We take a hands-on look at the Sony Ericsson Aino, a high-end feature phone and a solid media player that can't make up its mind.
We originally got a hands-on look at Sony Ericsson's new Aino this summer, but now we've had plenty of time to spend with this slick-looking, multimedia phone. Though the Aino uses a 3-inch touchscreen, it isn't like any other touchscreen phone we've used. Almost all of the standard phone features can only be used with the screen open to reveal the numeric keypad beneath. In this mode, the touchscreen doesn't actually work at all. When you close the phone, the touchscreen activates and you get a multimedia player menu. It's a strange separation of powers, and in truth it feels like a huge design mistake.
The Good
The Sony Ericsson Aino is an excellent cameraphone. It's not quite as good as a strong point-and-shoot camera, but it easily claims a spot among the best cameraphones we've seen. The Aino uses an 8.1-megapixel sensor, and the camera features auto focus with plenty of built-in shooting modes and features. There's touch focus so you can tap on the screen to aim where you like, face detection to keep faces sharp against the background, and a bright flash. The camera also has a very cool geotagging feature. It captures GPS data when you take pics, then the Aino can show you a world map where you can see your images arranged where you took them. Images weren't perfect. The camera had trouble in harsh light, especially on bright, sunny days, when backlighting would tend to overexpose and flare out in our images.
Like many small sensor cameras, the Sony Ericsson Aino also had trouble with deep red colors, and these could bleed into the surroundings or lose fine details. The focus wasn't perfect. It was difficult to focus on objects that were very close to the camera, even in full macro mode. But we still got some nice depth of field effects, and when we kept objects at an optimal range, we were very happy with the details we could see in our pics. The flash was also very bright. It didn't spread light as evenly as we'd expect from a point-and-shoot camera, but it helped a great deal in low- or no-light situations, and worked well in a pinch. Check out our image samples below.
By the Pool
Green Leaves
Pink Flowers
Palm Fronds
Palm Fibers Up Close
Self Portrait Outdoors
Thermometer Perspective
Thermometer Close Up
Baby Toys
Daddy Toys
eBay Shot
eBay Details
Dog Profile
Self Portrait, Flash Only
Pub Crawl
Lampost at Night
Besides the camera features, the Sony Ericsson Aino also surprised us with some polished and useful social networking apps built in. While the Web browser was a complete disappointment, there were included apps for Facebook and Twitter hidden deep within the device. Buried under the Organizer menu, we found these apps custom built for Sony Ericsson's proprietary feature phone OS. They weren't the best we'd seen, and many Facebook features would still require a good Web browser, but we were able to browse our picture galleries, update our status and keep up with our friends. On Twitter, we could read recent updates and also keep tabs on the global Twitter timeline and global trends, a rarity among Twitter apps.
Even the basic messaging apps were surprisingly polished and good looking. Text messages and MMS messages came through in a conversational format. It was easy to attach pictures, sounds and videos to outgoing messages. These aren't enough to make us recommend the phone, but if you're just looking for the right combination of camera and social networking, the Sony Ericsson Aino might fit the bill.
The Bad
The first time we used the Sony Ericsson Aino, we thought there was some mistake. When you close the phone, no matter which application you're using (with the exception of the camera and GPS apps), the phone switches from the expanded, icon-based feature phone menu to a much simpler media player system. There's no access to the deeper features from the media player. You can't browse the Web in landscape view unless the keypad is open, and in fact there are plenty of features you can't access unless you slide the phone open to reveal the long, narrow keys. This makes for a very cumbersome and confusing experience.
Furthermore, though all of the media player features are accessible from the main phone menu, they're not as robust or cool looking as in the media player mode. For instance, there are some cool skins for the music player, including one that looks like an old school mix tape spinning on screen. But that skin is only available when the phone is open, with the keypad exposed. As soon as you close the phone, you're shut out of the media player and have to use a very plain looking, less intuitive version of the music player. The excellent Sony Cross Media Bar (XMB), reminiscent of the Playstation 3 menu scheme, disappears in media player mode. It's as if there's an uncrossable chasm between the media player and full feature phone modes, like the phone has split personalities inside the same body and never the two shall meet.
