14 DAY TRIAL // Sony Ericsson Vivaz is available for purchase from AT&T carrier starting this weekend, September 5. The Symbian smartphone arrives at the US-based operator a little bit later and will probably go unnoticed with all the Android hype
Still, Sony Ericsson Vivaz has an impressive data sheet and is now offered for a smaller price, which might give it a slight chance against Samsung Captivate, Blackberry Torch, or even Palm Pre Plus.
Also known as Sony Ericsson Kurara, the smartphone comes with a 3.2-inches TFT resistive touchscreen, 16M colors (360 x 640 pixels resolution), Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, Scratch-resistant surface, Turn-to-mute and snoozing alarms, and Handwriting recognition.
It is powered by a 720 MHz CPU, PowerVR SGX graphics and runs Symbian Series 60, 5th edition operating system.
The strong points of the phone is the 8.1-megapixel camera on the back, with lots of additiona functions: autofocus, LED flash, video calling, touch focus, geo-tagging, face and smile detection. The camera is also capable of recording clips (720p@24fps) and features continuous autofocus, as well as video light.
Other key features of the phone include: HSDPA 10.2 Mbps and HSUPA 2 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA, 75 MB internal memory, microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32 GB, 8GB included), Stereo FM radio, GPS with A-GPS support (Wisepilot navigation), TV out (VGA resolution), and 3.5 mm audio jack.
The smartphone also includes some AT&T specific services and apps, such as: AT&T Family Map,AT&T Navigator, AT&T Maps, Mobile Banking, Ypmobile, Loopt, AllSport GPS, WHERE, Shop GPS, MobiVJ.
Sony Ericsson Vivaz is available in Galaxy Blue color for as low as $79.99 with a 2-year contract. Of course, it requires a minimum data service starting at $15/month. If you wish to get the device unlocked and without contract you will have to pay $279.99.