The Sony Ericsson Vivaz has been called up; it’s time to step out onto the playing field. He calmly walks to the batters mark, eyes up his opponent, the dreaded pitcher and prepares for the throw. The heat is on; feeling the catcher breathing down his neck the Vivaz knows he must take control and sort out his team mate’s wrongdoing. He Swings the bat with as much force as he can muster; will it result in a strike or a well deserved homerun? Let’s find out…

Watching the Sony Ericsson Vivaz sweat it out down on the pitch, you just know it’s going to do well. The Vivaz works the multimedia side of things pretty effectively, yet still fulfils all the other roles that are linked with being a phone, to put it simply… it’s a natural all-rounder. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz is good looking and doesn’t he know it, it’s the first handset to be released by the company to flaunt the new human curvature design, a little clever moulding of the outer case makes the phone fit snugly into the human hand, essentially making it far easier to use. The verdict… it actually works! The curved backing and edges means getting a bit of one handed action is comfier than ever and if, like me you’re partial to pocketing your mobile phone, not a problem – those curved edges will sort you right out, never again will you bend down and receive a swift jab in the hip, well at least not from your phone!

Despite being related to the Satio, the two phones lead different lives, as with any younger sibling the Vivaz has inherited a few key traits from its elder. The Vivaz is made of the same glossy plastic, but has a better figure and is less prone to the annoying finger smudge. It’s thinner than its brother and isn’t afraid to flaunt its best feature, opting for a less than subtle camera bezel smack in the middle of the back cover. It’s unmissable and that’s exactly what the clever techies over at Sony Ericsson HQ wanted. The 8megapixel camera may not sound as impressive as the Satio’s 12, but we’re not dealing with a camera-phone here, it can pitch, swing, catch and generally succeed in anything it desires. But back to reality, and before we get to the good stuff lets take a glance over the camera sheet. The 8.1mp snapper comes with a barrage of features, LED flash, autofocus, touch focus, and smile detection to name a few. A trusty Image editor is packed in too for those with a spark of creativity, and for the less-steady of hand there’s the much appreciated hardware camera button on the side of the phone. Next to this is another button dedicated to video or as I like to put it a shortcut to an array of HD goodness! There’s a big emphasis on the HD capabilities in the Sony Ericsson Vivaz marketing plan, and why not, after all it’s still something of a rarity to see a high quality video performance on a decent all-round mobile phone. The Vivaz records HD images at 720p as standard, but there is room to shift that around to save on the old memory. Viewing stuff back isn’t a problem on the 3.2” widescreen, and film watching is, as you would expect at its best. For the film fanatics among us, there’s the option to share your work with the world, uploads to Youtube and Picasa via Wi-Fi are quick and easy to do… what’s more you can still use your phone, without any lag while it’s being done.

Sitting in the dug-out, watching your team throw the win down the pan can become a little tedious, which is why the Sony Ericsson Vivaz comes equipped with a pretty efficient web browser. It provides endless entertainment and can handle switching between online pages while you have a good rummage through the phone menu with minimal effort; pages are rendered quickly and are a good size for easy reading. If you do want to start zooming in and out a simple double tap is all it takes to bring up a handy zoom tool. Internet navigation is quick and easy, helped by the vivid 3.2” resistive touchscreen, the display is extremely responsive and you can flick and tap your way through all the menus with speed. The 5 homescreens are the central point, providing essential shortcuts to pretty much everything. There are numerous communication tools on hand, from your standard threaded messaging and call history to your Facebook and Twitter integration. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz does a pretty good job of keeping you in touch with everyone, all day long.

Sony Ericsson’s creative flair doesn’t just stop with the handset. In keeping with the slimline, simplistic design of the Vivaz, the charger has been stripped of its bulkiness. Instead of having a data cable and charger, the two items have been incorporated into one, with a handy USB port connecting the cable and wall-mount. A Pretty useful addition for those prone to cable tangles.

And with that, I think we’ve said it all, the Sony Ericsson Vivaz is your useful, sleek and somewhat creative mobile phone all rounder!