing all the time. It doesn't alert me to texts anymore and sometimes doesn't receive them at all. It also regularly goes into flight mode and disconnects from the network. Can't wait to get rid of this phone.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Kamil from UK on 7th Jul 2011
This is the worst phone i ever had. Do not buy this at all. Very slow to work with. Connection with the network is being lost very often.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by karan from india on 5th Jun 2011
useless phone. very unhappy to buy it. lost my 19000 bugs on it and gos a class 1 symbian which is not worth the cost. camera is the only thing nice about the phone , rest not good sound , not good touch , symbian :( really expected a lot from sony ericsson.:(
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Jane from Uk on 25th May 2011
This phone is poor, very poor. Ive had it 1year and began having problem from a few weeks in (typical its after the two week test time) Unlocks its self, calls people of its own accord and text pple too. Turns its self off, freezes and slow to change view of screen frm portrait to landscap. 4 pieces of plastic fallen off of it, including the camra protection over the lens. Ive always had sony ericsson phones but this might be my last. Also being with O2 for over ten years and feel like i have been well and truly conned into getting this fone, would have been gutted if i had payed a penny for this fone. Unfortunatly i have to put up with it for the last year of my 24mth contract with O2, will also be sacking them when thats finished too that is how bad this fone actually is.The ONLY great thing about this fone is the quality of pictures frm the 5.1megapixel camera, thats it....
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Jen from UK on 28th Mar 2011
I got this phone as I changed my contract. I wanted one that had the QWERTY keypad and wasn't bulky, and I narrowed it down to this and the Xperia X10 Mini Pro. I wanted to stay with Sony Ericsson because I've generally had a good experience with those phone. HOWEVER this one is the exception. It feels cheap and light. It actually creaks and the menu is painfully slow. The resistive touch screen doesn't bother me too much, maybe thats just me being heavy handed. I got over all this because I was happy with the keypad in general, because texting is what I use my phone for most. As I carried on using it though it started to stop recieving any calls. It was always on when people tried ringing me and they said it just went through to answer phone, so people started to just text asking me to ring if they needed to talk to me. After this problem miraculously fixed itself suddenly (no idea how) it was fine for a little bit. And now it doesn't tell me when I have texts. Usually you'll have a vibration or melody then a flashing green light at the top of the phone. None of this happens what so ever. I have to check my inbox every so often to see when I have a text. This is INCREDIBLY annoying, because texting is my main activity on a phone. I should have gone for a more simple phone and not been so fussy with the QWERTY keyboard. Bear all this in mind before you buy this phone!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Ena S from lran on 13th Feb 2011
is a bangin fone in-it, blud. Me got it cos of proper key-board. SYMBIAN IS THE BEST, don't start going "i-baar baar"
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Stephy from Romania on 30th Dec 2010
I've bought it about a week ago..i love the design, the touchscreen, the apps..i have only good reviews to make about the brand..but problems with the battery unfortunatelly i had too..i took it back to fix it, cause simply the battery wouldn't charge..i now hope it will be ok..otherwise, really nice phone :)
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Harriette Barnard from UK on 20th Dec 2010
This is, without doubt, the worst phone I have ever had. I have had to send it back to the manufacturer twice and still it refuses to work properly. Here are a list of its faults: It will 'unlock' spontaneously, it proceeds to then ring/text random numbers at great cost to me, the qwerty keyboard does not fully function so I cannot use the @ symbol and therefore cannot access facebook, the touchscreen keeps selecting random applications, the whole phone freezes, the internet connection is slow, the internet 'add text' function rarely works, the whole phone is hard to work, the battery is practically impossible to get to... I could go on! I agreed to it partly due to this website. DO NOT GET THIS PHONE!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Anthony from UK on 28th Sep 2010
Okay - the phone looks good, the keyboard is a great tool. Everything else renders the phone a disspointing tool. For apps its a real joke (compared to the iphone) whilst the internet connection is slow and frustrating. Unfortunately I have to put up with this for two years. I hope I lose it!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by rajat yadav from india on 20th Sep 2010
i bought this phone with lots of expectations from the sony brand..but this phone is totally useless..a piece of metal ..that doesnt work properly. m facing the prob with the battery n opening the office ppt, doc .. its doesnt open now at all ,earlier it was working fine .but with in 10 days itsw not working n tell u abt the battery. its like i have to charge with in every 12hrs... its better i shud have gone for the nokia or other phone. i asked the store also abt the battery ..but they say that it will work fine as its new .so its battery is getting adjusted ..but i think that they jus care to sell the phone rather than the providing the gud quality support n this time after buying this sony vivaz ..i feel that i wasted my whole money for this piece of useless metal....i will not recommend any one to buy this phone..
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by hari from india on 19th Sep 2010
some phones are outstanding it has a good memory card,bluetooth etc.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by terry from united kingdom on 18th Sep 2010
had my vivas pro for a couple of weeks now, and while i agree that the plastic is nasty and the camera is GREAT i hate hate hate the touch screen which i'm sure would be fine for someone with slender fingers, but when you have sausage rolls for fingers it's a pain, and why wasn't a stylus included? maybe i'm just being picky as overall, it's a good phone for what i need
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Aaron from UK on 27th Aug 2010
Build quality is shocking, it creaks and the plastic is just nasty. That said the camera is decent and the touchscreen is OK despite being resistive. Oh and Symbian is just horrible on any touchscreen phone.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Marisol from UK on 22nd Aug 2010
Good phone, good camera and it has very good response, but i dropped it ONCE and it has a small crack on the screen! Try not to drop it...
Rating: Reply

Reply by Mobile Phones UK from UK on 22nd Aug 2010
That's good advice for any kind of mobile electronic device :)

Reviewed by hamzah from uk on 6th Aug 2010
just a wicked phone it has a very good responsive touch
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by ahmad from uk on 2nd Aug 2010
brilliant phone it has a very helpful keypad when it cums 2 texting i luv it!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by steve from uk on 24th Jul 2010
my smashed on the 1st day do not buy, cost my 140ponds to fix!!!!!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by james from England on 23rd Jul 2010
Hello evry1,this is the best phone i've had.It runs super fast and the most important thing is it is without any bugs like n97 and n900.im happy to own it.
Rating: Reply

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