The best video camera phone is little else

As much as I love the SonyEricsson (SE) brand, of late they are making it a habit of shooting themselves in the foot. The new Vivaz is a case in point. Last month, we reviewed the Satio, which, even with its class-leading 12 megapixel camera, was another case of almost-but-not-quite for SE. Its major flaws were a resistive touchscreen, clunky design, lack of a 35mm headphone jack to compliment a good music player, and an ungainly dangling dongle of an external stylus that you couldn't suffer to see nor do without.

The Vivaz is essentially a miniaturisation of the Satio with a few tweaks. But SE boffins took the miniaturisation too far and miniaturised most of the problems as well, instead of solving them.

First the improvements: SE's design department obviously got this one right after the more brick-like Satio. The Vivaz's underside is a convex, ergonomic design, making the handset feel comfortable to hold with the curve of the back fitting nicely in the palm. And there are several colour choices as well.

In the music department, it comes with a 35mm headphone jack instead of the proprietary FastPort connector that SE is so in love with. Finally music buffs can plug in their Bose or Senheisser for that audiophile sound quality. But wait, while doing away with the FastPort connector SE also pared down the excellent music software they used in the Satio or their Walkman phones. Even with a Senheisser plugged into the 35mm jack, the Vivaz's sound quality fell below other SE music phones.

On the plus side, the Vivaz has an excellent 8MP camera that shoots sharp and detailed pictures. Even though it is not in the same league as the class-leading 12MP Satio, the Vivaz is a formidable camera mobile. And here's the coup d'etat: it shoots 720p HD video and shoots it so well that we reckon it's the best mobile video camera ever.

The good news ends there, though. For, despite these positives, SE insists on persevering with a resistive touchscreen that is stubborn to the touch and a real pain to use, with both fingertips and nail tips proving equally ineffective. Which brings us to the stylus – a must, but designed as an afterthought. It attaches to the set by a thread hanging from its base. The most charitable description we can think of is the same we used for the Satio: it looks like the hideous tail of a squished mouse.

Until such time as SE comes out with a capacitive touchscreen and a stylus integrated into the design, the Vivaz's only claim to fame will be as one of the first HD video camphones in the world.

And until then, we think you should spend Dh1899 on the Vivaz only if you'll die without a camphone that shoots videos in HD and stills in 8MP.

- Price: Dh1,899