Every connoisseur of conundrums will appreciate the predicament faced by Sony Ericsson.
With the Walkman name to be found on many best in breed music phones, and with Cybershot enjoying a similar status where camphones are concerned, the company faced a difficult and arguably critical decision in deciding where to position the Satio.
To begin with, as Techradar notes, “music playback is top notch”, so should the Satio emphasise its Walkman Heritage?
But then again, says Cnet, “this 12.1-megapixel monster takes the best shots we've seen from a camera phone.” And given that the Samsung Pixon 12 is the only other handset to currently boast so many pixels, would Sony be better advised to focus on its Cybershot credentials?
The Satio, Mobile Choice enthuses, is “jam packed with features thanks to the combining of the Cyber-shot and Walkman elements. No one can argue with the awesome music player and above average camera, and the TFT "nano-HD" screen is also top-notch for playing movies.”
Either way, “on paper, the Sony Ericsson Satio smartphone certainly looks impressive,” thinks PC Advisor.
The solution, explains Techradar, is that “not content with being leaders in cameraphone and multimedia technology, Sony Ericsson has decided to put the two Walkman and Cybershot brands together in the new Satio.”
That clearly makes sense. But the danger is, now that we know that Sony can combine the two, will we always expect them to do so?
After all, you may primarily want to be able to listen to music when you are not making calls, but might you not also like your phone to take decent pics as well?
Is it still reasonable for Sony to ask us to choose between Walkman and Cybershot, or is the performance of the Satio proof we no longer need to?
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“If you’re expecting an awesome camera phone, you won’t be disappointed,” confirms Knowyourmobile. Likewise “if you’re looking for a brilliant audio and video experience, it can hold its own against the best media phones out there.”
“But,” Knowyourmobile go on to warn, “if you’re after both those things and a phone that works simply without crashing, you might be out of luck.”
“Using the Symbian S60 OS is a good and bad thing for Sony Ericsson to have done in our book,” explains Techradar.
Because, Knowyourmobile adds, the OS “appeared quite buggy”.
PC Advisor agree “scrolling is a frustrating experience, annoyingly following your finger when flicking through a list - single and double click inconsistencies remain in various functions, and there is no dedicated Symbian app store.”
“When we've become used to the likes of Apple, HTC and Palm all giving us slick UIs,” moaned Techradar, “we've perhaps started to expect a little bit more.”
Even so, thinks Mobile Choice, “where Sony Ericsson has made the biggest leap from phones of yore is in the screen, which displays videos in gorgeous clarity and colour.”
“The widescreen display is one of the best in its class,” acknowledges PC Advisor, “possessing good viewing angles, rich colour and clarity.”
Unfortunately, warns Cnet, “for torturing purposes, it sports a resistive touchscreen. This type of display requires the pressure of a fingernail to work. The Satio even includes a stylus in the box, which is a dark portent of how tough the screen can be to use with your fingers.”
“The stylus is, well, stylish, the only downside being that you have to use it to be able to type with any real accuracy on the small virtual keyboard,” confirms Knowyourmobile.
Without it, says Techradar, “typing a message is a bit of a hit and miss affair.” Consequently, as a result of “the fact that we did have to press pretty hard while typing,” concedes Mobile Choice, “this wouldn’t be our choice as an email/messaging device.”
But, says Cnet, “one aspect of the phone that doesn't disappoint is its camera. This 12.1-megapixel monster takes the best shots we've seen from a camera phone.”
“It boasts face and smile detection, 12x digital zoom, touch focus and a Xenon flash,” confirms Knowyourmobile. “The resultant quality is superb, in a range of conditions.”
“The auto-focus works really well,” continues Mobile Choice, “with a touch focus option if you want to focus on some object other than centre.”
“The photography on the phone is fantastic,” agrees Techradar, with even PC Advisor accepting “the Satio's camera is one of the best we've seen. It takes clear, sharp photos with excellent colour reproduction.”
Similarly, notes Knowyourmobile, “the handset’s media player was another plus point. Thanks largely to the ample display, video playback is a very pleasant experience. Audio quality was also good.”
Techradar confirms “the music playback on the Satio is top notch,” while Mobile Choice describes it as “awesome”. However PC Advisor is not alone in thinking the omission of a 3.5mm headphone jack “inexcusable, especially at this price point.”
Connectivity was also a noticeable disappointment, and Mobile Choice articulated a common complaint, stating the Satio “finds Wi-Fi networks very quickly, but connects more slowly and dropped the connection a couple times. We had a similar problem with GPS and Google Maps; the phone was slow to get a fix, and slow to provide direction.”
For Knowyourmobile “the handset is phenomenally successful when it comes to imagery, but lacks excellence in other areas and completely fails on a few.”
“No dynamic scrolling, a fiddly accelerometer, no smart-fit on the web browser, inaccurate touchscreen,” Techradar complains, “the list goes on.”
Cnet chooses to mention “the irritating resistive touchscreen and confusing keyboards” that “take the pleasure out of poking this handset.”
Mobile Choice concurs that “while its web and GPS features have their imperfections, as a phone for listening to music and watching TV, the Satio checks all the multimedia boxes.”
In other words, despite bringing together an outstanding camera and more than acceptable music player, Sony Ericsson have failed to produce a handset that performs well in many other key areas.
For photo freaks and some music lovers this may not matter. But for others the Satio clearly remains a case of close, but no cigar.
Both Walkman and Cybershot can retain their own identities for a while yet.