Sony Ericsson’s new smartphone is ergonomic, HD, and has a full touch screen, and is meant to be a major threat to the iPhone 3Gs. It’s a damn sexy looking little beast, so it might just make a good go of it.
Sony Ericsson used something call human curvature analysis to make a phone that interacts with your body in an easy, intuitive way. I can’t really speak to how effective they were, as I haven’t held the thing myself. It’s set to be released in the first quarter of 2010 on AT&T.
They’re really taking this whole ergonomics thing to a whole new, slightly bizarre, level. The camera on the phone uses “smile detection”. No, seriously. The camera supposedly knows when your subject is smiling and takes a picture at exactly that moment. That sounds slightly more creepy than useful to me, but I’m sure there’s someone out there who thinks this is her answer to the “say cheese” wriggly kid effect.
The video camera on the Vivaz is also kind of a big deal. It records in HD, and can play videos via wifi. While you’re talking on it. Seems like something you can shrug off until that crucial moment when you need to collaborate with people over long distances. Sure, you can do that stuff from your computer, but what if you need to edit a scene from your latest film from the airport? That happens to me all the time.
Of course, it has all the things that are becoming totally everyday in the smartphoniverse, like GPS and apps for Twitter and Facebook. Its open platform allows users to download other appliations through Play Now and the Symbian Developer Community. Both of them have great apps, but honestly, I’m not sure they can match the quality and scope of what’s available for the iPhone. Yet.
Learn more about the Vivaz at Sony Ericsson.
Photo Credit: Sony Ericsson
