As if the
Aino's odd name wasn't handicap enough, Sony Ericsson's taking another hit on its high-end
Remote Play-capable full-touch (but
Symbian-free) phone today with news that it's got a dodgy touchscreen. It's unclear exactly what's wrong or how it's ultimately going to get resolved,
but several British retailers -- most notably behemoth Carphone Warehouse -- have elected to yank it from shelves until they've gotten confirmation that the mothership has fixed the problem. A company spokesman notes that "Aino has sold in limited numbers in the UK, so this issue affects only a very small number of customers," which is a backhanded way of saying "for once, we're incredibly lucky no one wants this thing" -- though considering that the
Satio's on hold now, too, "lucky" might not be the right word for it. For what it's worth, Sony's US SonyStyle store is still hawking Ainos for $600, so part with that six-pack of Benjamins at your own risk.
Update: It appears that we somehow misread the source on this story. While the Satio has been pulled from stores, the Aino has not been taken off of shelves. The company clearly acknowledges problems, but SE isn't taking action to remove the device from retail outlets.
posted November 26th 2009 6:19PM
$600? What is this world coming to.
@(Unverified)
Oh, but $599 for an iPhone is ok right?
remember... $599 AND a 2-year contract?
Thats a bit Aino right there...
@(Unverified) well… 600 for a feature phone does sounds really expensive these days.
Reflection fail.
Matte
@Rusty Shackleford
It's a matte screen...oh wait what? *Looks at picture*
HUH? FAIL!!!
@Rusty Shackleford
Holy Fail that is bad,
Can't touch this
@ic wiener took the words out of my mouth.
btw i feel kind of weird making a reply that starts with @ic weiner
@ic wiener
Stop.....
Hammertime!
@ic wiener
i was going to say that :D
aino's cheaper than the x1 lol 599 vs 699.
@va jj
x1 is like 399 at newegg now btw
That's what she said!
Sony Ericsson's efforts of late are going to do Apple no harm at all. What gets me is that their touch screen Walkmans are robustly built, fast and easy to use - in fact, easier than any Apple iPod thanks to the mix of mechanical controls, excellent GUI and a very responsive touch screen. Which begs the question, why don't they embed a phone in their excellent Walkmans - instead of embedding Walkmans / CyberShots in these shoddily made and not very speedy phones?
Go try the latest Sony Walkman with touch screen, and imagine it with telephony capability. The thing would probably last several years and offer a viable device for those not interested in an app store.
The Satio is way to clunky and sluggish to compete today and it also lacks a 3.5mm jack. Sony (Ericsson) are their own worst enemy.
Sad, because the K800i and one or two others prove they can get it right when they try.
I'm using an old K800i while waiting for the iPhone to be available from Vodafone. It's an excellent phone - bettering many low to midrange handsets available today.
@Oflife The reason being that SonyEricsson is a different company to Sony corp. Sony have already threatened to pull the plug on SonyEricsson before but a new management team has promised to put things right. They need to really focus on their reliability, consumers are only going to be burned so many times before they lose faith in the brand....
I actually like this phone.
next time remember to photoshop the reflection of the screen aswell
Sony is going down the tube lately with its music and phone devices. The quality is extremely sub standard for sony
that Aino iPhone!
I happened to get the US version of this phone for $400 (through friend who is Sony employee) and I frustrated with this phone. Mainly because I love so much about it but the phone gets annoying as it gets unlocked and starts to play music when in pocket and also you have to leave the slider open while talking else you will accidently touch the call end button on screen while having it close to the ear.
worst phone I every owned. Will try to send it back to my friend for refund. Hope he won't be pissed. I can use this news for my reason :-). Thanks Engadget!
@(Unverified) That's funny cause I haven't had any problems with mine. With the touch screen or otherwise. My Aino (which is said like "I know" not "anal") is faultless.
Please Do Not Touch!
Anal... dont want to touch it.
@(Unverified) Aino right!
@cherryboom: I know and agree with your comments re the difference between SE and Sony. I don't agree re the usability. I am an interaction designer and have operated all Apple's iPod devices, and we own an iPod Touch - a total pain to operate when it comes to the music player. From the orientation sensor flipping the screen constantly and the actual navigation, it is not as convenient as on a device with a regular D-PAD, such as most modern Nokia phones. Further, and yes, this is my personal feeling I suppose: I have never been able to get to grips with the (often) slippery scroll wheel on the regular iPods. A D-PAD is and always will be the fastest way to operate a device when navigating information - including browsing photos. I can navigate and enter data into forms on a web page on my K800i FASTER than on the iPod Touch or a friend's iPhone. No fiddly pinching, you just wiggle the joystick, click on a field, and enter your data. (I can even type faster using the numeric keypad on the K800i than on the dubious on screen iDevice keyboard that throws up typos when the auto 'correction' is on.)
I know, this is the stuff of a flame war, but I have always believed that Apple's success with the iPod is not over it's usability (the MP3 players that came before the iPod were easier to navigate), it has been the excellent interface on iTunes and the way it syncs with the iPod. That, like the app store, is where Apple have stolen a lead - deservedly.
OK, it's late, and I have to go post a review on DPREVIEW of our new Panasonic TZ7 (ZS3 in the US of A) compact digicam. A flawed but brilliant bit of kit. Now if only Apple could work with Panasonic to tack a nice camera on their next iPhone! 720P video, optical zoom, top notch still images...
@Oflife Hi I like your reply. It is knowledgeable. You should write these things in a separate blog. It would help people like me. Thx.
Wow! Roll your mouse over where it says "Don't Touch Me" and prepare for a treat! It might take a few minutes to work, but keep at it! ; )
@Lectronsect Okay, that was so not nice on my part, and a sure waste of time. I apologize.
@Lectronsect
we know you are a moron, its ok noob
@(Unverified)
must be the side effect from the kemo.
@(Unverified) Cheers. I do have a separate blog, but while I'm busy at work on a deadline, I have 'deactivated' it temporarily. It's at http://visionaforethought.wordpress.com. Bookmark it, and in a few days, probably by Friday next week, it will be back up. There's a section on Apple. Rest is mainly random issues, not just technology. ;)
Sony should abandon the joint-venture... seriously... SE has so many things broken lately...
AI-NO it's a slider.
AI-NO this thing has got a mechanical keypad, and
AI-NO sliding the keypad out disables the touchscreen, what so strange about that?
AI-NO... AI-RELI-NO!
This is not their first touchscreen mobile unless you mean their first touchscreen feature phone.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=2222539
What's wrong with SE? Did they make all their testers redundant at the last cull?
I've always had Ericsson and Sony-Ericsson phones (apart from one brief dalliance with Nokia -- oh, and technically, my first mobe was a Sony -- a good old analogue one!), but the quality has been steadily getting worse. My current W910 keeps restarting. Like a poster aboe, I'm waiting for the iPhone to arrive on Vodafone, then I'm off.
Mr. Ziegler, this post is plain wrong, FALSE!!
Retract!!!
http://www.gsmarena.com/false_alarm_sony_ericsson_aino_hasnt_been_pulled_out_after_all-news-1290.php