Sony Ericsson Aino MORE PICTURES

Sony Ericsson Aino

User opinions and reviews

Sort by:

  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • kWH
  • 20 Oct 2009

Sony Aino (U10i) semi-full review of hands-on experience:

I have now owned this phone for one week. I purchased it for $499.95 from www.timtechs.com. It was the cheapest price I found online. The best part is that it arrived in 1½ days from Hong Kong to Minnesota, USA. I was shocked at how quickly it arrived!

This phone does NOT have stereo speakers and the loud speaker is located on the bottom of the phone. It is also not very loud. Both of these facts are disappointing.

The user interface is a little sluggish. And there are weird instances with functionality because of the nature of the phone being open or closed. All of these instances could have been solved if Sony just allowed for a full touch interface.

First of all, you cannot truely lock the phone. There is a lock button on the top but only works when the phone is closed. However sliding the phone open always takes the phone out of lock.

Second, if you receive a text message when the phone is closed, the only thing you can touch on the screen is a "x" which closes the message. If you want to read the message you have to open the phone. WHY??

Third, if a call comes in when the phone is closed you can touch the screen to answer it (kind of cool - you slide your finger across), BUT, there is a huge rectangular box at the bottom of the screen that will end the call if you touch it. My cheek or chin ALWAYS touches this box and the call ends. This is because the sensor by the ear speaker is not sensative enough. This sensor is suppose to notice proximity to your face/ear and disable the screen, but the only way I can disable the screen is by holding the phone in an unnatural position or by jamming it into my ear. Not cool!

Fourth, the screen is sometimes unresponsive to touch. I cannot determine why though, because in the service test menu there is a way to test the touchscreen and even the slightest touch is recognized every time, and on every part of the screen.

Believe it or not the Aino is replacing my W800i that I bought over 4 years ago. I have experience with other Sony phones however so I know what to expect. I purchased a K850i when it first came out but sold it within a month. In hindsight I did like that phone.

I also just noticed that you cannot assign a video ringtone. When did Sony do away with this? I know the K850i could do it.

I guess I'm surprised that aside from 8 megapixel that the functionality is not much different from my 4 year old W800i. And the W800i was WAY faster!

The positives are a very large screen which looks great! And really, that's the only thing I care about. I was getting sick of my 1.8" 176x220 screen. Also my camera didn't work anymore so I like that I have one again, however, the camera on the Aino is very sluggish. It takes over 5 seconds just to be able to take a picture, and almost twice as long to process and save. =(

Oh, someone asked about the possibility of HD video. It cannot do that, but the reason it says that in the picture menu is because 3.1 megapixel is just barely over HD spec (1920x1080). 2.3 megapixels = 1920x1200. And for the video menu is lists nHD as one of the options, which equals 640x360 (half the width and height of 720p).

Well, hopefully an update will fix a lot of these issues. Because of this I am hopeful and will keep this phone. I can't see why Sony would not make this phone full-touch capable!

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • uC4
    • 20 Oct 2009

    Great video! Is techradar lying???

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcaqwH4i35k

      • b
      • baileyshambles
      • n5F
      • 20 Oct 2009

      aino before, 20 Oct 2009i agree with you, the review was very disappointing i am th... moreits possible they werent usint a handset for the full software, also quite alot of software is updated after about 3 months after user feedback. im gonna buy on on a 12 month contract so i can upgrade after 9 months if its no good!

        • a
        • aino before
        • fvE
        • 20 Oct 2009

        Ritwik, 20 Oct 2009I chose this model as it has got a beautiful screen with th... moreI agree with you, i also do want a phone with keypad i don't want a touchscreen phone without keys.
        i also want a good battery.
        so lets hope that this phone will be good in the previous mentioned terms

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • nwr
          • 20 Oct 2009

          hi.
          people who have already this phone.....does it has stereo speakers or not?
          thanks in advance

            • i
            • i know
            • uC4
            • 20 Oct 2009

            V, 20 Oct 2009watch this excellent video of aino...i think techradar is S... moreBased on the video we can surely confirm that techradar has problem with its review on Aino. It is not as bad as techradar wrote. Any other opinion from your guys????

              • s
              • shura kamushkin
              • Mfx
              • 20 Oct 2009

              Back cover with screen block/unblock key have cheap and very flimsy design...

