Sony Ericsson Aino

Available now
28th May 2009

The Sony Ericsson Aino is a fresh looking handset that is designed to act as a streaming media player connected to a PLAYSTATION 3 console.

Aino owners can pull media from their consoles using "Remote Play", originally designed for use with the PSP. In some countries, the PlayTV service can also be used to receive TV via a PLAYSTATION 3.

In addition, PC owners can automatically synchronize media from a PC over WiFi using "Media Go", although it does look like PLAYSTATION 3 owners have more options.

However, the Aino is a pretty well specified handset in its own right. There's a 3" 240 x 432 pixel touchscreen display, an 8.1 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, GPS, WiFi and HSDPA high-speed data. The Aino also has a multimedia player, an FM radio and takes microSD memory cards (which is unusual for a Sony Ericsson) with 8GB included in the standard sales package.

As standard, the Aino is supplied with a desk stand and a matching Bluetooth headset. This turns it into a useful and very attractive media player.

Sony Ericsson don't make a particularly big deal about the touchscreen technology on the Aino, we think that it might be a bit limited.. although it does work with the media player.

Compared with the Satio, the specifications of the Sony Ericsson Aino do look a bit tame. But this is a powerful multimedia device, and it should be an excellent camera phone too. It's also a great looking phone, which should help sales along.

We have criticised Sony Ericsson a lot lately for coming up with unimaginative phones that are all slightly different versions of one another. We are pleased to say that the Aino is something completely different and very interesting in its own right.

Sony Ericsson say that the Aino should be available during early Q4 2009 in "Luminous White" and "Obsidian Black" colour combinations.

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