First Looks: Sony Ericsson Aino

Sony Ericsson Aino

Sony Ericsson Aino

Not only has Sony Ericsson suffered severe losses in the 2009 financial year, the company's popularity has taken a dip as compared to other rival manufacturers. But these punters might have neglected one big part of the equation - Sony Ericsson is still dedicating much resources into churning out top-notch multimedia phones that will cater to the ever-growing multimedia needs of users.

For one, while all eyes were on the much talked about Satio phone, another power-packed wonder was silently brewing in the factories at Sony Ericsson. Meet the newly served Aino phone, which essentially combines all the celebrated features that Sony Ericsson phones have been known to flaunt, and even better its other cousins. Or does it? For starters, the phone made our eyes bulge out when it was announced that the Aino could be used to access and control media content from the Sony PS3. We got our hands on a prototype unit to see what the fuss was all about so here’s our take on it.

Solid & Sturdy

At just 104 x 50 x 15.5 mm, the 3-inch slider phone slipped easily into our shirt pocket and felt sturdy and solid in our hands. Slide out the phone and an alphanumeric keyboard will reveal itself akin to the Samsung UltraTouch S8300. What is peculiar is that the phone's dedicated Call and End buttons were crammed between the keypad, which made it somewhat inconvenient when you want to make a call at a snap. The volume control, microUSB and audio jack is located at the sides of the phone. What's sad is that the camera doesn't have a lens cover. This means scratching the camera lens is a high possibility but then again, if it were to have a lens cover, the phone would have had to sacrifice its slim build.

PS3 Love

Given that the Sony Ericsson Aino does not flaunt a full touch sensitive screen, the guys at Sony Ericsson seemed to have forgone the need to offer a new user interface. Resultantly, the interface and operating system is a carbon copy of what older Sony Ericsson phones have to offer. For one, the touch sensitive features are only available when the phone slider is closed, and you are able to use your fingers to launch basic applications such as the camera, gallery, audio and video player. That said, these short cuts only allow you to carry out limited actions - for instance, launching the music player function only allows you to browse or skip tracks, and not alter the equalizer or audio settings.

Coined as a leading multimedia device, the Sony Ericsson Aino proudly boasts an 8.1-megapixel camera with autofocus and built-in flash. Of course, the star of the show is its ability to communicate with your PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. Specifically, the Remote Play with PS3 feature lets you control and access your PS3 media content from your mobile phone. That means that you can access all the videos stored on your PS3 via the Internet from anywhere in the world. The phone also offers standard connectivity options such as A-GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Aino. I don't know.

No doubt, the Aino is a strong contender in the multimedia smartphone scene with a host of exciting media features. However, business users would feel somewhat shortchanged as the phone lacks serious business functionality chops. However, that's not the group the Aino is targeted at. The price and availability is still unknown at this point of time but our first impressions lead us to believe that this Aino will be a major favorite among the multimedia munchers and PS3 owners. We're just not sure about the name though.