Also impressive is the video player, which supports MP4, 3GP, ASF, WMV, and Real Video formats. You can use it to watch regular video clips as well as video podcasts. A nice bonus is the YouTube application that lets you watch streaming video from YouTube. The Aino has a roomy 55MB of internal memory, but you'll want a microSD card to load all your media. Thankfully, the phone comes with an 8GB microSD card to help you get started. If you don't want to load your media to the card, you can also access your media files remotely if you have a Sony PlayStation 3 thanks to Aino's Remote Play compatibility. Another option is to transfer files wirelessly via Sony's Media Go application.
We were also quite impressed with the options available with the 8.1-megapixel camera. You can take pictures in five resolutions including a full HD 16:9 option. Settings include a self-timer, flash, macro focus, autofocus, an infinite focus mode that ignores the autofocus for longer distance shots, and geotagging. You can take photos simply by tapping on the screen, which also helps to focus in on whatever you're tapping. There's also a unique face-detection mode that will automatically detect and focus in on a subject's face right before you snap a photo. After you take the photo, you can make it black and white, or you can fix any red eyes via the one-touch photo edit tool.
The camcorder is quite good as well. You can record videos in three resolutions (16:9 HD, VGA, and 4:3 MMS) and you can toggle the night mode, the LED light, the microphone, and the image stabilizer. There's a self-timer option as well. Photo quality is quite good--pictures looked sharp for the most part, but we did wish the colors looked brighter. Video quality was okay. Video looked rather pixelated and washed out at times, but they're decent enough for short clips to share with friends.
The Aino comes with a surprising number of applications. They include AccuWeather, Bluetooth Robot, Music Quiz, Photo Mate, Wisepilot, and the aforementioned YouTube. There are also dedicated applications for Facebook and Twitter. The Aino has a few games as well, like Crazy Penguin and Quadrapop. More options are available via the Web browser, as are additional graphics and ringtones.
Performance
We tested the quad-band Sony Ericsson Aino in San Francisco using AT&T's network. Though it is unlocked, the Aino supports AT&T's 3G network, but not T-Mobile's. Call quality was very good on the whole. On our end, we heard our callers loud and clear without much distortion or background noise. Their voices sounded natural, almost as if they were on a landline.
Callers reported similarly excellent call quality. They reported little to no static, plenty of volume, and a very natural sounding voice. Automated voice systems responded to our voice without issue as well. Speakerphone calls were quite good--callers said they could hardly tell we were using a speakerphone, as there was hardly any echo effect at all. On our end, we heard them clearly enough via the phone's speakers.
Audio quality was really quite good, even via the phone's speakers. Though a little on the harsh and tinny side, you could still make out the differences between equalizer settings. When heard via a headset though, the audio sounded superb without any tinny effects at all. The bass equalizer setting, for example, really amplified the bass of the songs.
Video quality was quite stunning as well. We weren't able to test out the streaming video quality from YouTube, but we did test it out with a few sample video clips. They look really sharp and colorful, thanks to the nice display.
The Sony Ericsson Aino has a rated battery life of 13 hours of talk time and 15.8 days of standby time. Our tests showed a much lower talk time of 5 hours and 55 minutes. According to the FCC radiation tests, it has a digital SAR of 0.88 watt per kilogram.
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