Sony Ericsson Aino

Sony Ericsson Aino, the long awaited PS3 phone with its large 3 inch touch screen and the ability to stream content from your PS3 wherever you are. Sony announced this device in May 2009 and is said to be “coming soon”. The exterior is found not to be outstanding nor does is have the wow factor. The Sony Ericsson Aino is available in obsidian black and luminous white colour choices. When the Sony Ericsson is in its closed position it has an unassuming look. Is this the phone of your dreams or does it leave you wanting more? The device is made that bit more tempting with its Remote Play Feature which was initially developed for PSP. The unfortunate thing is that this is not a real PSP phone as the user is not able to actually play games only allowing the user to turn the PS3 on and off using their Sony Ericsson Aino. The SE Aino has the ability to enable users to control and access media content on Playstation 3 just about anywhere from their phone.

The bundled charging stand allows the Sony Ericsson Aino to connect automatically to a Playstation 3 gaming system. Users can access music, film, TV shows on their PSM via the Aino. Sony Ericsson have made the Aino that bit more tempting by including WI-FI® for both high speed internet connections and GPS.

The large 3 inch display of the Sony Ericsson Aino is the first to sport a widescreen and touch screen display but the touch screen is only usable in the multimedia part of the menu and with the camera interface. There is an impressive 8 mega pixel camera with the usual benefits of 16x digital zoom, auto focus, flash, face detection and video record. The Aino includes stereo Bluetooth, A-GPS and an 8GB microSD™ card. Sony Ericsson have chosen to have a microSD™ card slot, does this mean the end of the memory stick? The Sony Ericsson Aino is the third phone from the company that has the touch screen feature, following the Xperia X1 and the Satio. The Sony Ericsson Aino draws its power from a 100 mAh Li-Po battery, giving 13 hours GSM talk time, 4 and a half hours 3G talk time, 380 hours GSM standby and 1.7 hours 3G video call time. The SE Aino weighs 134 grams and is 15.5 mm thick, so its fat as well as heavy.

Sony Ericsson Aino - Construction and Design

The Sony Ericsson Aino has the look of a full touch design and is rather compact. There are no keys on the front panel and has the slimness of other touch screen devices. There are touch screen functions but these are limited when using some multimedia parts of the menu. These functions have been seen before in the LG KF750 Secret. The fast port is on the left side and the volume rocker, (which doubles as a zoom lever) and the camera button are on the right side. The microphone pinhole and the loudspeaker grill are on the bottom of the device. On the top of the Sony Ericsson Aino handset is the lock key. The camera is located on the back of the device but is not protected with a lens cover. When the slider is fully opened you reveal a key pad and the Sony Ericsson Aino handset then becomes an incredibly long handset.

Sony Ericsson Aino - Applications

The touch screen capabilities of the Sony Ericsson Aino are limited to a new and specially designed multimedia menu. The user interface is Flash-based. The Aino at first glance looks like other Sony Ericsson phones of the past 24 months, and like the Sony Ericsson Yari the interface has had updates. The Sony Ericsson Aino is equipped with the latest Walkman player 3.0 as does the Sony Ericsson Yari. The FM radio has touch optimised user interface and is possibly the best amongst mobile FM receivers. The Aino Camera menu is operated by touch and according to press info the Aino should be able to take 8 mega pixel photos and capture VGA video at 30 fps. The interface is similar to other touch camera user interfaces like the Xperia X1 and G900. The Sony Ericsson Aino has an integrated GPS receiver that has the function of assisted start. Wayfinder is the navigation software that comes with the Aino and Google Maps™ 3.0 is also included.

The Sony Ericsson Aino has the same web browser as the Yari, an updated version of the NetFront 3.5 mobile browser. Web pages are accessed quicker and zoom levels are found to give comfortable reading. The NetFront 3.5 web browser operates in full screen mode with features such as mini-map, enter an address, favourites and downloads.

Sony Ericsson Aino - Summary

Overall we really like the Sony Ericsson Aino, with its compatibility with the PS3 it is bringing something different to the mobile phone market. But just because it has this feature the phone has not been compromised in other areas. It still has a decent camera and will let you browse the internet.