If you’re looking for a “good” phone, you won’t find it in the Sony Ericsson Aino. No, the device is actually quite amazing.
Somebody at Sony Ericsson must have thought it would be a great idea to combine the functionality of a phone with the features of a media player and camera, because this is what the Aino is in a nutshell.
And we have to say, we agree — the Aino is perfect for the gadget lover who wants a device that lets her keep in touch with her friends while allowing her to watch a downloaded episode of C.S.I. or listen to Linkin Park during long commutes or intensely boring meetings.
Interestingly, the Aino has two distinct modes. Slide it open and it becomes a typical Sony Ericsson phone with a keypad. And by that we mean that it’s a solid, reliable mobile phone that you can use to makes calls and send/receive SMS/MMS messages.
It’s fairly easy (and responsive) to use, and it has all the standard features you might expect from any phone, such as an organiser and an alarm clock.
Slide the phone close, however, and you’ll see what makes this device so excellent.
Sight and sounds
For one thing, this mode lets you use the Aino as a media player. The capacitive touchscreen — which is mostly disabled in the phone mode — now lets you browse through the albums and playlists you’ve stored in the phone memory or the attached microSD card.
A few quick taps on the touchscreen can then take you to a listing of the videos and movies on the Aino, which you can enjoy on the phone’s wide 3in TFT display.
Honestly, we were quite surprised at the excellent quality of the audio and video that were coming from this little device.
We’ve successfully tested playing MP3, MP4 and AVI files on the Aino, and the pictures were sharp and the sounds were very clear.
You can watch entire movies on this thing, and if you use the wireless Bluetooth headset which comes included in the box, you can do so without disturbing the people next to you. Or alert the boss to the fact that you’re not paying attention during the intensely boring meeting.
You can transfer files directly to/from the Aino via a USB cable, but the easier way would be to plug the phone into the charging stand and firing up the MediaGo software (both also included in the package) to synchronise files with your PC.
Snapshots
Some people might argue that a camera isn’t exactly a necessary feature of a phone, but generally these people also ride pterodactyls to hunt T-rexes for their dinner. No, a camera is an indispensible feature for current handphones, because you’ll never know when you’ll come across your friends doing something hilarious and/or incriminating that needs to be photographed.
The Aino’s 8.1 megapixel camera — another feature only acessible in the “closed” mode — can produce surprisingly excellent pictures, particularly for a camera phone. Sure, it can’t compare to a DSLR, but try to fit one of those into your pocket.
The Aino’s camera also comes with a flash, 16x digital zoom and the ability to record videos.
But more interestingly, it has a feature which lets you set the focus of the image simply by tapping on it in the touchscreen.
Plus, the phone comes pre-installed with a Facebook app, so if you’re near a WiFi hotspot or if you have a data plan, you can immediately share any hilarious and/or incriminating photos with your other friends.
Everything else
While the multimedia capabilities and the camera are the main attractions of the Aino, the phone has a whole slew of other interesting features, like the Facebook app that was mentioned.
Among other things, the phone has (limited but useful) GPS functionality, so if you need to know how to get to nearby landmarks or which neighbourhood you’re currently lost in, you can always consult Wisepilot or Google Maps.
If you have a PS3, you can utilise the Remote Play feature to wirelessly access (media) content on your machine, which sounds pretty cool on paper. In practice though, we store most of our movies and music on our computer, so the Aino’s ability to wirelessly transfer files via Bluetooth is more useful in this respect.
And if you have a thing for those quirky lil’ Java games for mobile phones, you’ll be happy to know that the Aino lets you access the PlayNow arena, Sony Ericsson’s online store for mobile content. But really, gaming is pretty much the only area of mobile entertainment that the Aino doesn’t shine at. May we suggest a Nintendo DS or a Sony PSP instead?
Great doesn’t mean perfect
Of course, this wouldn’t be a proper review if we never found things about the product to gripe about.
The first complaint about the Aino is in regards to its battery life. On average, when we only used the Aino to send SMS messages and make a few calls, we were able to make the phone last for around three days without recharging.
On the other hand, when we went all out and started watching movies, listening to music on the wireless headset and surfing the Net regularly, we were lucky to get a day’s worth of battery life.
Really, you could have seen that coming from a mile away, but the problem is that the phone has such excellent multimedia capabilities there’s little reason for you to NOT regularly watch movies or listen to music on it.
The numeric keypad also feels a little “shallow” to the touch, which is strange considering how the phone features are reliant on this form of input. This doesn’t affect functionality in any way, only the way the phone feels.
However, the final complaint about the Aino is probably the quirkiest — in our experience, the screen lock isn’t entirely reliable.
Keeping in mind that the touchscreen only gives access to the media features (so phew, you can’t accidentally make phone calls when the phone is closed), and that we regularly carry out phones in our trouser pockets, this creates the strange effect where our trousers would randomly break out into song.
We’re not kidding. This happened to us about once a week, and given how clear and loud the audio from the Aino can be, we’ve started to think that we’re either in a Disney musical or a Bollywood film.
Conclusion
All said, these minor flaws don’t detract from the overall awesomeness of the Aino. And heck, if you’re the kind of guy who likes to spontaneously start a song and dance sequence, some of the “flaws” might actually be an added bonus for you.
The Aino is an excellent device for any gadget lover, whether you’re looking for a mobile media device, a compact camera option or simply a phone that’s just plain reliable and responsive.
For the price, you get a lot of great features fitted nicely into a sleek looking phone. (incidentally, we recommend getting the white colour option if it’s available, if only so you can say that you have an Albino Aino.)
After having had the chance to play around with this phone, this reviewer can say one thing for sure: I know I want an Aino now.
Pros: Mobile media player with superb audio and video; excellent camera; solid phone functionality; looks pretty.
Cons: Not-so-reliable screen lock might cause spontaneous outbreaks of song.
AINO
(Sony Ericsson)
3G multimedia phone
CAMERA: 8.1-megapixels with touch focus
DISPLAY: 3in capacitive TFT touchscreen (432 x 240-pixels), 16 million colours
MESSAGING: SMS, MMS, e-mail, instant messaging
MEMORY: 55MB (internal), bundled 8GB microSD
EXPANSION SLOT: microSD
CONNECTIVITY: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/UMTS/HSPA, Bluetooth, WiFi
OTHER FEATURES: aGPS, video recording, media player, motion gaming, various pre-installed applications
STANDBY/TALK TIME: 380 hours/ 13 hours
DIMENSIONS: 104 x 50 x 15.5mm
WEIGHT: 134g
PRICE: RM1,999
Review unit courtesy of Sony Ericsson Malaysia, 1-800-88-9900.
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