Sony Ericsson & Symbian: Satio Final Thoughts And The Vivaz

You might recall a long, long time ago when I did a review of a prototype Sony Ericsson Satio, before it became available on the market. I promised a conclusion to that review and somehow it fell forgotten under my other blogging work, until Sony Ericsson announced the Vivaz last week and I thought it would be interesting to end my Satio review in light of this new release.

Looking back at the Sony Ericsson Satio, a full 4 months after I returned it to SE France’s PR department, there are a few things that got stuck in my mind. Hardware-wise, the screen was beautiful and the 12MP camera with Xenon and LED flash was phenomenal for a mobile phone, nevertheless, it was chunky and the pop-port connector for charging and music was retarded. Software-wise, the improvements Sony Ericsson made on top of Symbian^1 were extraordinary, especially in the Media Browser, Camera & Homescreen.

There are many things I loved about that prototype device, and many other things I hated, some of which were apparently non-existent when the Satio made it to the market as a retail handset. For example, many users reported that the 950mAh battery was enough to last them through a full day (and more) of usage. Also, the computer suite that the Satio came with (which I didn’t get with my prototype) solved the Contacts transfer issue. I was even told that the Satio comes with a small pop-port connector that lets you charge it and listen to music at the same time. All of this to say that you can’t really judge a device in prototype stage, after all that’s what a prototype is for: testing and improving before public release.

Now unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a retail Satio unit in my hand to test the improvements for myself, but I can talk a bit about my overall impression of the Satio, and where I see Sony Ericsson standing in regards to the Symbian Foundation and its Open Source platform.

The UI changes that SE made on top of Symbian^1 in the Homescreen, Camera and the Media Browser are a tangible proof of how customizable Symbian is. We’re used to seeing Symbian under the Nokia lens, but it was refreshing to take a look at it through the eyes of another company with a different perspective and another team of engineers and designers. The transitions, animations, and the simplicity of SE’s UI were simply astonishing for me. Yet, the main problem with the Satio was the lack of an overall UI system carried throughout the different software pieces (see point 3 here). It’s a mix of:

1. The regular S60 UI
2. Some Symbian^1 aspects in the Browser, Contacts and Messaging
3. Sony Ericsson’s specific UI in the Homescreen, Camera and Media Browser.

What this amounts to is a lot of confusion for the user in terms of operating his handset. What I sincerely hope for is to see SE taking the leap to overhaul the whole software, and not remain limited to certain areas, therefore presenting the user with a unified and consistent UI.

Which brings me to the Vivaz that was announced last week, as the second SE Symbian^1 phone. Upon looking at a few comparison images with the Satio from SE-First, I can clearly see that the Vivaz solves all of the Satio’s hardware issues: it’s smaller and more rounded, has a standard 3.5mm headset plug and a microUSB port. It also supports HD video recording with continuous autofocus, TV-Out and seems to have the fastest processor to date on a Symbian phone (720MHz). Unfortunately, a compromise had to be made and the Xenon flash was left out. There are very few demo’s of the Vivaz software to see whether or not any other aspect of the Symbian UI was modified by SE, but I found this video of Sony Ericsson Developers mentioning that the homescreen has been pushed to the next level.

As you can see, the homescreen now supports Flash Light 3 and you can apparently choose the 5 panels yourself, putting Twitter or Facebook or even a game developed in Flash on any of them. It’s innovative to say the least.

So where does that leave the Satio? Well basically, I think it was more of a “let’s test the waters” handset for Sony Ericsson, they made the ultimate camera smartphone to date and wished to sell enough to see whether Symbian is good enough as an investment. The announcement of the Vivaz is a positive sign, and on paper, the Vivaz trumps the Satio in every aspect, except the camera’s resolution and the lack of Xenon flash, so if you’re looking into buying a Satio, I’d recommend you wait and see what the Vivaz can do. It’s reported to launch in the first quarter of this year, so it might not be that long of a wait.

What’s also worth mentioning is the competition that Sony Ericsson is bringing to Nokia on its homeland Symbian turf. Realistically, now SE has two Symbian devices that trump Nokia’s Symbian handsets in many hardware aspects (mainly the Camera and the Processor) as well as bring intuitiveness in some UI improvements, making their offer incredibly attractive for power users. Nevertheless, despite Sony Ericsson’s bundled Google Maps, WisePilot, RoadSync software, Nokia still has the upper hand when it comes to providing a full package of device + services (Nokia Messaging, Comes With Music, Ovi Store, free navigation with Ovi Maps). It will be interesting to see how these two battle it out when the rules of the game change with the release of Symbian^3 and Symbian^4.

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