VivazPro
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Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro lands FCC approval
We can imagine the conversation going something like this: "Hello, FCC speaking. How can I help you?" "Hey, Sony Ericsson here. So basically, we took this phone you guys already approved, and just... you know, slapped a keyboard on it. We cool?" "Well, no, we aren't 'cool.' Go ahead and submit another set of test results and we'll get back to you." "But..." "...no 'buts.' Just do it." (click) And that, you see, brings us to this filing for the Vivaz pro. It's not a North America-bound version -- there's no 850 / 1900MHz or AWS 3G -- but at least it'll get you some high-speed data if you're in 900 or 2100MHz markets (read: Europe). And heck, it might even make an original Vivaz owner or two jealous in the process.
Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro hands-on
It kinda got buried beneath the X10 mini and mini pro, but Sony Ericsson went ahead and threw us a Symbian-flavored bone this evening with the Vivaz pro. The phone's nearly a dead ringer for its non-pro doppelganger -- the original Vivaz -- but it adds a claimed 2 millimeters of thickness, which we found to be nearly imperceptible when you're holding it or gazing in its direction. We'll admit this is a better looking phone (along with the Vivaz) in person than we'd figured from the press shots, but we're still not sure we'd buy in -- the UI feels a little bit like a warmed-over S60 5th Edition, unlike the X10's thorough reworking of Android. If anything, this could very well be an N97 mini killer, especially considering the keyboard's decency -- just check out that centered spacebar! Enjoy a few more shots of the phone in Sony Ericsson's ridiculously under-lit venue (it's a nightclub, in case you couldn't tell) below. %Gallery-85478%
Sir Howard Stringer and friends show off Sony Ericsson's new handsets
A gaggle of higher-ups from Sony Ericsson stuck around after the conclusion of today's event to show off the X10 mini, X10 mini pro, and Vivaz pro in person, and we seriously can't stress this enough: the mini twins are small. Well, either that, or the men holding them were gigantic -- but we're pretty sure it's the former since we got around to spending some quality time with the mini pro and continued to be blown away by its diminutive stature. Rikko Sakaguchi (pictured left) had two colors of the mini plus a Vivaz pro, while Lennard Hoornik was rockin' the original X10 plus a mini pro. We'll be honest: the company's platform strategy is as meandering and muddled as ever, but with designs like this in the pipeline, they'll definitely be demanding their fair share of attention over the next few months. See a bunch more shots of the execs handling the phones in the gallery below. %Gallery-85473%
Sony Ericsson launches Vivaz pro, now with more QWERTY
Loved Sony Ericsson's Vivaz but not the awkward name form factor? No biggie, as SE's seen fit to launch a "pro" version of the set replete with QWERTY slide out keypad today at Mobile World Congress. The handset's other specs pretty much line up with what we saw launched in January: very usable 720p video capture, a 640 x 360 wide HVGA touchscreen display, S60 5th Edition (so says the press release, though an SE-tweaked Symbian^2 or Symbian^3 seems more likely), mountains of connectivity options, apps, gee-whiz camera functions, and will ship in both North American and global 3G variants with quad-band EDGE. Digging through the specs, we're a little concerned that somehow the Vivaz pro's megapixelry has slipped from a decidedly more pro-ish 8.1 in the original Vivaz to 5.1 in this venture -- so we're guessing the form factor has something to do with it. Of course there's no firm shipping date, but look for it in white or black sometime in the second quarter of this year.