Worst of all, though, is the complete lack of touch support in the feature phone mode. When the keypad is open, you have a touch-less, basic feature phone. Except for the newer software package, it's the same as nearly every other Sony Ericsson feature phone we've seen for the last few years. You can tap the onscreen icons, you can't navigate the Web browser by touch. There's no touch capabilities at all in the phone mode. And there's no Internet or connected capabilities in the media player mode. The phone represents the worst of both worlds.
Admittedly, Sony Ericsson separates this phone from their smartphone lineup, and the unlocked U.S. version of the Aino costs less than the year-old Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. But for this price, we're expecting a phone that's much smarter than the Aino. The Web browser on the device is decidedly mobile in flavor. It can hardly handle basic Web pages, and usually defaults to the mobile version of our favorite sites. Our own homepage was rendered as a mess on the Aino's browser. Pictures were out of line, and up close, images were blocky and jagged at full zoom. Even if the browser isn't going to take advantage of the touch capabilities, it should at least look much better on the wide, colorful display.
The Ugly
The Sony Ericsson Aino still uses Sony Ericsson's aging Fast Port adapter for power, data and audio output. That means you can't plug your own headphones into the Aino without an included remote adapter. You also can't charge the phone or transfer media with a microUSB cord, you have to use the Fast Port USB cord and charger for both these tasks. This seems outmoded in today's cell phone world. While even Sony Ericsson's best phones are switching to more standardized port options, it's a shame to see their best feature phone stick with the proprietary Fast Port technology. At least the company ditched Memory Stick Micro cards in favor of the far more common (and less expensive) microSD cards, but the microSD port is hidden beneath the battery cover, a real inconvenience.
The phone also has a decidedly non-U.S. feel to it, thanks to some software that isn't optimized or even useful in the States. The first menu option on the feature phone menu is for "PlayNow," Sony Ericsson's store and services for their feature phone lineup. Unfrotunately, none of the PlayNow services are available in the U.S. You can't download music from the music store, and no software comes up for download in the mobile app store. In other words, the first menu option on this expensive, high-end cell phone is completely useless for the intended audience, a dead link. This isn't just an embarrassment, it's a sign to buyers that Sony Ericsson really doesn't care about the U.S. audience. They simply repackaged the phone with support for AT&T's 3G radio bands, and shipped it as is.
While we were originally enticed by the sleek design and curvy lines on the Sony Ericsson Aino, in practice there are a few flaws that make the phone difficult to use. The phone's screen lock button is located on the top of the device, or the left side in the landscape orientation. This means that when you're holding the phone sideways, to take a picture or use the media menu, it's very easy to hit this button and turn the screen off, putting the phone into standby. We often turned off the screen while we were trying to steady a shot with the camera. This button placement is very inconvenient.
The keypad is also very small, especially considering the wide, open space surrounding it on the lower half of the slide. It seems like Sony Ericsson could have opted for much larger keys, which would have made typing much more tolerable. As it is, typing is very difficult on this phone. Plus, there's little visual feedback on screen to help you discern which typing mode you're using. You may think you're using multi-tap, but in some apps the phone will default to T9 auto completion mode with no obvious way to turn off the feature.
Would we buy one?
In many ways, the Sony Ericsson Aino feels like a missed opportunity. The feature phone side doesn't take advantage of the colorful, clear touchscreen capabilities, and the media player doesn't take advantage of the phone's internet connectivity or messaging features. Instead of one great phone that uses all its capabilities in tandem, the Aino feels like two mediocre devices hobbled together with no bridge between them. You might as well duct tape a Sony Walkman to a Sony Ericsson Cyber Shot phone, it would be a much better experience.
That isn't to say that the Sony Ericsson Aino is an especially bad phone, but we think it will only satisfy users with a very specific feature set in mind. If you're looking for a phone with a great camera, and the only Internet connectivity you need revolves around Facebook, Twitter and text messaging, the Aino is a solid choice, though you'll still be frustrated by the poor design decisions. If you're simply a Sony Ericsson fan looking for the best unlocked phone you can find, you're better off waiting for a smarter model, like the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, to hit the market.
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