Loading ...The Aino - Sony Ericsson Satio’s little sibling announced
Sony Ericsson’s Entertainment Unlimited family just got a little bit bigger. The touch-screened Aino has been announced. Unlike the Satio, this little bugger (speaking figuratively and rather contradictory to the truth) is not a smartphone. It runs on a modified version of Sony Ericsson’s feature phone OS. But despite that, it still manages to pack quite a punch. It’s got an 8 megapixel camera with photo flash, Touch focus, Face and Smile detection, Smart contrast, Geo-tagging, BestPic and other software niceties.
The front, apparently, is dominated by a large 3 inch display, capable of showing up to 16 million colours and with the odd 240:432 resolution. Sony Ericsson have also done their best to spice up the interface, by providing a brand new auto-rotate-enabled Media menu and new interface graphics. The touchscreen only works in the Media and Camera menu for now though.
Speaking of media, the Aino has Sony’s Clear Bass and Clear Stereo Sound enhancement technologies. Audio quality shouldn’t be a problem this way. The mood-recognition-based SensMe filter is also in the music player of the phone. Naturally, A2DP Bluetooth is included as well, so that you can listen to your music via a wireless headset. The stereo speakers are also a very welcome feature. FM radio is there too.
Of course, The Aino also supports Java apps and 3D games (it even has a YouTube, Walkmate, Tracker, Facebook and a Hyves application on-board), but what’s really interesting here is that it also supports a feature, familiar to PSP owners- namely Remote play. This allows the user to connect to his PS3 from anywhere around the globe, as long as he has a connection to the Interenet that can handle the data traffic. Al lthe content on your PS3 at your fingertips - anywhere. Customers from Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Great Britain can also use the PlayTV option, which allows them to play, pause and record TV using their Aino. pretty neat, huh?
Amidst the relatively bulky dimensions of the phone - 104×50x15.5 mm - we find another unusual feature - and alphanumeric keypad hidden beneath the surface. And yes, it slides vertically. Kind of awkward, I know. Oh, it’s also a tad heavy - 134 grams. But they had fo fit all these features somewhere.
On the connectivity side, the Aino supports quad-band GPRS/EDGE and tri-band HSDPA. Wi-Fi and GPS are there as well. Expectedly, Google maps ships with the phone too.
The Aino should ship the beginning of the fourth quarter this year in the colours Obsidian Black and Luminous White.
Press release:
Keep up to date with the latest videos and music on Aino. Media Go™ helps you transfer, play and organise all your music, photos, videos and podcasts from your PC simply and effortlessly to enjoy directly on Aino via Wi-Fi™. No more wires, no more searching – always the latest fun.
London, UK – May 28, 2009 – Sony Ericsson today showcases Aino. Get the best of two worlds with the keypad combined with an intuitive touch UI in media mode. An intuitive media browser gives users a clear overview and one touch direct access to their content.
Control your PLAYSTATION®3 and access its media content on your Aino anywhere, anytime using Remote Play with PLAYSTATION®3. Remote Play with PLAYSTATION®3, initially developed for PSP, enables users to control and access media content on PLAYSTATION®3 from their phone. This can be done via a local network between PLAYSTATION®3 and Aino in your home or via the internet from anywhere in the world. For TV lovers in Italy, France, Spain, Germany and in the UK users can also enjoy the PlayTV™ service on PLAYSTATION®3 via the Aino. Watch, pause and record live TV from a huge range of free channels via Aino on the go.
Aino also introduces Media Home, an application that pulls media content from Media Go™ on your PC over Wi-Fi™ to your phone automatically. Users just insert their Aino into its charging stand and it automatically synchronizes with all the latest media content on their PC. You are always ready to go with the latest content on your phone.
“Sony Ericsson has established itself as THE Communication Entertainment brand and Aino highlights our commitment to bringing the latest communication technology to the market in fun and innovative ways for consumers to enjoy,” said Alexandre Cardon, Market Business Manager at Sony Ericsson. “Media Home and Remote Play with PLAYSTATION®3 are key steps in broadening the entertainment experiences users can enjoy on their Sony Ericsson phone and gives a taste of our vision of the future.”
Watch movies on the crystal clear 3 inch screen and listen to music in superb quality and with increased freedom - thanks to the stylish Wireless Stereo Headphone MH100 and matching Charging Stand EC100 included with Aino. This powerful phone offers a full range of exciting features to support the entertainment experiences on the phones such as; an 8.1 megapixel camera, Photo flash and Clear audio experience.
Aino
Sound and vision set free
- The best of both worlds: traditional keypad and touch UI in media mode
- Media Home and Media Go™ - simple to take your content with you
- Remote Play with PLAYSTATION®3 – control and access your PLAYSTATION®3 media content from your mobile phone
- 3 inch 16 million colour screen – surf the web in widescreen
- Clear audio experience – listen to music in superb quality
- Design matched Wireless Stereo Headphone MH100 and Charging Stand EC100
Aino supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS/HSPA 850/1900/2100. Aino will be available in selected markets from early Q4 in the colours Obsidian Black and Luminous White.
Filed under: Entertainment UnlimitedTags: Aino, Sony Ericsson Aino
(16 votes, average: 4.38 out of 5)
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No 3,5 mm jack
For god’s sakes, READ before you start whining. It’ comes with a wireless headphone kit IN THE BOX.
Jeez!
hahaha
And a very small BT headset too. So you can easily change to your favorite headset!
Miz, a small question… As the touchscreen works only in Media and Camera applications, then one need to slide out the keyboard everytime one want’s to use it??? Isn’t that too dumb???
16 milliond colours? About time I say.
Anyway, I thought it would be a certainty that I’d buy the W995. I’m not so sure now…
nice~~~
That’s not dumb because this is just a demo version of the phone so it’s not perfect yet
I seriously hope that they will make the WHOLE UI “touchable.” Its the typical SE way of doing things for the sake of doing.
