So it’s finally official … Sony Ericsson’s 2nd Symbian smartphone Kurara, or as she is now to be officially known, ‘Vivaz’ (yes it is an odd sounding name, but we’ll get to the name a little later on), will launch ’sometime this quarter’, which would be in keeping with our post from yesterday, which gave a time frame of week nine i.e. the first week in March. The initial leaked shots that had been doing the rounds really didn’t do Vivaz justice, it looks pretty stunning in the press release photos. Interestingly enough it looks like the announcement was made a little sooner than was intended since it’s been pulled as of the time of writing, but no doubt it will appear again soon enough. Anyway let’s begin by looking at the specs list:

• Symbian 5th
• 3.2″ touchscreen, 640×360
• 8.1 MP camera
• 720p HD video recording
• 720 MHz processor
• WiFi
• AGPS
• TV-out

As you will see from the press pictures it comes in a variety of colours and as I said before it actually doesn’t look half bad, from the front at least. I still think the back looks … well, unfinished to be honest. For some reason the dark blue variant catches my eye, but I digress … The official names for the colours are Galaxy Blue, Moon Silver, Venus Ruby and Cosmic Black (not the astronomical references).

Ok now the name! It’s certainly an odd sounding name for a phone and in a spot of deja vu it’s like the Idou/Satio situation; Kurara sounds better to the ear. Still time will tell, but it’s hard to imagine many men sitting at the pub and their mates asking what phone they have only to be told ‘it’s a Vivaz!’. I’ll leave you in the very capable hands of Daniel Sandblom of Sony Ericsson for a demo of the handset.