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Sony Ericsson Aino
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Camera sensor | 8 MP | ||
| Weight | 134 grammes | ||
| Dimensions (mm) | 50 x 104 x 15,5 mm | ||
| Talk Time | 4.5h | ||
| Standby Time | 367h | ||
 Show all specifications
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| Internal Memory | non |
| Memory Card | microSD |
| SAR Level | 0.74 W/kg |
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Tristan François
Test date: February 11, 2010
Test date: February 11, 2010
The Aino as a phone
The Aino gives good results for making and receiving calls. With its slide out screen, the mic is very close to the mouth.
It's also beside the numberpad which means its better protected against the wind and exterior noise than if it was on the edge of the phone.
Contacts are handled relatively well for a multimedia phone, even though you do get better with certain smartphones.
It's also beside the numberpad which means its better protected against the wind and exterior noise than if it was on the edge of the phone.
Contacts are handled relatively well for a multimedia phone, even though you do get better with certain smartphones.
Sony Ericsson has been letting the competition get away from it for some time now. Only with its Walkman music phones has the brand been able to hold on to its aura. At a time when the company has finally announced smartphones operating under Android and Windows Mobile, they haven’t forgotten their multimedia range with the release of the Aino.
A weighty number
At first sight the Aino seems compact as you like. Something you forget when you pick it up as it's the sort of weight we’ve become accustomed to on smartphones. We like the sober and elegant style of the thing however and the finish inspires confidence. The exterior coating, reminiscent of the Hero, is nice to the touch and gives good handling.
The multifunction proprietary Sony Ericsson connector could easily have been substituted for a micro USB however. A shame.
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One of the main criticisms of Sony Ericsson phones is without a doubt their aging interface – though they do compare well with Symbian-based Nokias! The Aino marks the start of something new. Although you notice the aesthetic of previous phones straight away, you can also see the influence of the much renowned XCross MediaBar taken from Sony TVs and the PS3. Lets not get too carried away however, you couldn’t call this a revolution just yet.
The multimedia interface has however been particularly well designed. It’s easy to use and give rapid touch acess to music, video and so on without requiring you to pull the keyboard out.
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Although internet browsing is not as easy as it could be – this isn’t the primary function of this phone – it's nevertheless a much pleasanter experience than with the W995 for example. Audio and video players and the tuner all give very nice usage. Now however, we need to tell you about the downsides of the Aino: the headphones and the photo sensor.The wireless headphones are a good idea that’s been badly executed. While the bluetooth connection is fine, especially as the receiver will rarely be very far away from the phone, the in-ear headphones are of pretty poor quality. It would have been nice to have something less sketchy and unbalanced. This really is a shame.
Moving on to the camera, having an 8 Megapixel sensor is great. But it would be better if it gave good results. While digital processing can correct random colour reproduction here, the results leave something to be desired. Some photos come out a bit blue and some green while others tend towards a red tinge. It gets rather complicated to get the white balance right!
PS3 users will however be pleased to see that they can connect up to their games console remotely. After configuring a few settings, you can view and listen to anything on your PlayStation, as long as the download speed is sufficient of course. This feature certainly has a future as it’s practical to be able to stock media at home and not have to constantly copy and paste, or worse, as is the case with the Aino, re-encode your videos with proprietary software.
There are a few other interesting features. Handling of mails isn’t very sophisticated but, again, this isn’t one of the primary functions of the Aino, which doesn’t have a full-azerty keypad in any case. You do get DLNA access. As often with this protocol however, results are a little random. From one second to the next, you can go from getting everything to nothing and there are annoying limitations on supported formats. Moving on, lets look at the A-GPS chip. It’s not the fastest or the most reliable out there and regularly drops out. Synchronisation with your PC via Wi-Fi is however very nice indeed.
Last of all, battery life. Don’t hope to last a long day with standard multimedia use. It does ok but other smarphones have shown they can do better!
There are a few other interesting features. Handling of mails isn’t very sophisticated but, again, this isn’t one of the primary functions of the Aino, which doesn’t have a full-azerty keypad in any case. You do get DLNA access. As often with this protocol however, results are a little random. From one second to the next, you can go from getting everything to nothing and there are annoying limitations on supported formats. Moving on, lets look at the A-GPS chip. It’s not the fastest or the most reliable out there and regularly drops out. Synchronisation with your PC via Wi-Fi is however very nice indeed.
Last of all, battery life. Don’t hope to last a long day with standard multimedia use. It does ok but other smarphones have shown they can do better!
Pluses
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Compact and looks good
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Modernised, pared down, easy-to-use interface
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PS3 synchronisation
Minuses
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Mediocre bluetooth headphones
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The camera gives rather random results
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Still some ground to make up
The Aino is on the right track to catching up with the competition, in terms of multimedia at least. A nice interface and features, it promises worthwhile future versions for those who dont want a smartphone. Its a shame that on this model too many functions arent completely successful.
