Sony Ericsson VIVAZ aka Kurara WOWS ! Shoots HD Videos ! Specs, Price, Promo Video, Photos, Hands-on !

UPDATE: SE VIVAZ is now out in the Philippines; price range is Php 21,300 - Php 24,000

Looking at these photos, I'm inclined to believe that Vivaz (also known as Kurara in some territories) is easily THE sexiest handset that Sony Ericsson has ever released (smoking P-series and, in my opinion, even the Xperia line) if not the sexiest Symbian S60 5th Edition to ever hit the market:

Svelte! But Vivaz is hardly 'all form, no function'.

A true smartphone, Vivaz runs Google maps and Facebook & Twitter apps. It supports Wifi and 3G connectivity, ships with integrated YouTube and Picasa apps and features WMV/RV/MP4/3GP video player, TV out with VGA and a QuickOffice document reader. Its most outstanding feature, however, is its 8MP camera with autofocus and LED flash that also shoots HD videos @ 1280x720 pixels.

Vivaz fits well in the hand

Here's the promo video (highlight Vivaz' HD video shoot function):

and the other standard specs:

Symbian Series 60, 5th edition Operating System
720 MHz processor with PowerVR SGX graphics
3.2 inch resistive touchscreen
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA, 10.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 2 Mbps
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
microUSB v2.0
Standby time 430 hours on 2G / Up to 440 hours on 3G
Talk time of up to 13 hours on 2G / Up to 5 hours 20 minutes on 3G

Sony Ericsson Vivaz is expected to hit the market in Q1 2010 with retail price tag of $670 – $750. Hopefully, it reaches the Philippines before Q3 2010.

Finally, watch the official developer demo / hands-on video of SE Vivaz: