Photos can be sent via MMS, Bluetooth or, alternatively, the included mobile blogger application allows you to upload photos to a Blogger. E-mail support is also included. The NetFront browser is built-in for Web access, which works fine on Vodafone Live but doesn't suit regular sized Web pages that aren't designed for mobile screens. Any Web page with too much content will become a burden to scroll through. In addition to being a phone, Sony Ericsson is pushing the Vi as a music device.
As such, an integrated MP3 player is included as well as a stereo headset. As such they are marked with corresponding icons. Performance The camera does a reasonable job when adequate light is available. Photos taken in bright lighting conditions looked fine, but picture quality suffered in low light, resulting in grainy photos. Surprisingly no flash -- LED or otherwise -- is provided.
A Xenon flash like the Ki would have been welcome addition. Sound quality was decent during calls, but was a bit hard to hear in loud places, even at maximum volume. The on-board loudspeaker works well when you need your hands free or when playing music though, as expected, it sounds a bit tinny. On a few occasions, connection errors were experienced when trying to make an outgoing call, where the phone thought we were holding down a button, requiring a restart to fix the problem.
As the Vi has a music-theme to it, a stereo headset is provided which is comfortable and adequate for music playback and making calls. However, you're only able to fit around average length songs on the card. It was fine for our use, though music fans may want to upgrade to a larger size maximum support is 4GB, but that capacity is not yet available in Australia. The menu worked well and was pretty intuitive. It was responsive and wasn't sluggish like some previous Sony Ericsson handsets.
The Vi doesn't have any particular features that standout. The Good Compact, lightweight 3G handset. Once started up, the main screen holds an animated screensaver, showing up vibrant colours and good detail.
The resolution of the screen is a decent x pixels, and capable of k colours. The controls on the Vi are familiar enough, with the important addition of dedicated music playback keys.
The usual four way rocker and okay switch on the face has further music controls etched onto it, so that once the music player is opened, it's obvious how to navigate through your tracks. Better than this though, on the upper left hand edge there's a play button which takes you directly to the music content stored on the phone and the M2 card. This works wherever you are in the menus, and makes the Vi feel like a genuinely dual-purpose device.
The operation couldn't be simpler, and we wouldn't be surprised if this approach to music player functionality catches on. Another aspect to the Vi's music features is Radio DJ. This is a whole new approach to the idea of downloading music, as it works on the principle of a personalised radio station.
Instead of scrolling through a list of existing stations, you create your own, specifying the type of music, the mood and the decade you want to hear. The software then compiles a playlist of what it thinks will suit you. As you continue to use it, the smart aspect to the service can learn what you like and don't like, according to how you rate the choices it makes. The idea is excellent, and although we didn't have time to test how good the service could learn to be, we're sure Vodafone is on to a winner with the idea at least.
The camera on the Vi is the same model that will be familiar to users of Sony Ericsson's Ki and Wi mobiles. It may not be an upgrade, but the 2-megapixel Sony Ericsson camera ranks among the best currently available on any mobile phone, so it's not to be sniffed at. Pictures are strikingly realistic and full of colour and definition - it's easy to see why people are saying the end is in sight for the dedicated digital camera.
There's a video mode as well as one for stills, and a raft of effects to stylise images with, as well as night mode, self timer and white balance controls. Further picture editing can be done in the PhotoDJ application. This is found in the menus under Entertainment, where loads of other goodies are stored too. VideoDJ can stitch different clips together, along with stills, text and a soundtrack, and MusicDJ acts like a mini recording studio, where you can mix different samples together to make new ringtones.
My Games is the final app in the Entertainment section, which in our case had seven games, although on a trial basis only. Messaging is well supported on the Vi, including the usual SMS and MMS flavours as well as an email client that supports attachments. There's also a feature for receiving RSS news feeds. Bluetooth is supported for sending picture files between phones and PCs, and for backing up the phone using the included software. The fact that this version of Bluetooth supports A2DP means that it is equipped to handle stereo sound, allowing you to listen to tune collections in full stereo sound without wires - as well as make and receive calls.
Other applications on the Vi include useful features such as a timer and stopwatch, as well as more familiar ones such as an alarm, extensive calendar, voice memo recorder and calculator. All round, we found the Vi to be a very tidy package, with more than a few surprises.
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