Introduced as a concept phone at Mobile World Congress, the Sony Ericsson Satio is now available directly from SonyStyle for $649 unlocked. The Symbian-based phone is big on entertainment offers a 12.1-megapixel camera and a Walkman music player.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Sarah Tew/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
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Mission control
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Left side
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True colors
The Satio features a 3.5-inch resistive touch screen. It's not quite as sensitive as a capacitive display, so you'll need to apply a bit more pressure on the screen or use the included stylus.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Sarah Tew/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
Touch screen
Mission control
Right side
Left side
Camera
Picture quality
Outdoor shots
Nighttime shots
Macro shots
True colors
Though you'll use the touch screen for most things, you do get some physical controls, including Talk and End keys and a menu button, below the display.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Sarah Tew/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
Touch screen
Mission control
Right side
Left side
Camera
Picture quality
Outdoor shots
Nighttime shots
Macro shots
True colors
On the right side, you will find a number of buttons, including a volume rocker that doubles as zoom controls for the camera, a media gallery shortcut, a button to switch between camera and video mode, and a capture key.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Sarah Tew/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
Touch screen
Mission control
Right side
Left side
Camera
Picture quality
Outdoor shots
Nighttime shots
Macro shots
True colors
Meanwhile, on the left, you'll find a lock switch, the microSD expansion slot, and Sony Ericsson's proprietary USB/headset port. The latter is quite annoying since it restricts you to using Sony Ericsson's own accessories or requires that you get adapters.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Sarah Tew/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
Touch screen
Mission control
Right side
Left side
Camera
Picture quality
Outdoor shots
Nighttime shots
Macro shots
True colors
The Satio's highlight is its 12.1-megapixel camera. It offers a number of advanced options, such as red-eye reduction, a Xenon and LED flash, and smile detection, and can also record VGA video at 30 frames per second.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Sarah Tew/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
Touch screen
Mission control
Right side
Left side
Camera
Picture quality
Outdoor shots
Nighttime shots
Macro shots
True colors
For a 12.1-megapixel camera, we were a little disappointed by the picture quality. It did well in some aspects but faltered in others. In this photo, the flash proved to be a little too much.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Bonnie Cha/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
Touch screen
Mission control
Right side
Left side
Camera
Picture quality
Outdoor shots
Nighttime shots
Macro shots
True colors
The Satio's camera did pretty well with outdoor shots.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Bonnie Cha/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
Touch screen
Mission control
Right side
Left side
Camera
Picture quality
Outdoor shots
Nighttime shots
Macro shots
True colors
Obviously, it didn't fare so well with nighttime shots, but the camera and flash delivered when we took photos in darker rooms.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Bonnie Cha/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
Touch screen
Mission control
Right side
Left side
Camera
Picture quality
Outdoor shots
Nighttime shots
Macro shots
True colors
We were impressed with macro shots and the amount of detail that was captured in the image.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Bonnie Cha/CNET
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Sony Ericsson Satio
Touch screen
Mission control
Right side
Left side
Camera
Picture quality
Outdoor shots
Nighttime shots
Macro shots
True colors
Colors were vibrant in some photos, such as this one, and a bit faded in others.
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Caption:Bonnie Cha
/ Photo: Bonnie Cha/CNET
