We briefly covered the Aino and its big brother, the Satio, just after the London launch event and now, to partner our more in-depth look at the Satio, here’s what to expect from the Aino.  Although its outward appearance suggests it’s a touchscreen phone, the Aino is actually a slider with some touch features, a little like the LG Secret, plus some very exciting new toys to play with!

Cool Features of the Aino

If you own a PlayStation 3, then the Aino is going to be a very tempting purchase indeed, as it includes Remote Play, that same media streaming software found on the PSP enabling you to watch video, view pictures and listen to music stored on your PS3 over a Wi-Fi network.  If you don’t have a PS3, Media Go grabs video, wirelessly, from your PC when the Aino is sat on its charging stand.

The Aino’s screen slides up to reveal a normal alphanumeric keypad and a d-pad for navigating the menus, while the touchscreen only comes in to action when using the camera or multimedia capabilities.  The 3″ screen has an odd 240×432 resolution and unlike the Satio, is a straight-up feature phone, however as it looks so polished and benefits from considerable user customisation, it won’t be a concern for most.

The Aino has an 8.1 megapixel autofocus camera with an LED flash and the usual line-up of software tweaks, such as red-eye reduction and face recognition modes, plus the Touch focus system found on the Satio too.  Additionally, the Aino has a 3G HSDPA/HSUPA radio, A2DP Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS and a MicroSD card slot for upping the memory to 16GB from the stock 8GB.  The Aino is expected to be released during the Autumn of 2009 and not only for us but for Sony Ericsson too, this can’t come soon enough!