Sony Ericsson's touchscreen turmoil
Two prominent Sony Ericsson handsets have been returned en mass to retailers in the UK, with customers concerned about issues regarding the phones' touchscreens.
The back half of 2009 saw Sony Ericsson launch two well-featured and highly desirable touchscreen smartphones, but reports from overseas are suggesting that both the Satio and Aino are suffering from some very frustrating software issues.
CNET UK reported last week that the Sony Ericsson Satio had been pulled from two of UK's largest mobile phone retail channels, Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U, with Carphone Warehouse releasing a statement saying its decision to pull the Satio was due to issues which may "result in a customer experience that is below our usually high standards".
The Aino is now also under scrutiny with customers reporting touchscreen problems, and blogs including Edgadget and the Boy Genius Report reporting that Carphone Warehouse had once again pulled stock from shelves, although the company's online store still lists the Aino as being for sale.
So far there has not been the same response regarding software issues from Australians who have purchased either the Satio or Aino, which may indicate that the problem is isolated to a batch of products shipped to the UK.
Update: Sony Ericsson Australia has replied to these concerns noting that the problems with Satio and Aino do seem to be isolated to UK cusotmers and that "this issue affects only a very small number of handsets." In response to concerns about the Satio, Sany Ericsson has made the following statement: