Sony Ericsson Aino tested

Sony Ericsson Aino

Overall verdict from the Your Mobile Phone Reviews Test Team

A cracking media orientated phone & we would recommend this to others just for its media features. We loved the viewing experience, enjoyed great sound from this phone & we took very clear photos using the Aino. We found it takes a while to get used to the part touch screen controls & keypad controls, as it is difficult to switch between the differing controls & this lets the phone down.

All in all we are rather impressed with the Aino & we will all be sad to remove its docking station from our desks. We loved showing off with the Aino propped in its docking station looking incredibly stylish & playing amazing video footage to anyone that passed our desks. Well done Sony Ericsson what a super looking media phone.

Read more details of our testing results below.

Our test team gave the Sony Ericsson Aino an average score of:

85%

Appearance & Size

Our test team all commented how they liked the materials used during manufacturing the Aino & we all agreed it is very pleasing on the eye. There is no getting away from it, the Aino is a gorgeous looking phone & made from high quality materials. Our team generally liked the slide action opening system as it is easy to open in a single hand, but one female member of the test team just found that the casing was too long in size & found opening the slide section difficult with smaller hands.

Regarding the overall shape of the casing we felt it could have been a little shorter & less heavy but due to its slide opening design this was the best we could expect. It weighs 134 grams which is quite a weight to hold after a while, & it is 10.4cm long by 1.55cm deep so a rather long & chunky shaped casing to be honest. Its size lets it down slightly but regarding its appearance, it's a stunner.

Our test team scored the appearance & size at:

70%

Durability & Usability

The Aino can handle a few knocks & bumps as it was dropped onto a wooden floor by one of the test team & the casing did not even have the slightest scratch to show for it. This phone is tough & solid which left our test team feeling that the Aino could withstand day to day life with no problem what so ever, even including the occasional drops & knocks. None of the test team felt they needed to treat this phone gently of carefully during their testing.

When it comes to using the Sony Ericsson Aino we have a mixture of feedback with words ranging from fun, cool, fabulous being quoted from the test team, as well as words including tricky, pointless & annoying. The problem is caused by this phone no being a full touch screen phone or being a full keypad operated phone, it is both. It does come with touch screen media controls when the handset is closed & when the handset is slid open then you need to use the keypad & navigation controls, this is where the problems started for the test team, it just takes time to get used to this & it annoyed a few members of the test team. The test team did however totally appreciate the outstanding media features & we all loved the media touch screen controls. We all admitted to enjoying this phone in horizontal mode as this is its media mode for its camera, photo album, music player, video player & its radio features.

Our test team scored the durability & usability at:

65%

Battery

Its battery is highly capable & we all agreed we were getting great battery talk time & standby times from the Aino. Also the battery was a joy to fit as the back cover of the phone was easily removed. We liked the user friendly sticker on the back of the casing which actually tells you how to remove the cover & how to insert the battery which is very useful. Our highlight has to be when it comes to recharging the phone as it can be recharged by inserting the power adapter directly into connection port on the left hand side of the handset, or you can insert the power adapter into the phones docking station & the Aino can be recharged whilst it is fitted onto its docking station. We adore the docking station as the Aino fits onto the docking station in its horizontal mode which is perfect for media entertainment, plus its docking station also holds & recharges the Bluetooth® headset. Our test team loved the sturdiness of the power adapter connection port & we all enjoyed having the benefit of a docking station for usability purposes, plus its looks amazing.

Our test team scored the battery at:

90%

Camera

Our test team enjoyed testing the media features on the Aino & especially the camera feature which has an 8.1 megapixel lens. We were impressed by the usability of all the media menus & we could alter all our camera settings from the camera capture screen. From the main media touch screen menu, we selected the camera icon to access the 8.1 megapixel camera feature. We found all the settings easily as they are all well labelled & come with useful icon displays. Our highlights for the camera feature are its general usability, overall image quality & the huge selection of settings available to us.

Our test team scored the camera at:

90%

Music

Another media focused feature which was fun & fully enjoyed by all members of the test team. To access the music feature we simply select the music note icon from the media menu & from this screen we can access all our music including resuming our music, accessing newly added music, albums & we can access our playlists from this screen. Our test team rated this music player & its sound quality highly, but this is exactly what we expected from a Sony Ericsson media phone, an excellent music feature.

Our test team scored the music capabilities at:

95%

Messaging

Our test team found the messaging features a pleasure to use & we all loved the conversations feature which means you can continue communicating with your contacts in a conversation type layout of SMS & MMS messages. One of our test team members actually created double the amount of messages during our test period when compared to their normal usage as messaging was so easy on the Aino. You can add & send pictures, animations, videos, sound, take a picture using the camera feature directly from the messaging menu or record sound which we really liked. We connected to our FaceBook account via the messaging menu & this was really useful as it keeps all our communication service in one place. All in all we are really pleased with the messaging & communication features on this phone.

Our test team scored the messaging capabilities at:

90%

Connectivity & Technology

We found it very easy to use Bluetooth® & we used a cable connection to transfer music & videos from phone to phone & from phone to computer. The test team are pleased to confirm the Sony Ericsson Aino is a 3G HSDPA phone & it supports WiFi® technology. We tested the Aino on a major UK network & we were all happy with the overall network coverage. A few of our test team members used the Aino's Web browser & email service continuously, these members were pleased with the WiFi® connectivity.

Our test team scored the connectivity & technology at:

90%

Screen & User Interface

Our test team really liked the screen, we loved its bright colour display & it is large enough to view movies & videos on. Most of us agreed that the touch screen is one of the Aino's best features regarding its overall viewing performance.

The majority of the test team felt the user interface was colourful, user friendly & we liked its fashionable appearance, but the part touch screen controls & part keypad controls are still causing problems & even after time, this dual input method is causing concerns amongst out testers. We liked the changeable display features such as the main menu layout being changed from a traditional grid layout to rotating, single icon or even a theme style layout, we liked personalising this handset & it comes with a huge amount of changeable features. Our test team thought the 5 way navigation key is a good size to use & the keypad is small but easy to use.

We must say that gaming it excellent on this phone, this is not a feature we would normally get too excited about but one of our test team members was keen to mention the Crazy Penguin Catapult game which he really enjoy & he became quite good at this game by the end of our testing period. Just for reference the Aino comes with this game preloaded along with Quadrapop game.

Our test team scored the screen & interface at:

85%

Sony Ericsson Aino Gallery

The Sony Ericsson Aino, just out of the box

Back image of Aino in docking station, with Bluetooth speaker

Example photo shown using the Aino picture gallery

Back view with battery removed & visible

Would you like to learn more? Read our users Sony Ericsson Aino reviews

Many thanks to our friends at mobiles.co.uk for providing the Sony Ericsson Aino for testing.

| | |
Sony Ericsson Aino © 2006 - 2012, Your Mobile Phone Reviews UK Limited

UK mobile phones tested - Sony Ericsson Aino