I’m not sure how many of you anticipated this, but Sony Ericsson has just launched two new multimedia phones, both of which have high-end cameras, despite not being integrated into the Cyber-shot family. The first new phone is Sony Ericsson Aino, a touchscreen handset that also has a sliding alphanumeric keypad.
The Aino comes with two new services from Sony Ericsson: Remote Play, which lets you “control and access media content on PlayStation 3”, and Media Go, which “helps you transfer, play and organize all your music, photos, videos and podcasts from your PC simply and effortlessly to enjoy directly on Aino via Wi-Fi.”
Moreover, SE Aino lets you access the PlayTV service on PlayStation 3 – but only if you’re in France, Spain, Italy, Germany or the UK.
The specs of Sony Ericsson Aino include:
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
- Tri-band UMTS/HSPA connectivity (850/900/2100 or 850/1900/2100 MHz)
- 3 inch TFT touchscreen display with 16 million colors and 240 x 432 pixels
- Accelerometer
- Wi-Fi
- DLNA
- A-GPS
- Bluetooth
- Motion gaming
- 8.1MP camera with autofocus, image stabilizer, LED flash
- 8GB MicroSDHC card in the box (yup, the Aino doesn’t use M2 cards)
- 104 x 50 x 15.5 mm
- 134 grams
Sony Ericsson Aino will be available starting the fourth quarter of 2009, in two color versions: Luminous White and Obsidian Black. Its price will be announced later on.
The second new phone is Sony Ericsson Yari, a handset that’s presented as a gaming phone. It’s a slider that comes with gesture and motion gaming, as well as lots of pre-loaded games.
The features of Sony Ericsson Yari are kind of similar to the ones of Aino, with the following main differences on Yari:
- 2.4 inch QGVA display
- 5MP autofocus camera
- No Wi-Fi
- 1GB MicroSD card in the box
“Yari is the industry’s first mobile phone with gesture gaming outside of the Japanese market. It’s time to move like you’ve never moved on a mobile phone before! With Gesture gaming you move your body to play instead of pressing buttons on the phone, giving you a fun experience that even helps you keep fit. If you’ve exhausted yourself with the games there are loads of other multimedia features to enjoy. Snap your friends with the five Megapixel camera or chill out to your favorite tunes with the state-of-the art music player,” declared Catherine Cherry, Market Business Manager at Sony Ericsson.
Like the Aino, Sony Ericsson Yari will be commercially available in the fourth quarter of 2009. It will come in two color versions (Achromatic Black and Cranberry White) for an estimated retail price of €400 (about $557).
