The Sony Ericsson Aino handset follows on from the company’s flagship handset the Satio, and first impressions are generally positive. The Aino is a reasonable size as it fits nicely in the hand, and with dimensions of 104 x 50 x 15.5mm it doesn’t come across too bulky. At first is does seem like quite a heavy handset (134g), however this isn’t an uncomfortable weight and it can be seen as a reassurance that the overall build of the handset is strong and stable which makes it seem more reliable.

As well as feeling good to use, the Aino is a good looking handset, too. The overall shape is long and rectangular with slightly rounded corners which helps portray a softer, more stylish look. The 3.0 inch capacitive touchscreen dominates the front of the handset, and is therefore the main focus point when you first look at the phone. The Aino boasts a combination of a matte and gloss finish which gives the Aino a more sophisticated feel.

The handset combines both a touch sensitive display and a physical alpha numeric keypad. The slide factor of the handset is easy and moves smoothly, which automatically makes the handset more user friendly. On the keypad you will find the main four directional menu button which you use to access the different features on the phone, 2 buttons which are dedicated to answer and reject a call, a clear button, and two other shortcut buttons which are used to select options on screen to help reach your specified page more easily. The individual buttons on the keypad are at a reasonable size making it effortless to compose your messages.

On the back of the phone, you will find the lens and the flash of the 8.1 megapixel camera in the top right hand corner. There is no cover for the lens which could be seen as either an advantage or a disadvantage. Without the cover, the phone will appear slimmer as it will lack the extra layer which could make the phone seem bulkier, however without the lens you are also at risk of scratching/damaging the lens which would then affect the quality of your photos.

There is a single button on the top of the handset which is what will lock the phone to ensure you do not accidentally push any buttons whilst carrying around the phone, there is a slot on the left hand side of the phone which is where you charge the handset, and on the right hand side you will find two buttons; one is the adjustment keys for volume/zoom, and the other in which you will use to capture your images with the 8.1 megapixel camera.

Alike most other mobile phones, the battery can be found underneath the sliding back cover, which seems a little tricky to remove; it feels as though you might damage/break the phone.

It is quite deceiving when you first look at the display, as it comes across as a full touchscreen, when actually you can only use it to navigate certain areas of the phone. The touchscreen of the Aino can be used to answer or reject a call when the slide is shut. If you slide the phone open when not on a call and follow the prompts, the display will switch to a landscape mode and presents you with a multi-media menu including 5 shortcuts (camera, gallery, music, movies and FM radio), where you can take advantage of the touch sensitive screen. The keypad must be used to control all other features of the Aino.

The Aino runs as a feature phone rather than a smart phone, so therefore operates on a proprietary user interface. The menus found on the Aino are similar to those found on the PSP or PS3. When you first hit the menu button, you will be presented with a variety of different options, and then when you choose one of these options you are then given a new list to filter through to find what you are looking for. The presentation is very clear which makes it easier to navigate around the phone. There are a wide range of apps available that can be downloaded, but not as many as you would find on a smartphone. These range from different games, music and office apps.

Users can benefit from a lot of high quality features which make the Aino a winning handset for Sony Ericsson. An 8.1 megapixel camera is on board, along with autofocus, LED flash and face detection. The quality of the images that this camera captures is impressive, with all details of the photograph very strong. The LED flash works very well, even in very low light conditions. An added extra is touch focus, where you can pick an area through the viewfinder, and just by touching the screen you can focus on these specific areas. The 3.0 inch screen displays a very sharp image with very natural looking colours, and is a very good size to view all of your photos and other documents on screen.

When opening the web browser on the Aino, it is not 100% clear as to how you go about doing some basic tasks, such as refreshing the page, as the icons are not labeled. This can lead to frustration, as it means you have to play around a bit and click a few buttons until you find your desired setting/page etc.

Another appealing feature for many will be the remote play with Playstation 3. You can control and access the media content of your Playstation 3 wherever you are on your Aino.

Users can store all of their music on the Aino, and the Media Go service lets you transfer, play and organise you music, photos and videos via Wi-Fi. It is a very similar layout to the Walkman range by Sony Ericsson, and with 55MB internal memory and the additional 8GB memory card that comes with the Aino (even though the handset can hold up to 32GB memory card), there is more than enough room to store all of your tracks. You can choose which tune you want to listen to by either identifying the track, artist or album. This looks organised on screen and makes it easier to manage your music.

From having my first hands-on experience with the Aino, overall I think the handset looks good and feels good to handle, with all the features you would expect from a phone including games, music, internet browser and a choice of download-able apps. If you like the sounds of things so far and would like to find out more about the Sony Ericsson Aino then click here.

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Sony Ericsson Aino: Review