Sony Ericsson makes Idou official; announces Yari and Aino phones
Remember Sony Ericsson's Idou? That was the flashy "concept phone" that the company announced earlier this year at GSMA. Well, after a long wait, Sony Ericsson on Wednesday finally made the elusive device official in London.
Now billed as the Sony Ericsson Satio, the candy bar handset shows no changes from its original incarnation. It still offers a gorgeous 3.5-inch touch screen as your primary interface, and the few physical controls below the display and on the spines remain. You'll also find the sliding camera lens cover on the rear face. It will come in three colors: black, silver, and bordeaux.
Sony Ericsson Yari
(Credit: Sony Ericsson)As a reminder, its features include a 12.1-megapixel camera, a music player, e-mail and messaging, a speakerphone, Bluetooth, PC syncing, USB mass storage, a personal organizer, assisted GPS, Wi-Fi, an FM radio, YouTube and Facebook applications, handwriting recognition, a microSD card slot (wow!) and a Symbian operating system. The quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world phone also supports 3G networks (UMTS/HSDPA 850/900/2100), which makes it fully functional in most markets. It should be available later this year, though pricing was not announced.
Sony Ericsson Aino
(Credit: Sony Ericsson)Sony Ericsson also announced two brand-new handsets. The Yari is a slider phone in black or cranberry white (that seems like two colors, but no matter). Inside you'll find gesture control, a 5-megapixel camera, messaging and e-mail, Bluetooth, a personal organizer, an FM radio, assisted GPS, a microSD card slot, USB mass storage, a speakerphone, stereo speakers, and a music player. Though the quad-band world phone is a 3G device, it does not support high-speed networks in North America. The Yari should see a late-2009 release.
The Aino takes a focus on gaming by including Remote Play for controlling and accessing your . Otherwise, the Aino is well-stocked. It promises an 8.1-megapixel camera, a music player, stereo speakers, a speakerphone, messaging and e-mail, Facebook and YouTube applications, assisted GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, a personal organizer, and a voice recorder. The Aino supports the same bands as the Satio. It should be out in the fourth quarter of this year. The slider phone comes in white and black.
Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent. 
the slider w760 has a fixed lens where as the old candy bar w810 has a focus lens which takes pictures much clear despite having lower megapixel. this phone will have a focus lens so hopefully these pictures will be up to people's expectations
http://www.webhush.com/satio-sony-ericsson-idou-mobile-review/
- by Charles_Bronson June 1, 2009 10:26 AM PDT
- The one Sony Ericsson phone I had back in '04 was the biggest piece of sh*t. I swore I'd never buy another one, but these do look they've come a long way since then.
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