MARKETING: We need to come up with more Touch-devices but non-symbian based.
ENGINEER: Sure! Let’s make a half-f***ed touch enabled device!
BOSS: Sounds like a great way to continue to f*** up our company! Let’s do it!
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Is it 3g? I see the ic0n in the pictures but where’s the camera?
apparently touch screen is only for MEDIA and CAMERA functions. which sucks. does any else not think this device is long as f***.
i mean it wouldnt be bad if there was a touchscreen text/number input, but since there isnt, if you wanna call someone, you have to exetnd that alphanumerca keypad and dial to talk. which means youll have this long ass bar on the side of your face! (and if you hide the keypad during the call, im assuming itll hang up)
bc of this shitty feature, its a toss up between w995 and this one for me!
anyone??
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looks awesome… cant wait till aino comes in greece.. but know im confused.. satio or aino..????
@joe: exactly!
@panos plagetis: You dont’t have to be confused - the Aino is definitely not worth (y)our time. Its touch screen implementation is not only crap, its stupid. You’ll only be able to access the touch screen in the Multimedia menu (NOT the current Media menu but their new Media menu for Aino. You won’t be able to use the keypad in the current XMB media menu) and in camera. What’s worse? You can [b]ONLY[/b] use the screen to navigate in those menus. Which means after using the KEYPAD to get into the media menu, you HAVe to (probably close the phone and) use the screen to navigate. How stupid is that, really?
Plus, the Aino lacks a 3.5mm audio jack. Yes, it has a bluetooth dongle, but this means you’ll have to charge and bring 2 devices whereever you go.
If you ask me, the Aino will be another flop. Some smart ass decided to do what LG/Samsung did and pray that it’ll sell.
this phone looks good, im getting it, price ?
erm, comes with 8gb card i think
miren el Aino es lo mejor de lo mejor cuando ambisto un selular que se conecte a la ps3 y es interesante tener un celular que sea yactil y no yo siempre esoñado tener un sony haci cuamdo salga me lo comprare ademas puever ver y gravar tv cosa que el Satio no el satio es todo tactil y muy grueso el Aino tambien es tactil cuabdo llaman se los recomiendo y tiene auriculares inalambricos
release date?
4 days old, cant get tired of using this baby..Its just amazing..Love the camera, the speakers and the cute headset.The screen resolution is fantastic and the features just loveable.
do they ever give you a price? i mean, i want to buy one, but when they dont mention the price you know you should be worried…
Okay, this phone is long, feature sucks and blah blah, but take a look into their camera’s features It is probably one of the best 8.1mp Camera phone among all SE mobiles. Something attracts me with this mobile is the fast Ethernet using Wi-fi i am very please with that system, but what i love most is the uploading images to facebook. it just upload too fast :))) oh Touchscree.. some application is working with it too, its up to us to do some homework for the phone before leaving some negative comments. This phone comes in with accessories that we have to pay extra more for and I think its fine to get this phone for people who likes cameras phone, Media is not really that up to an stereo speaker standard, i still get some distortion sound from rock song, whereas i think W995 is better in that.
What a little cracker,was worried after i ordered 1 reading sum nit-picking reveiws,but hey,it great! Me sis has the satio and in my op,its a bit better! Even shes asked to swap,nt a chance,9/10 all day.
I’ve had the Aino about 2 weeks. Its a great phone. My favorite feature that I use the most is the BT headset adapter, I use it for my headset (not the included set that I never opened) and for connecting to the car stereo. I think I would use it at home too if my receiver didn’t already have a BT connection. It also supports my FM transmitter (MMR-60) just fine for wireless stereo audio to other units without BT and no easy way of connecting the BT headset adapter.
Only have a couple downsides I see. First is I can’t charge both the phone and headset adapter and listen to music on the headset. I would like to have seen the stand support a 3rd fast port for the old wired headsets like the stand (CDS-65) I bought for my W810i. Not too big a deal as the old stand for the W810i works fine with the Aino, just doesn’t have the port to charge the headset (luckily I have several chargers so I can use an extra to charge it).
Second downside is that the BT adapter doesn’t appear to support being paired with more than one device at a time, not talking about connected to both at once. I’d like to simiply disconnect it from the Aino then have my PSP Go connect, but I have to re-pair it each time. Oh and to pair with the Go I have to disable the BT on the Aino or it will auto pair with it (no code entered, not sure what would happen if you had a more that one Aino in range). When I’m done using it with the Go I have to re-pair to the Aino, really easy since I don’t have to enter a code, but still feels like an unneed step as I think the headset should remember multiple deviced like my old Motorola BT headset.
As mentioned there are applications that support the touchscreen (while open even). Opera Mini 5 beta and Snaptu being the 2 that I’ve used most. Only issue there is that with smaller buttons (onscreen keyboard in Opera) it seams like the touch input is not properly calibrated to the screen resolution. For buttons near the edges of the screen I have to click more toward the center of the screen to actually hit the button. I think a firmware update or calibration tool would fix this, but if it can’t be fixed it may be reason that Sony only supports touch in the media mode so that there are no little buttons that show this problem.
Oh, one other quirk, again BT related. If I’m in range of my home receiver all video/music audio is routed to that. If I disconnect that BT device it will auto connect when I start playing music or videos. I don’t want this if the wife is watching TV. Only way I’ve found to stop it is to disable that devide (Yamaha YBA-10) for audio. I would just prefer to have to manually connect to it when I want to use it if I manually disconnected from it.
Compared to my old W810i this is still a great phone and I would still recommend it to a friend, though I doubt many of my friends would use as many of the features or expect as much as I do of the phone and it’s bundled hardware.