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By now, everyone should be aware that Sony Ericsson Satio is the offical name for the Idou, a phone which Sony Ericsson proudly showed off during Mobile World Congress back in February. Fast forward seven months and the Satio’s launch is closing in, making it a great time to have a look at this smart new handset. The Satio represents several firsts for Sony Ericsson, namely a 12.1 megapixal camera – the highest count in thier range – and the use of Symbian OS, S60 5th edition, the same as can be found on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the N97.
Sony Ericsson chose a touchscreen design for the Satio and although it doesn’t break any new ground in terms of looks, it does have a certain style about it, especially in the Bordeaux and Silver colour schemes. At 13mm thick and 126 grams, the Satio maintains a similar size and weight to its rivals, but when you turn the phone on its side, the sliding lens cover bulges out, ruining the smooth and slender frame. However, this is only an aesthetic issue, as when holding it sideways, the rounded edges and protruding lens gives a far more ‘camera’ like experience when taking pictures.
The Satio is one of a pair of new multimedia mobile phones to be released by Sony Ericsson this year, the other being the Aino, and instead of being created to excel as either a camera or a music phone, the Satio does both by havong an excellent camera and a powerful music player. Sliding that lens coveraside reveals the 12.1 megapixel lens, flanked by a video light and a xenon flash, for excellent lowlight performance. Face and smile detection are both onboard, along with Touch Focus, a new feature where a simple tap of the screen sees the camera focus on that spot and capture the picture, so you dont have to centre the viewfinder on your preffered subject. Additionally, tweaks such as image stabilisation, BestPic and a 12x digital zoom are all included.
The touchscreen is a 16 million colour, 3.5″ TFT with a resolution of 360×640. An accelerometer controls its orientation and since it’s a resistive item, Sony Ericsson have included a stylus, but instead of building it into the casting it’s supplied seperately on a lanyard. Whether you think you’ll need it will be down to personal preference, however Symbian S60 5th edition is a very finger- friendly OS – as anyone who has used the Nokia 5800 will testify – and unless you’re tapping out a lengthy email or holding an in-depth IM conversation, it’s doubtful you’ll need it during everyday use. To combat any keyboard issues, the Satio gives the choice of using a small portrait QWERTY keyboard, a larger landscape one or the traditional alphanumeric pad. For dialing, the phone has an easily accessed number pad. Sony Ericsson have overlaid 5th Edition with their familiar icon based, grid format menu – brought to life with the central of the three hardware keys under the screen – where all the features of the phone can be accessed. They have also carried over a variation on the Xpress Music key found on the 5800, only here it’s a virtual key located in the top right of the home screen and gives quick access to all the multimedia functions.
As a 3G phone with HSDPA and HSUPA support, the Satio is already well-connected, but when you add in Wi-Fi, A2DP, Bluetooth and assisted GPS, it covers every base. Sony Ericsson’s recent switch to MicroSD card storage sees the memory stick slot replaced by this more readily available format, and they’ll be throwing in a 8GB card in for free. Plus the music and video player is backed up by a stereo FM radio with RDS. A well thought out gallery lets you fllick through your album, plus all the usual organisers and calendar options are there, along with the Sony Ericsson PlayNow and TrackID features.
Sony Ericsson seem to have pulled out all the stops with the Satio, blessing it with a stylish design, a good OS, a massive megapixel camera, a sensible storage solution and every connectivity option you’ll likely need. It’s a shame then, they have not given it a 3.5mm socket, leaving it once more to their proprietary adaptor to house it. This is unfortunate as the media player is a good one and it does take the Satio one step away from perfection, however, it won’t bother everyone, especially when the rest of the package is as superb as the Satio’s!
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51 Comments
Really quite a terrible phone – I wouldn’t bother if I were you. Poor battery life, poor software, poor interface, crashes every other day. Generally just poor.
Such a shame because it should/could have been great, instead it just leaves you feeling angry for having bought it. Avoid avoid avoid!
Probably the worst phone i’ve ever had, constantly powering itself off, recurring bugs that include it getting stuck and you cant touch the screen or do anything, the battery life lasts about 3 hours if you lucky, absolutely awful, i regret buying it.
Where are the deals for this phone? it seems as they disappeared from the website
No you’re not, lol.
You do realise Sony have taken this phone off the market because of software problem? They’ve said that anybody having problems with the phone at the moment, should take it straight back to the store they purchased it from, so they can have it sent off to Sony and have the issue resolved.
They haven’t given an official re-release date, but apparently it’s going to be a long wait, and won’t be any time soon after Christmas =\
why are there no deals for this phone anymore???
i desperately wanted it and couldnt convince my dad in time to cancel my existing contract … and now it has dissappeared???
im getting this fone for xmas
xx
can you get the phone on pay as you go? i really need to know as soon as possible x
Thank you for a very instructive article – more often I will go
Cann you but it withoutt going on contact??, if soo how much is it??
i purchased this phone on 24 month contract from vodaphone .Phone do not come with bluetooth headphone which Vodaphone has claimed on their website. Secondly the instructions manual which comes with the phone package is not complete. its short of infromation. Regarding the gps software untill today no company hass produced software for this so useless to use this functions. i would give 2,5 /10 scores.
this phone is one off the first phones ive hated it crashed 4 times in less than 8 hours from getting it if your expecting great things from it you will be very dissipointed . its basicly a nokia n95 in many ways but touch screen and in a sony body the only thing whats good about the phone is the cam . web browsing is very slow . also the phone feels very cheep like it will break easy . can t get apps like i phone . worst thing sony have done they should have never used nokia softwere or coppyed it .
can i get this with o2 network
what is the cost in hyderabad can i know the cost for this peace
heloo
i love pink
i wondered will it be coming out in pink before christmas?
because i really want it but ide like it in pink
any news ?
