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Hands-On With Sony Ericsson's Phones

Sony Ericsson was nice enough to stop by the office today and they were packing some goodies. I got a little hands-on time with the recently-announced multimedia phones, and I was pleasantly surprised.

The Satio, formerly known as the Idou, is an impressive device that looks and feels like the premium phone it is. The screen's gorgeous, and the true widescreen display looks really really good. It's a bit chunky where the lens is, but there has to be some tradeoffs for a whopping 12-megapixel camera. I think shutter lag is one of the major reasons why many are hesitant to ditch a digital camera entirely for a phone with a camera - when trying to snap pics with my BlackBerry Storm, I routinely miss magic moments thanks to the slow auto-focusing. But you'll be happy to know that the Satio takes crisp, clear pictures almost instantly. I didn't get to test all of it out, but there's also a boatload of face and smile detection software, and it's easy to quickly upload to sites like Facebook and Flickr.

The smartphone will also be the first to run the Symbian Foundation's operating system, and I was able to get a little taste of that. This was obviously pre-production software, but it seemed to run smoothly and the touch screen was responsive. Sony Ericsson is taking interest in open platforms like this and Android because it will enable them to tailor the experience, and the Satio has the familiar Unified Media Bar for its media controls.

We even got into a discussion about the name, and they think it conveys a sense of being high-tech and unique. I'm not quite convinced, but the name isn't as important as delivering a high-quality end-user experience. If they take care of that end, then the name will become associated with something good.

The Satio is slated to hit the United States one way or another in the fourth quarter, and they're working with their carrier partners to get it subsidized and officially supported. Getting in at $199 would be a miracle though, as it is an expensive phone to make. That means this will probably show up at the $299 range if it gets picked up, and that may be a bit too high. This is undoubtedly a premium smartphone experience, but I don't know if U.S. consumers are willing to pay for a premium mobile with an entertainment and camera focus. I was going to get some video of this bad boy, but my Flip died on me, so feel free to check out some video the TechWeb team got at Mobile World Congress.

I also got a chance to play with the Yari, which has gesture-based controls for gaming. This lets you swing your phone to bowl, or to play a fishing game, and the motion controls seem spot on. What really struck me about the Yari is that it is a well-designed device: it's sleek and slim, the build quality is very high, and the slider looks a lot better in person than in pictures. I hate people who describe phones as sexy, but this is a sexy phone.

We also discussed the company's overall strategy for carving out market space in an increasingly competitive field. They're banking on being able to provide the best mobile entertainment out there as a way to differentiate from the likes of Palm, Research In Motion, and others. The iPhone is definitely the leader in this space, but Sony Ericsson seemed confident it has some products that will blow the competition away. They'll be leveraging the Sony half of the company to accomplish this, and I wanted to play with the Aino, which lets you stream multimedia content from your PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, they didn't have a working model for me to get my grubby hands on.

They've made it clear that they're focusing on the U.S. market to help them get back to profitability, and they'll be using entertainment features as the main selling point. Do you think they have a shot at dethroning Apple and RIM with this strategy?

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