Product Launch Blog

With the Sony Ericsson Vivaz being our first model enabling HD-video recording I decided to try to learn some more on how this has been developed by our development department and if there were special difficulties or challenges around this. I found a colleague that has been heavily involved and asked him some questions.

Here he is  – Fredrik Ågren

- Who are you?

My name is Fredrik Ågren and I am the software architect for video support on Sony Ericsson phones based on Symbian OS. I have been working with software platforms for mobile phones since 2000 and first joined Sony Ericsson as a consultant for the P800 model back in 2002. Through the years I have been involved in many of our platforms and products. Most recently I have focused hard on introducing HD video support in the newly launched Vivaz model.

- What was your responsibility when it came to the Sony Ericsson Vivaz

My responsibility in general is to lead the requirement analysis regarding video related features for upcoming models and identify feasible implementations. This means a great deal of interaction with our R&D sites around the world and also close contact with our suppliers which of course is great fun. When Vivaz was still in the analysis phase I worked pretty much full time on leading the HD support analysis. As the feature moved from prototyping into the implementation phase, I’ve also been leading other improvement work for Vivaz, for instance related to video streaming and video telephony.

- How good is Vivaz really when it comes to capturing HD-video, can you share things like average fps and things from analysis you’ve done?

The HD support on Vivaz is great. Vivaz can record HD video at 24 frames per second and we’ve focused quite hard on the picture quality as well. However, it is not a trivial task to secure such heavy processing all the time in a pre-emptive multitasking environment where the phone functionality always has the highest priority. One cool thing though is that we have equipped Vivaz with golden sample CPUs. These are special units from the production line that can run at significantly higher clock speeds when required. This provides the customer a sufficient margin for an always great HD experience with Vivaz.

- What was the biggest challenge in the development?

Sony Ericsson work with high standards so the most challenging part was not to deliver the basic functionality as such but to deliver it with the overall quality our brand requires and to make that happen in time for the product launch. There are many factors affecting the overall end user experience such as frame rate, bit rate, camera startup time, power consumption and the ability to maintain performance while multitasking. We have investigated HD support in previous models but Vivaz is the first opportunity we have had where we could deliver this feature all the way.

- What was most fun?

Most fun for me has been the international cooperation to get this support in place. For a long time we have worked closely with colleagues in Japan and China, so in the end this is really an international feature from Sony Ericsson. I have gained a lot of experience in foreign social and professional working culture and made good personal friends along the way as well.

- Any surprises along the way?

Yes, for sure things happen that you have not anticipated. Still I have worked with projects like this for such a long time so I try to keep that in mind. One example is the cost of getting our golden sample CPUs which in the early days was so high that it was not really an option for us. Still, we continued to focus on optimizations in software so that when the units eventually came at a more reasonable cost, we really had a great platform to work with. This was the time I realized we were actually looking at what would become an HD video enabled product. We work in a highly variable hardware, software and business case environment, so limiting factors one week may not be significant the next. One needs to have a long term goal focus with a short term agile mindset to take advantage of that.

 - What kind of videos do you shoot yourself?

I especially use Vivaz for those spur of the moment situations when my two daughters Agnes (3) and Linnea (5) do funny stuff. Sony Ericsson has the slogan “Never miss a shot” and that is definitely valid for video as well. When the kids are all grown up, that’s when I will truly appreciate these clips.