I guess the idea is that not everyone wants the full functionality (and full price tag) of a real smartphone. Maybe they find Android too complex or the iPhone too expensive. Whatever the case, the Sony Ericsson txt pro handles most of the basic smartphone-like usage needs, like social networking by way of the unique Friends application. Your five favorite friends populate your homescreen, pulling in their tweets, Facebook updates, and text messages.

Other specs include the Wi-Fi and full QWERTY keyboard, as mentioned, as well as the multiple IM app, 3.2MP camera, media player, and FM radio. By far the biggest appeal of this device is the price. With no term, the txt pro sells for a paltry $125. That’s right around (or less than) the contract price you’d get with most smartphones these days.

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Facebook wants to follow you everywhere, regardless of the kind of phone you have, and that’s why it has just announced a new mobile application for feature phones. Interestingly enough, it’s almost as full-featured (pun intended) as its smartphone counterparts. You can write on walls, check messages, view pictures, read profiles, and so on.

The app can apparently be used without incurring any data charges, so I’m not exactly sure how the carriers are going to be billing you for your usage. They surely want their nickels and dimes as part of this package, right?

The other kicker is that the initial release of the Facebook feature phone app does not include any North American carriers. Instead, it’s being launched on guys like Dialog (Sri Lanka), Play (Poland), Viva (Dominican Republic) and Three (Hong Kong). Mobilicity (Canada) should get it soon, though, as will Telcel (Mexico).

Those coming from Nokia smartphones may recognize some of the visual cues on the Facebook feature phone app. That’s because the social network worked closely with Snaptu to develop it. I don’t think this is any real replacement for a true smartphone, but the feature phone folks will likely enjoy the “no data charges” part. No news yet on a US release or if it will make it that far, Mobilicity in Canada is “coming soon.”

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Even though a lot of people have made the transition from using regular mobile phones to using fully-featured smartphones, there still appears to be a market for those in-between devices. Some people call them feature phones, others call them quick messaging devices (QMDs), some even call them dumbphones. Whatever you want to call them, they’re still here.

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro is a little different. Even though it is largely sold as a “feature phone” rather than a smartphone, it has real smartphone brains under the hood with its Symbian S60 5th edition operating system. Does this make it a really good value for people who want web connectivity and smartphone-like functionality at a “dumbphone”-like price point? You’ll soon find out.

Features at a Glance

The “Pro” part of the Vivaz Pro’s name comes by way of the hardware QWERTY keyboard that slides out the side. In essence, you get a phone that is very similar to the original Sony Ericsson Vivaz, but with a keyboard. The trade off is that the camera is downgraded to “just” a five-megapixel shooter. It retains its 720p HD video recording capability though, making this a reasonably suitable cameraphone.

Runing through the rest of the specs, we find tri-band HSDPA to go with the quad-band GSM, as well as a scratch resistant surface, handwriting recognition, 3.2-inch TFT resistive touchscreen, microSD expansion, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, and a 720MHz processor.

First Impressions

If you’re expecting the premium build quality that you would get with a device like the Nokia N8. (which is only $50 on contract with Rogers now), you’re going to be sorely disappointed with the Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro. It feels very “plasticky” in hand, but on the plus side, it’s quite light at just 117 grams.

It’s also quite interesting that they went with such a curvature for the back cover. I guess this is supposed to give it a sleek and unique profile, but it just ends up making for a somewhat strange experience. This is exacerbated by the fact that the power button is towards the top of the back panel, partially recessed into the battery cover. From what I can tell, the keyguard can only be activated by tapping the power button, then choosing to lock the keys from the touchscreen interface. This is less than ideal.

Resistive Touchscreen without Kinetic Scrolling

I wouldn’t say that I’m terribly disappointed with having “just” a 3.2-inch display, but it is a shame that they went with a resistive screen on this device. Everyone is doing capacitive screens these days and going back to a resistive display felt archaic, as if I jumped into a time machine and went back to the days of Windows Mobile 5.

While there appears to be some kinetic scrolling in certain situations, this is not the case with the web browser. I’ve grown so accustomed to “flicking” my way around a webpage that it was quite jarring to see the page just stop deck on my movements. It also felt strange going back to using my fingernail rather than my finger.

The Web Browser

Bearing in mind that this is being marketed as a feature phone and not a smartphone (even though, strictly speaking, it may be closer to the latter), I was disappointed with the performance of the web browser on the Vivaz Pro. Web pages rendered, but there would always be a couple of issues.

When I tried to visit Mobile Magazine on the phone, for example, the entire header portion came muddled with a strange effect happening on our site logo which uses a transparency. It works, I suppose, but don’t expect to get the “almost desktop” experience that you would get with iOS or Android. It’s just not there.

