The Satio is Sony Ericsson’s high end nomination as a multimedia powerhouse. Touchscreen and with minimal manual buttons it features the highest res camera available on any mobile at present, packing a mighty 12.1 Megapixels.
Constructed in solid plastic with chromes accents, it feels good in the hand, but not snug. Powering up takes 30+ seconds, but it’s worth it for the widescreen format 3.5 inch resistive touchscreen, displaying 360×640. Powered by Symbian S60, the interface has been tweaked to be similar to Android and provides 5 configurable panes; contacts, web links, home screen, gallery and finally, application shortcuts.
GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and all the features you’d expect are here, but the triumph is the camera with xenon flash, autofocus and face detection. The rear shutter has a pleasing action and the button design is the most comfortable and sensible I’ve used on any camera phone. Video capture at 30 frames/sec can be toggled, but the resolution for this is much lower.
My gripe with the Satio is the resistive touchscreen. After many frustrating taps and attempts to slide, my fingertip control was defeated and I had to revert to the stylus. It was accurate, but felt unnatural after so many better experiences with capacitive screen rivals. My almost mystical ability to lose detachable parts doesn’t help here.
In summary, raw camera power gives the Satio an undeniable desirability, matched only by Samsung’s Pixon 12. The screen was a bugbear for me, but anyone happy with a stylus won’t share my prejudice. Both phones need a bump with a MicroSD card to save any worthwhile data.
