The waiting’s over… it’s nearly been unbearable (yes, I’m an impatient git), but today’s Sony Ericsson announcement has gone off without a hitch and we’ve got three brand new phones to show for it.
Yep, the new Entertainment Unlimited series has taken the stage in a big way!
The whole ethos of the Entertainment Unlimited seems to be to give the user the best media experience imaginable, whether media means video, or photos, or music, or games. So, you’ve got a range of phones that takes the best from the Cyber-Shot and Walkman brands, and adds in new features of its own, to make a series of phones that are, for the most part, gob-smackingly nice.
Oh, and unusually, they don’t have names made of letters and numbers. It seems that each Entertainment Unlimited phone will actually get its own, proper name.
Basically, if you haven’t already guessed, I’m really rather excited by the new Entertainment Unlimited range. So… let’s find out why…
Sony Ericsson Satio
Now, we’ve all known that Entertainment Unlimited’s been coming for a while now, and the reason we’ve known that is because the first one, the magnificent Sony Ericsson Idou, was announced in February. As has been stated in many places before, Idou was always just its development codename.
Well, the Idou has officially got a name now… say hello to the Sony Ericsson Satio.
I’m not going to go into a huge amount of detail, since I’ve banged on about the Idou incessantly since it was launched. And since the Sony Ericsson Satio is exactly the same phone, you should all know its specs by now. But if you don’t, you’re looking at a 12MP camera, with Cyber-Shot technology; Walkman music technology; Symbian Touch to give it true smartphone credentials; and Facebook and Youtube apps straight out of the box. Oh, and it’s going to come with an 8Gb memory card in the box, so it really will be one of the most powerful and highest specced phones of the entire year.
Sony Ericsson Aino
Meanwhile, the Satio’s got a baby sibling, in the form of the Sony Ericsson Aino. Again, you’re looking at a touchscreen interface, but this one is potentially more exciting from a “ooh, we’ve not seen anything like this before”; unlike its big brother, the Sony Ericsson Aino doesn’t use Symbian. What it actually uses is a brand new, never before seen, touch version of the standard Sony Ericsson feature phone OS, as seen in phones like the C905.
Ooh, I can’t wait to have a play with that, to see how SE have implemented it. As for other features, you’re looking at an 8MP camera, and media playback based on the PS3 media player. Oh, and it has a design, with a slide-out keyboard that seems certain to put it up against the Samsung Tocco Ultra, in the fight for best looking, mid-range, touch-based, almost-smartphone.
Ah, yes, while we’re talking about PS3 tech, the Sony Ericsson Aino is designed to sync up with, and let you remotely control your PS3. And that doesn’t just mean while you’re in the same room with it. You can even go through the mobile internet connection, and remotely control your PS3 from absolutely anywhere.
That, right… that is smurfing awesome!
[EDIT: Just to clear up any confusion, that doesn't mean you'll be able to play PS3 games through the Aino. What it does mean is streaming media content over the airwaves from your PS3, to your Aino. Sorry for any confusion. Yes, I got my hopes up on that, too...]
Sony Ericsson Yari
So, we’ve seen the two really exciting phones, but Entertainment Unlimited will also have some mid-range phones, and the first of those is the Sony Ericsson Yari. While the Satio’s big feature is the 12MP camera, and the Aino’s big and unique feature is fully mobile remote control of your PS3 (seriously, that’s awesome), the Sony Ericsson Yari’s big gimmick is gesture gaming.
So, what we’ve got in the Sony Ericsson Yari is a phone where you can control the action onscreen by waving your hands in front of the camera, kinda like a better looking EyeToy. Oh, and motion gaming, where waving the phone about controls the action onscreen, which is also pretty damn cool.
Sure, it can’t hold a candle to its bigger siblings, but with a 5MP camera and a brilliant music player, it will hold its own against its other mid-range rivals.
So there you go, three new phones, and they’re all brilliant. And the best news (for me, anyway, since I predicted this ages ago)? The Satio and the Aino are hopefully due to be released in October.
October can’t get here fast enough!
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