Sony Ericsson has a distinguished record for producing Walkmans and camera phones, and for some time we've wondered why they didn't combine the two. Well, now they have: the Sony Ericsson Satio is a 12-megapixel all-round multimedia powerhouse, which also features a QWERTY keyboard and GPS positioning. The company will continue to sell separate Cyber-shot and Walkman-branded phones, but the Satio is a leap forward.

 

Minimalist design
Because of all those multimedia goodies, the Sony Ericsson Satio is a somewhat chunky handset. It features a 3.5-inch resistive touch-screen, Sony Ericsson's first in some time. Below this, three buttons take you to menu, call and hang-up/home functions. The whole design has a minimal feel to it, with only the screen and buttons on the front. The sides of the phone, though are a different matter. Here you will find three dedicated camera keys, a microSD card slot, and a volume and zoom-control slide switch.

In a phone with this musical lineage, we would have expected a 3.5mm jack port for plugging in your own headphones, but this just has Sony Ericsson's regular, rather large, port. To be fair, though, the bundled in-ear headphones sound fine – although the wire is fiddly - and the manufacturer throws in an adaptor plug for your own set of cans.

 

Touch-screen
Sony Ericsson has also changed the user interface. Navigation is built around a homescreen, with a toolbar directing you to favourite contacts, last picture, bookmarks and home. There are shortcuts to messages, media gallery and search.

The touch-screen works well in the main, but can lag when using menus and scrolling. Confusingly, to launch and application takes one tap, but in the settings menu you need two.

You have the option of a full QWERTY keyboard and a mini one, which you can use in portrait or landscape. Both give accurate performance, although the fact you need to tap fairly hard doesn't make it a natural choice for messaging, and it doesn't automatically switch back to the alphabet after inserting a symbol.

The Conversations application is a nice touch – it lets you view your inbox as threaded SMS messages. It's a separate application, so you can't choose this view while you're in your inbox, but it a nifty function.

 

Walkman music player

Sony Ericsson have been producing excellent music players for some time now, and the Satio upholds the standard. It plays perfectly in the background, pausing for message alerts and fading out when you get an incoming call. A widget on the homescreen lets you keep track of your, er, tracks.

You can access Sony Ericsson's download service, PlayNow, and there's also TrackID, which will identify the song you're listening to then let you buy it from PlayNow, if it's available.

The bundled in-ear headphones perform very well, and outside noise is lessened by good suction.A MicroSD card slot means you can boost the 128MB internal memory and carry a good amount of media around with you.

 

12-megapixel camera

Mobile cameras are another area in which Sony Ericsson excels. The Satio, which boasts an incredible 12.1 megapixels and Xenon flash, even looks like a digital camera from the back. Four camera buttons control launch, zoom, shutter release and your gallery, and pics look really good on the 3.5-inch screen.

The auto focus is effective, and you have the option of touch focus if you want your focus anywhere but centre.
The auto settings make for great photos in daylight and low light conditions. Slow shutter release makes getting action shots a frustrating process, but when you do get your shot, the result is great and blur-free.

Other Cyber-shot goodies include Smile Detection; Best Pic, which takes nine quick shots and lets you choose the best; and panorama mode. Unfortunately, video recording is not up to this standard. We didn't manage to get a good result even from only 50cm away.

You can Bluetooth, message or upload your photos directly to Picasa or Blogger. As of yet there's no direct access to Twitter or Facebook, but there's a chance these could be added later.

 

Movies, net and GPS

The Satio's 16-million-colour, 3.5-inch screen really makes the most of the phone's multimedia capabilities. It's 'nano HD' – so pretty much a high-definition screen (although not quite the AMOLED screen featured on handsets like Samsung's i8910HS) and makes both video clips and high-def films look fantastic.

YouTube works well – you can save clips to your video gallery via USB cable or download them directly from PlayNow.

You can also connect the phone to a HD TV via an HDMI cable, and movies still look pretty good.
You browse the net using Sony Ericsson's proprietary browser. We like the clever feature of being able to scroll through your visited pages when you press the Back key. A big options toolbar takes up a lot of screen space, but it's otherwise a comfortable web experience. And if you prefer, you can download the Opera Mini browser instead.

The phone finds Wi-Fi networks quickly, but connects slowly with an unsteady connection. It was also slow to get a GPS fix and took its time over directions.

 

The verdict

The multimedia features of the Sony Ericsson Satio take some beating, with the giant Walkman and Cyber-shot brands coming together in perfect harmony. The screen adds to its appeal. You'll get better messaging from a Blackberry and easier handling from an iPhone, but the Satio more than holds it own in the multimedia arena.