The Sony Ericsson Vivaz has arrived for review, enabling me to start testing its unique HD autofocus camera. See below for an embedded version of my test footage, plus a little sunlight video taken in London by Sony Ericsson a few days ago. The good news: the video is excellent, the autofocus quick and silent; the bad news: audio's a little on the quiet side. Still, pretty astounding for such a small camera unit in such a small smartphone. See below.
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It was interesting to see how as you focussed "on the greenery", the colour balance shifted to make the nice looking greens turn to greys.
Nice! Just played it in HD.
If SE's implementation of S60v5 is halfway decent, I might just consider the Vivaz or the Pro version, provided Sony Ericcson chooses to make it available, either unlocked or subsidized, here in the U.S.
It'll be a great camera phone to carry around and use this summer while out with friends. Have been seriously looking at the Nexus, but if the Vivaz is available fairly soon, I may jump on it.
The only thing I'm worried about is Sony Ericsson's history of releasing phones as abandon-ware---releasing phones with no post sale support and firmware updates, despite the existence of bugs and stability issues.
The video looks quite good in regards to video sharpness and colours, also the auto-focus looks to work quite well, though as with the Satio I can barely hear you, Steve, though when you started moving the phone about you suddenly became louder, perhaps the microphone is just poorly positioned.
Yes, audio seemed rediculously quiet. Also, the white balance in the park (St. James Park I think) was a bit OTT - it over-exposed and washed out.
Went to youtube to see the 720p. Can't see much AF in the work to be honest, cos the output quality isn't brilliant even focused. Been watching alot of DSLR video lately, so do forgive my critical assestment. There is basic 720p, and proper 720p. You could get a massive sensor Nikon D90 to do same res, it will look absolutely stunning. My point being get proper tools for the job, these are getting there, but not quite yet.
That said, I'm getting a iPhone 3G and i8910 this week - both handsets I've had last October, but missed. See which to keep.
@stuclark, agreed, the highlight clipping at towards the end hurts my eyes, need better lens definitely, or bigger sensor to record wider dynamic range.
The video looks absolutely brilliant!
Actually, it could be a good thing that the sound is not too oversaturated, since it will make the device better for koncert recording and other things where the sound is loud.
Getting an Android device to do this, haha, forget it.
I watched on YouTube at 720p via Chrome for Mac.
The audio was fine, but your face looked quite sunburnt, i.e. red.
Autofocus on the stonework was OK, but the tree and grass weren't particularly sharp to my admittedly edgy eyesight..
mvh
I'm totally sold on the HYPE, but can't live without Noki's Ovi Store, Active Notes and videocall feature. Possible workarounds? This is what the N97 should have been like - state of the art, even with just s605th. Still searching for a worthy successor to the E71. I hate waiting for SE, both T608 (never came...) and X1 were huge letdowns.
Steve, since you're testing this device, I'm assuming you're talking to a Sony Ericsson rep.
Couple of questions:
-when are we going to see a release in the U.S.?
-what 3G HSPA bands will it support, AT&T's or T-Mobile's?
And yeah, going from the spec sheet, this is what both Nokia's N97 and the Mini should have been, S60v5 with a modern skin UI, HD video recording, a strong CPU and plenty of RAM.
If the price point is right, around $400 unlocked, I'm getting one, provided it works on the 850/1900 3G bands in the U.S.
The video is sorta of blurry, grainy with low sound quality, unlike Omnia HD, Ouch...
The volume is darn soft. I could not hear all the words you muttered.
I am using a Satio with the latest sw upgrade now. The performance has no doubt improved with the new sw. Audio is still relatively weak. Speaker & voice clarity are still not up to standard.
Interesting to see how the Vivaz fare. As I see it, it is smaller than the Satio & it has a faster processor. 8mp should suffice as the lens quality that counts not so much as mp. Interesting alternative to Satio which is pretty much a guinea pig for SE's S60 v5 touch screen UI.