Aino is a “speshul” model from Sony Ericsson. In essence, it’s a regular slider phone with an extra big screen. What differs from the other touch screen phones is the keyboard, not a QWERTY one but alphanumeric. Aino has pretty much everything you need - excellent connectivity, full-featured navigation, a great camera, plenty of internal storage and a simple-but-snappy touch media menu.
Amino also has very good hardware specifications; however, the unusual slide keyboard makes it look pretty ugly. Of course, that’s my opinion; let’s see what’s in the store for Aino.
Key features
• 3" 16M-color capacitive touchscreen, 240 x 432 pixels
• Quad-band GSM support
• Tri-band 3G with 7.2Mbps HSDPA, 2Mbps HSUPA
• 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash; geotagging, touch-focus, face detection, image stabilization; VGA video recording @ 30fps
• Some degree of touchscreen functionality - touch-enabled media and camera interface
• Touch works in Java apps as well, e.g. Opera Mini
• Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS; Trial version of Wisepilot navigation software
• Wi-Fi with DLNA
• FM radio with RDS
• Stereo Bluetooth 2.1
• microSD card slot
• Wireless Bluetooth headset with 3.5 mm audio jack and nice headphones, desktop docking station and 8GB microSD card in box
• Remote play for Playstation 3
Main disadvantages
• No standard USB port
• No 3.5mm audio jack (but there's one on the Bluetooth headset)
• Touch control is limited to camera, gallery, multimedia players and some Java apps
• Media library updates very slowly in the touch media menu
• No DivX/XviD support
• No xenon flash
• No camera lens cover
View list of specs and features of Sony Ericsson Aino
The box in which I received the phone is nice; it has a light green color. Aino comes with plenty of accessories in the box, beating my expectations. Besides your usual charger, USB cable and user manual, I found in the box a generous 8GB memory card (the software you need to connect the Aino to a computer is preloaded on the micro SD card and you're prompted to install it when you connect the phone, so that's easy peasy) plus a Bluetooth headset with a 3.5 mm audio jack. And that's not all; you also get a desktop docking cradle included in the retail package, one of the richest we've seen to date.
The phone has normal dimensions for its class; it has a length of 104 mm (of course with the slide closed), a width of 50 mm and a thickness of 15.5 mm. The weight of 135 grams is similar to that of other smartphones. Aino is available in two colors, white and black, both glossy.
The front of the phone is dominated obviously by the display which is 3 inches wide and sports the somewhat peculiar WQVGA resolution of 432 x 240 pixels. The screen sunlight legibility is quite good. Above it is the ambient light sensor and the speaker. When I first opened the slide I was disappointed, because the phone is extremely long. But the keyboard is comfortable and using it is enjoyable. The keys are soft and easy to press and the slide mechanism seems to be of good quality.
At the bottom of the phone are the microphone and stereo speakers. They are well concealed in the phone’s body.
In the rear of the phone you have the 8 megapixel camera accompanied by LED flash. Camera lens has no protection from scratches.
Under the lid you will find the 1000 mAh Li-Polymer power plant, which Sony Ericsson says that it should provide autonomy of 380 hours of standby in 2G and 367 hours in 3G. Talk time reaches 13 hours in 2G and 4 ½ hours in 3G. In fact, if you use the phone a lot, you will charge it on average every two days. If you use it moderately, it will last you for about four to five days. If you like to listen to music, you'll be able to do this for about 31 hours with a full battery. Also under the back cover you will find a micro SD memory card slot, and the SIM card slot
The Aino handles nicely and has a solid feel without being too heavy. . The capacitive screen is very responsive, the slider action smooth.
The phone runs smoothly through applications, it doesn’t get stuck and I did not experienced slow motion situations.
Aino has a 3 inch touchscreen and a resolution of only 240 x 432 pixels and 16 million colors. Resolution is pretty low for a phone with such claims, but the touchscreen is very responsive to commands. The aspect ratio is close to 16:9, making it suitable for watching your movies on the go.
In terms of telephony, Sony Ericsson Aino works without problems. The sound is loud and clear. Signal reception is good too
Although is not a high-end smartphone, Aino is well equipped for multimedia.
The music player is the latest Walkman Player, which is version 4.0; it has a lot of skins, you may customize them to your liking. It also has a graphic equalizer. The audio quality is pretty good, whether listening to the stereo speakers or headphones.
Aino features an FM radio with RDS and it can store 20 radio stations.
The video player has a simple interface and is efficient. There's no XviD or DivX support of course, but according to Sony Ericsson, their MediaGo desktop software is enough to transfer any video from a computer to the handset in the correct format and resolution that the phone supports.
The camera impresses with its quality, you get excellent images for a camera with no settings.
They are captured at a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels. LED flash is very useful for dark environments. It is one of the best 8 megapixel camera on the market. The colors, the contrast and brightness are perfect. About image noise I can’t say, because it lacks entirely.
The Sony Ericsson Aino is also capable of capturing video - and it's VGA@30fps we're talking about here. The LED flash is usable in the video recording. The clips are recorded in 3gp format. The recording quality is not as good as the still pictures, but is acceptable for a phone.
In terms of connectivity, Aino can easily fight with a smartphone. There's quad-band GSM and EDGE support, as well as 3G network compatibility. The Aino has tri-band 850/900/2100 MHz support for worldwide coverage, as well as a tri-band American version at 850/1900/2100 MHz. Data speeds are quite high with 7.2Mbps HSDPA and 2Mbps HSUPA.
Local connectivity offers the obligatory Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP. Aino also comes with Wi-Fi, which includes DLNA support. Oh, and there's the wired connectivity, which unfortunately makes use of only the proprietary Fast Port connector.
In terms of web browsing, you get an updated version of the popular NetFront 3.5 mobile browser. It offers a much smoother experience than before and renders web pages more quickly. The large screen is great for browsing the web; unfortunately it should have slightly better resolution. One minus of the NetFront browser is lack of support for Flash.
Aino comes with a preinstalled YouTube app only good to look at videos on this site because your Web browser does not support Flash.
Sony Ericsson Aino is great if you want to take pictures, listen to music and surf the Internet. But is not suitable for those looking for a smartphone and want to install complex applications, because Aino permits only Java applications.
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