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Aino and Satio will both launch around the 7 of October. SE has issued a “save the date” press invite with “To celebrate the retail launch of Sony Ericsson’s hotly anticipated Satio and Aino handsets” in the memo.

Well well, it looks like the mythical Sony Ericsson Satio is soon to go from beautiful fever-dream to actual reality — it’s popped into the FCC database with test results on GSM 850 and 1900, otherwise known as EDGE. Yeah, that sort of sucks, but we’re still holding out hope, since we don’t know the full story — it could be destined for a lame existence on AT&T, it could be sold unlocked, or it could be a Canadian or Latin American model. Seriously, though — it’s the Satio, and the government has one. You know what that means.

 
Busy people who missed out on their favorite hit movies or television series can watch these anytime and anywhere with the use of their Satio phone.
 
“Currently, we offer blockbuster movies, music videos and games. Basically, we have the option for the consumers to choose from a library to download three free of charge,” Ishizuka said.
 
Peter Ang, Sony Ericsson’s Vice President, Marketing Asia Pacific Region said that the Satio can get access to the internet through WIFI and 3G network.
 
“You can access to the internet very easily just one click and you can get into that,” he said.
 
Ang added that Satio will be made available in the early part of the fourth quarter in the home region.
 
Sony Ericsson Product Planner Maiko Ishida said that experiences and lessons learned from consumers’ feedback from the walkman and cyber-shot phones have been combined into the Satio.
 
“We have gathered all of the entertainment unlimited experiences that we have gained from the past cyber-shot phone. So, face detection, yes it’s there. Smile detector and the panorama, Bestpic, its all there. Everything that we have gained from the previous cyber-shot is in here,” said Ishida.
 
Ishida demonstrated to the press some of the features of the touchscreen phone. She also showed photos she personally took using her 12.1 megapixel Satio.
 
“So we have worked very closely [with Sony] to get the quality of the pictures. We also have this Xenon flash which allows you to take very bright pictures,” she said.
 
The Satio, she said, is based on an open platform, Symbian, allowing its users “great freedom to download zillions of applications”.
 
Satio is also the first Sony Ericsson phone to offer ninth High Definition (nHD) gaming that gives its users the best in mobile High Definition TV.
 
The Satio phone which will be available in three colors—black, silver and Bordeaux –also comes bundled with an expandable 8-gig card to store more movies.
 
The Satio also comes with the popular Asphalt Road and Prince of Persia games available in nHD format; a choice of three movie titles from a selection of more than 50 blockbuster movies; and a pick of three music videos from a library of up to 300.
 
The extensive content library of downloadable games, movies, music videos and latest tracks are exclusive for Asia Pacific consumers only.

 Hilton went public with her new “BFF” relationship with new besty Sony Ericsson: “One is even like a watch with a phone on it and it’s so cool,” she said. “So I’m switching my BlackBerry to Sony Ericcson today. Sorry BlackBerry, I’m now a Sony Ericcson user and very excited.” Hilton was given five new toys from Sony Ericsson, one of which is a watch phone. If in fact that Hilton is using an XPERIA device, then Windows Mobile isn’t that complicated. Really, if Paris can be a Windows Phone user, then anybody can learn to use Windows Phone.

Finally, we´ve got the Sony Ericsson Satio Review in our hands! Well, this is not a final, retail unit, but rather an early prototype. That is why we are coming up with a preview, without passing final judgment. Still, we are more than happy to take a peek at what we will officially have in Q4 this year and can´t wait to get down to the testing.

The upper back of the phone is slightly bulging, because the 12 megapixel, xenon flash camera is hidden under a sliding cover right there. Aside from the flash, there is LED light to help camera focus objects more easily. We need to point out the second you slide the cover open, both a small indicator right below the camera and the shutter itself start blinking in bright blue, which reminds us of the Cyber-shot lineup again. Naturally, we couldn’t help taking several pictures and you can see them under the camera and multimedia section of this preview. Before we get there, let´s first take a look at the interface that powers the Sony Ericsson Satio.

Let´s just first fill you in on the background of the Sony Ericsson Satio though. Actually, Satio is the official name ofthe device that was, initially, announced as the Sony Ericsson Idou at MWC 2009. It´s advertised as the company´s first all-in-one multimedia cell phone and is to lend some color to their range. It is their first one in their lineup to feature 12-megapixel camera (with xenon flash) and run Symbian S60 (although, it was initially announced as a Symbian Foundation OS gadget). Other nice features include 3.5-inch, touch sensitive screen with 360×640 pixel resolution and delivers 16 mln. colors at cinematic 16:9 ratio, Wi-Fi functionality, built-in GPS etc. Cool, isn’t it? Can it pose a threat and be worthy adversary of the other all-in-one devices on the market?

Design:

Sporting a 3.5-inch resistive, touch sensitive screen means you can´t expect the Sony Ericsson Satio to be a small device, but its size is pretty OK with us, given the functionality it delivers. It´s interesting to notice that despite it looks rather bulky, the phone feels light in your hand and we hope this stays the same when the retail version comes out. Like the Samsung OMNIA HD and Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, there are only three buttons on the front side – send and end, along with a third one that´s located right between the latter and pressing it gets you to either the main menu or task manager. The light sensor that automatically controls screen brightness, video call camera, proximity sensor and LED indicator are aligned around the earpiece.

Both microSD card slot and standard, for the manufacturer, charger port (instead of microUSB) are on the left hand side, while camera shutter, mode switcher and gallery access buttons are clearly visible on the opposite side. Volume rocker is used to zoom in and out on things as well. Completely in character of Sony Ericsson, you really get the feeling as if operating digital camera while taking pictures with the phone upright in your hand. We would have liked to see a 3.5mm jack on the device, but again and in character of the brand, we will have to make do with a converter.

The upper back of the phone is slightly bulging, because the 12 megapixel, xenon flash camera is hidden under a sliding cover right there. Aside from the flash, there is LED light to help camera focus objects more easily. We need to point out the second you slide the cover open, both a small indicator right below the camera and the shutter itself start blinking in bright blue, which reminds us of the Cyber-shot lineup again. Naturally, we couldn’t help taking several pictures and you can see them under the camera and multimedia section of this preview. Before we get there, let´s first take a look at the interface that powers the Sony Ericsson Satio.