Can u get other apps for it like the I-Phone??
when will the satio be available on pay as you go can you let me know please.
cheers.
when does it get released on orange! the actual date ! as i have ordered it from a website but it just says “sony ericsson satio coming this october! ” but now we are more than half way through the month and i still havent recieed my phone !!! :@
when can i get it on pay as you go because i am not allowed a contract phone ?? x
any 1 got a release date for it on orange keep gettin told its soon wen is soon ????
correction:
I hope this will NOT be disapointed to me.
——————————–
Hi All,
it been long time i never look back on Sony Ericsson. ever since Sony and Ericsson is combine, i swifted to use “Nokia” for many years. This is my first time which wanted to try up SE Satio again. I hope this will be disapointed to me. However, i guess the release date for this phone is rather too late. As SE shouldnt keep the customer waited for too long or rather give other mobile phone supplier to catch up what satio has. For long run, customer which couldnt wait will go for other brand or model.
Hope SE could consider this points and speed up the process. Hopefully, SE could supply to all the 3 singapore network provider.
Warm regards
Bens
There is a problem, I know what it is but can’t say and trust me it will be a problem for pretty much everyone. I give you a clue you won’t be able to get to applications as fast as you could
Actually bought it from Voaphone on Fri and expected a Sat delivery but was delayed until today…SE store itself released it for sale yesterday…if there was a problem with software then maybe SE store would not have released it…I am a little concerned now
Mine will be delivered today…cant wait for it…hope it is trouble free
when does this phone come out on 3 ? im on a roling contract so cant change terrifs howeever am due an upgrade! cheers
HI, just to let you know anyone buying it on Vodafone, they were the only network who took the phone on with the software issue and thats why they have the phone now, so be prepared to have a few issues with the phone
We’ve been told if you order from Phones4u today you should have it by the 15th.
DialaPhone will be getting it shortly
Hope that helps
I was told by O2 that they should have it in from the 19th October.
It seems that only the black and silver versions are avaliable at the present. Does anyone know why the bordeux (red) isn’t being released yet, or if it is who’s suppling it?
just ordered mine from vodafone and my brother did and they are being delivered tomorrow yay!!!!!
told today wont be coming out on o2 as it conflicts with there other phones
im moving over to vodaphone
oh my giddy aunt just read about this phone and it sounds amazing i didnt want the sony ericsson w995 but that flew out the window when i heard about this 12 mp camera i love it hope i can get it
Yea its only pre order no one has the stock yet that i no off. Here is why.
Following on from yesterday disappointing news that Satio, Sony Ericsson’s flagship entertainment device, would be delayed we have some more details to provide. The major piece of news is that the delay was caused by the need for a software update to be performed. This is both good and bad new. Bad because it doesn’t bode well for the reliability of the handset that the software has had to be tinkered with the day before it was due to go on sale. On the other hand it shows that Sony Ericsson are at least on the ball and trying to nip a potential problem in the bud.
Then there’s the question of just exactly when Satio will see the light of day. What I’m hearing is that the handset should (note the use of the word should) go on sale sometime next week. If that’s true then fair enough, not ideal, but it’s not too much of a delay and shouldn’t seriously impact Satio’s sales. However, I am hearing from orange that they won’t be selling Satio until the end of October! No actual date was given, but ‘end of’ doesn’t sound good. Of course this might just be Orange and other retailers may sell Satio sooner, but even if that is the case it’s still a blow to Satio.
All in all it looks like a half-baked launch that’s descended into the typical Sony Ericsson circus that we’ve come to expect from their high-end product launches. I just hope that we see Satio hit the shelves sooner rather than later.
ive orderd it it with vodafone and it comes to uk on the 13th of october
You can order it now from Phones4U website.
Just spoke to phone’s 4 u and they said there not getting it in till the 14th.
The Phone is avaiable in the UK now at Phones4U.
Im afraid I dont have details for kuwait.
when will this phone be avalible in the uk??? what will the price beee?????
when it will launch in kuwait please, some put the release date
i really2 wanted to own SE Satio, been waiting for it since summer.hope it will be available here in the Philippines before the month ends.
Will it be on pay as you go? I dont want it to be on contract as i am already currently on one
what about cost in hyderabad
Well I’m, really, really looking forward to this phone as a replacement to my C902. T-mobile are apparently getting it too according to their website but unlike others they haven’t yet given it a date, only a vague “October 09″. Not that it really matters too much since my contract doesn’t expire until November 28th anyway lol.
I was considering maybe getting a Blackberry Curve as I wanted a smartphone but then I noticed the Satio was coming and being that for around 5 years I’ve only owned SE phones why bother going against it now? In any case the phone looks a lot sleeker than the comparably larger Curve. And 12mp camera? Wow!!
will i be able to create folders within the calender as with the p900 if not does any phone now im lost without this
So its coming soon…this is the reply from SE regarding my inquiry
Dear Customer
We are expecting the Satio to be released Sim free the 9th Oct.
Best Regards,
Julian Arden
Sony Ericsson E-Shop
It will be available across all networks. The release date is estimated for early October.
Price will vary depending on the contract.
Hope this helps
will i be able to get this phone on orange? when and how much will it be?
how much is it going to be?
is it only going to be available on o2 and vodafone?
O2 – 5th October
Vodafone – October
Brilliant…have waited for a long time to get this phone. Tried N97 in the meantime and didnt like it…returned it ack in less than 48 hrs…hope I am not disappoined with this. Does anyone know when it will be available in UK
i love this phone but i dont have it yet