                • R
                • Ritwik
                • 20 Oct 2009

                aino before, 20 Oct 2009the site that you mentioned is not in english and i couldn'... moreBro, you can translate the site using Google translate option..
                But there'll still be a few words here and there which will not be converted into English..

                  • R
                  • Ritwik
                  • 20 Oct 2009

                  aino before, 20 Oct 2009Please Gsmarena we are waiting for your review. we need a ... moreI chose this model as it has got a beautiful screen with the keypad, good camera and music capabilities.. Whether it can deliver based on it's capabilities or not, that i'll decide after the GSMarena review..
                  GSMArena, please review the phone in a non-biased way.

                    • R
                    • Ritwik
                    • 20 Oct 2009

                    aino before, 20 Oct 2009Please Gsmarena we are waiting for your review. we need a ... moreNo problem bro.. It's not your fault if the camera performance and battery life is not good for this phone.. So no need to be sorry..
                    Let's just wait for the GSMarena review (if it ever comes out.. it's been so long already..)
                    And yup, your major concerns are the same as mine.. Camera performance and battery life.. Moving to another brand won't solve my purpose as i'm not really a big fan of the touchscreen phones.. i like the good old keypads.. It's my choice and i don't mean to offend anyone..

                      • H
                      • HbK
                      • pkh
                      • 20 Oct 2009

                      i saw on a video review youtube, an italian review, when the guy entered video recording, it showed HD resolution but he didn't said anything about that. is it possible to have HD video recording?

                        • a
                        • aino before
                        • ft0
                        • 20 Oct 2009

                        Please Gsmarena we are waiting for your review.
                        we need a detailed honest review and not biased toward nokia or against sony ericsson.
                        i have read in 3g.co.uk that due to some problems in sony ericsson company some or many journalist and reviewers are used to make non truth bad reviews about sony ericsson phones.

                          • a
                          • aino before
                          • ft0
                          • 20 Oct 2009

                          V, 20 Oct 2009see this detailed review... http://mobile.mail.ru/reviews/... morethe site that you mentioned is not in english and i couldn't read anything,

                            • a
                            • aino before
                            • ft0
                            • 20 Oct 2009

                            Ritwik, 20 Oct 2009Yup, it is more than just possible.. Maybe he got one of th... morealthough i hope that the review by tech is wrong but i feel it is going to be right in some terms as the camera performance it would be the same one as in w 995, also i think that battery performance also wouldn't be good and also would be less than w 995.
                            the battery BST 33 is less than BST 38, i have used the BST 37 and it is very good and i think BST is very close to BST 38.
                            i wish i will be wrong. but if gsmarena will state the same disappointements mainly camera and battery performance, it may be the time to go to another brand(sorry)

                              • R
                              • Ritwik
                              • 20 Oct 2009

                              GSMArena, it's high-time you reviewed this phone.. A lot of people are waiting for it to be reviewed..

                              Thanks,
                              Ritwik

                                • R
                                • Ritwik
                                • 20 Oct 2009

                                aino before, 20 Oct 2009i agree with you, the review was very disappointing i am th... moreYup, it is more than just possible.. Maybe he got one of the faulty ones.. I just wish GSMarena could post a review soon.. Then we could confirm the points stated in the Techradar review..

                                  • R
                                  • Ritwik
                                  • 20 Oct 2009

                                  Baileyshambles, 19 Oct 2009I just read the review at techradar which isnt very complim... moreI meant *your review..

                                    • R
                                    • Ritwik
                                    • 20 Oct 2009

                                    Baileyshambles, 19 Oct 2009I just read the review at techradar which isnt very complim... moreThanks a lot.. I'll be waiting for you review.

                                      • A
                                      • Arak
                                      • m4N
                                      • 20 Oct 2009

                                      hassook, 20 Oct 2009techradar review is really shitty, they dont provide eviden... morelets wait the review by gsmarena and mobile-review and mobile arena , these are the only 3 sites that we can rely on for reviews , i have deduced that other sites just write something for the sake of writing so ignore them and consentrate on this site .
                                      aino is great phone with great mechanism and it is the first mobile in this category and we hope to have aino 2 next year to be more advanced that will boost this category forward

                                        • s
                                        • shameem comtel
                                        • mTZ
                                        • 20 Oct 2009

                                        it's great sound,good camera,wide screen,super design-light and thin, u can transfar your media over wifi. it's very nice phone. don't think just buy it.

                                          185 of 231