Sony Ericsson Aino

Rumours of a fully-fledged PlayStation phone may refuse to die, but in the meantime hardcore Sony devotees are going to have to content themselves with the Aino, which represents the company’s most concerted attempt yet to fuse its mobile and video gaming brands into one unified whole.

However, those expecting to be able to carry across interactive experiences from console to phone are going to be sorely disappointed - while the PS3 and Aino are able to communicate with each other, the only features supported are remote play (where you can stream content to your phone from anywhere in the world) and the ability to switch your PS3 on and off - as long as it’s in standby mode, of course.

While such concepts are unquestionably cool on paper, actually getting them to work in reality is another matter entirely. The phone’s pre-loaded user manual is about as much use as a chocolate hat and even Sony Ericsson’s dedicated Remote Play information site fails to go into the required depth.

Hooking the two platforms up via wi-fi is less painful but when using a 3G connection out of the house - and let’s face it, that’s the main draw here - it’s like extracting blood from a particularly dead stone.

Elsewhere, the Aino is subject to similarly disappointing. Despite packing a capacitive touchscreen the phone is predominately operated using the traditional keypad and buttons interface. The touchscreen is only called into play when you’re interacting with media such as music, photos, and video.

It’s a bizarre decision when you consider the popularity of touchscreen handsets these days, and one that leaves us wondering if the Aino was in fact designed by two different teams at Sony Ericsson, each with their own agenda on how it should ultimately function.

There are aspects of the phone which are undeniably fantastic: the bundled Bluetooth headset being possibly the most notable. Connecting it to the phone is a breeze and the cool LED activity panel looks brilliant. Sadly, the Aino’s built-in music player isn’t quite in the same league as the ones seen on the iPhone or Google’s Android.

Sony Ericsson clearly has grand plans for this device, because it comes pre-packed with a host of useful applications - including some pleasing Facebook connectivity - but all of this content is trapped within the archaic menu structure that the company has been using for countless years now.

While it was a definite boon back in the days before touchscreen mobiles changed the way in which we interact with handheld technology, Sony Ericsson’s once-proud menu system just feels outdated here.

It’s made all the more irksome by the fact that the company could have turned the Aino into a fully-fledged touchscreen device of some considerable merit, thanks to the aforementioned capacitive display.

The phone’s big ideas are often stymied by the weak processor, which struggles when more than one operation is taking place at once. This is painfully clear when you’re using the PS3 connection and you receive a text. Everything drops to a crawl, making uninterrupted media streaming almost impossible.

Sony Ericsson has poured a lot of ideas into the Aino but sadly the resultant concoction never really comes together. The capacitive screen, PS3 link, and Bluetooth headset are all very forward-thinking, but these noteworthy ideas are dragged down by an antiquated interface, sluggish CPU, and confusing dual input method which means the phone is never sure if it should rely on physical buttons or the touchscreen.

With Sony Ericsson’s Android-powered Xperia X10 just around the corner, the company may be emerging from a period of confusion which has seen its stock plummet as rival manufacturers have swept in with all-powerful smartphones.

Perhaps the Aino is one last throw of the dice before a new era in the firm’s history begins, but whatever happens in the future the Aino is likely to be remembered as a disappointing failed experiment.