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Sony Ericsson Satio (photos)

Check out CNET's hands-on photos of the Sony Ericsson Satio and picture samples from its 12.1-megapixel camera.

Bonnie Cha
Bonnie Cha was a former chief correspondent for CNET Crave, covering every kind of tech toy imaginable (with a special obsession for robots and Star Wars-related stuff). When she's not scoping out stories, you can find her checking out live music or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.
Bonnie Cha
1 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Sony Ericsson Satio

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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2 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Touch screen

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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3 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Mission control

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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4 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Right side

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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5 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Left side

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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6 of 11 Sarah Tew/CNET

Camera

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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7 of 11 Bonnie Cha/CNET

Picture quality

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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8 of 11 Bonnie Cha/CNET

Outdoor shots

The Satio's camera did pretty well with outdoor shots.
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9 of 11 Bonnie Cha/CNET

Nighttime shots

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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10 of 11 Bonnie Cha/CNET

Macro shots

We were impressed with macro shots and the amount of detail that was captured in the image.
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11 of 11 Bonnie Cha/CNET

True colors

Colors were vibrant in some photos, such as this one, and a bit faded in others.

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