Sony Ericssion Satio U1i

The Satio is currently top of Sony Ericsson's range of feature phones. It packs in a 12.1 megapixel camera with a Xenon flash, a full touchscreen interface, and class leading media playback. On the surface that's an impressive feature list. The screen is finished in a flexible and highly scratch prone plastic. One advantage of all this plastic is a relatively lightweight device; at 128g it's markedly lighter than its hefty dimensions of 110 x 55 x 18mm/13mm. The front is very minimal with just three buttons, for call answer, menu and call end, sitting below the 3.5in screen, while a video calling camera sits up top. On the left is a slider for locking and unlocking the phone, and below this is the standard Sony Ericsson port for charging, USB connection, and headphone connection. A MicroSD slot supporting cards up to 32GB also sits under a flap and handily the phone recognises when it is inserted or not and changes the camera's default storage appropriately. The camera app starter/shutter button, which is encircled by a glowing blue ring when in use, finishes things off. The only other control is the power button that's on the top

edge. The camera app starter/shutter button, which is encircled by a glowing blue ring when in use, finishes things off. The only other control is the power button that's on the top edge. Sliding the camera cover aside reveals the lens, which quite obviously looks the business compared to most pinhole camera phones. Above it sits the Xenon flash while off to the left is an LED that's used as a focus assist for taking photos and a lamp while recording video. The slide mechanism feels very solid and shouldn't be knocked open too easily but it's still easy to operate when needed.

In the box you get a 40in wired headset adapter and a short set of headphones which are of the canalphone type and come with a choice of three different silicone tip sizes. A lipstick-style stylus, USB cable, and wall charger are also included while an AV cable in particular sets this phone apart from the crowd. It's 60in long, connects to the phone's charger socket and terminates in three phono cables for stereo audio and composite video. The screen packs in 360 x 640 pixels which, though not the most, is certainly sufficient for sharp images and provides enough desktop space to not make browsing the web and such like too much of a chore. Colour reproduction is particularly impressive with plenty of saturation and a bright overall image yet still impressively dark blacks.

Another noteworthy addition SE has made is the multimedia interface. While it doesn't quite have the same level of functionality as the PS3's crossbar interface, which it is trying to imitate, it does make browsing through you media files quick and easy and looks quite pretty. Media playback is also better than many though there's no support for DivX videos or music formats more exotic than MP3, WMA, and AAC. Videos up to 640 x 480 are supported in MPEG4 format, though, and they look great.

Download User Guide for Sony Ericsson Satio U1i

Satio U1i