The Hardware QWERTY Keyboard

I think it was a good move including the slide-out keyboard on this device, because I’d imagine typing on the resistive touchscreen to be quite a pain. The keys have a nice “squishy” or “rubbery” feel to them and there is a suitable “bump” to each key so that they don’t sit too flush with the phone. That’s a good thing. Key travel was pretty good too.

It might take you a little while to get used to the key layout, since it’s a on perfect grid rather than the staggered rows you find on a “real” keyboard, but it gets the job done for mobile e-mails, text messages, and whatever else you want to type on this phone.

Conclusion

The Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro currently sells for $75 on a two-year contract with Fido or $50 on a three-year contract with Rogers Wireless. Under both instances, you’re not bound to a true data plan. It’s not technically classified as a smartphone, so you can get away with the $10 unlimited browsing option on either carrier. If you opt for Rogers, they’ll toss in a free Bluetooth headset too.

If you really are hesitant about tackling a real smartphone with a real data plan, I suppose the Vivaz Pro can mostly get the job done. You can use the somewhat broken web browser to do what you need to do, but after you’ve used a smartphone, you can’t possibly go back to “half” a device like this. It’s like it’s trying to do the smartphone thing, but consistently coming up short.

When I think about the Vivaz Pro strictly as a “feature” phone, it’s adequate but nothing special. I’d give it a 6/10 or 7/10 with that mindset. If I were to consider the Vivaz Pro as a smartphone, though, it’d barely be passable for a 4/10 or 5/10. It just becomes an exercise in frustration. The only reason why I would want it is for the $10 mobile browsing option. I guess it’s better than something like the LG Neon, but not by much.

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LG Breeze QWERTY handset on Telus Mobility

Even though there are a good number of great smartphones available on the market today, not everyone wants to pay for a hefty data plan. They want some of that smartphone functionality but at a more affordable price. For those people, the LG Breeze from Telus may be appropriate.

Following in the footsteps of so many other messaging phones before it, the LG Breeze is smartphone-like in appearance and functionality, but it’s “just a feature phone.”  You do get a rather large 2.8-inch display and a handy slide-out QWERTY keyboard, so it’s easy to send text and email messages. It also comes loaded with some social networking apps, keeping up with Twitter is a breeze too. Rounding out the specs are the microSD slot and 3MP camera.  A new three-year contract will get you  the LG Breeze for just $49.99. The two-year, one-year, and no contract prices are $129.99, $179.00, and $229.99, respectively.

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LG Remarq and LG Comsos

So, you want a new phone with a full QWERTY keyboard. But you can’t be bothered with an expensive smartphone data plan – you just want the handset to be as affordable as possible. It seems that LG is catering to this need for both Sprint and Verizon customers.

These two new phones from LG both cater to the cheaper end of the wireless spectrum. So if you’re thinking along the lines of the LG Rumor and LG Lotus, then you’re bowling down the right alley.

On the Sprint side of the equation, the LG Remarq (left) is a square slider that reveals the QWERTY keyboard below. This is similar to the Palm Pre, but not really. It’s supposed to be an eco-frinedly phone, complete with an eco calculator app, along with a 1.3 megapixel camera and webmail access. Expect the LG Remarq to be $0 with contract (and rebates) starting May 9th.

For the Verizon crew, there is the LG Cosmos. It takes on a similar form factor as the Samsung Gravity, featuring a numeric keypad in a candybar configuration, but there is a slide-out QWERTY keyboard on the side too. It gets a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and GPS. The Cosmos will sell for $30 with contract (and rebates) when it ships tomorrow.

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The Nokia X3 is a part of the newest X-series of handsets from Nokia, joining the E-series business handhelds and N-series multimedia smartphones. The Nokia X3 will be running on S40 6th Edition and it is clearly targeting the music end of the scale with its dedicated media controls. I guess the X-series is the evolution of the XpressMusic series.

Some of the features include a slide-out numeric keypad, a 3.2-megapixel camera, tri-band GSM, full HTML browser with Flash Lite 3.0, microSD expansion, embedded stereo speakers, Bluetooth 2.1, 3.5mm audio jack, and the Comes With Music option for unlimited music service.

Interestingly, the stereo FM radio with RDS allows you to listen to the radio without having to plug in a headset. In all other phones, you need to use a headset because it functions as the antenna. Such is not the case with the Nokia X3, so that’s a plus.

Look for the Nokia X3 to sell for 115 Euro ($163) before taxes and subsidies when it launches in Q4 of this year.

Source: Mobileburn

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