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Sony Ericsson Satio (Idou) Review

Phone rating:

In a nutshell: The Sony Ericsson Satio is probably the best camera phone released, with its 12 megapixel camera and xenon flash. It's a touchscreen Symbian smartphone, with a great music player, aGPS with Google Maps, HSDPA, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. But poor battery life, the lack of a 3.5mm audio jack, a sluggish response from the user interface and dodgy software mean that it loses a couple of stars. Available in Black or Silver.

Review: October 2009. Last updated March 2011.

The Sony Ericsson Satio has enjoyed something of a rollercoaster ride. Released just in time for Christmas 2009, the initial batch was so appallingly bad that it was withdrawn from sale by all of the main UK retailers. Sony Ericsson worked hard to fix the bugs, and it seems that the latest version does what it says on the tin. We've modified our review to reflect the ups and downs of the Satio, but we're now confident that the phone works pretty well.

Sony Ericsson have been slow on the touchscreen front, dipping their toe in gently with the Xperia X1 and some limited touchscreen functionality on other phones. Meanwhile the rest of the world has charged down the touchscreen road at breakneck speed. Sony are now playing catch up with the release of the Aino (still only partially touchscreen) and the Satio. Still, they've gone in all guns blazing with the Satio - not only is it a full touchscreen media phone, but it runs the Symbian operating system and has a 12 megapixel camera and just about every feature that you could think of putting into a mobile phone.

The Satio is a fantastic phone to look at. A bit plasticky perhaps, but solidly built with a good weighty feel. It's narrower than an iPhone, and is a good size to hold. The widescreen display is a good size too, measuring 3.5 inches diagonally. That's the same size as the iPhone, but with more pixels, so no complaints there. The touchscreen feels reasonably responsive, despite being of resistive type (unlike the iPhone's capacitive touchscreen) but doesn't have the speed of an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S. Behind the scenes lies the Symbian operating system, a powerful beast but with sluggish tendencies.

The camera is perhaps the headline feature of the Satio. It's a 12 megapixel monster with a xenon flash for extra brightness in low lighting. The camera is an outstandingly good one, and the Satio is arguably the best camera phone released to date. It's packed with features such as touch autofocus and face detection autofocus, as well as smile detection and BestPic, so there's no excuse for getting an out of focus picture or missing the best shot. We like the way that Sony have integrated touchscreen functionality into the camera interface, making the Satio feel very much like a real Sony digital camera. The Satio isn't a slouch when it comes to video either, using a LED video light to capture video after dark.

The Satio is an all-rounder, with full music support in addition to the outstanding camera. With a built-in FM radio, plus all the usual Sony gadgets like TrackID and album art, this has the potential to replace your MP3 player, although we're disappointed to see that once again Sony have missed off a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you're stuck with the supplied headphones or a Bluetooth headset. We're also a bit miffed that the memory is limited to 128 MB, which is peanuts for a phone of this calibre. Of course you can use the microSD card slot to store your photos and music, but rival smartphones commonly have gigabytes of memory built in nowadays. I guess that we should be grateful that Sony Ericsson has bowed to pressure and made the Satio microSD compatible, instead of forcing their own proprietary Memory Sticks on us.

The Satio is packed with all kinds of other goodies, such as aGPS with Google Maps, a good web browser with fast HSDPA downloading, email support with Exchange ActiveSync and WiFi support. The battery power is not so great. With a huge TFT screen, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth in action this shouldn't be a surprise. Turn off the features that you don't need to save juice.

So, it should be clear that the Satio is Sony Ericsson's blockbuster phone. It's got the lot, although in the year or so since its release times have moved on, and the Satio seems rather over-priced now. We'd choose the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 instead to be honest.

Features of the Sony Ericsson Satio include:

  • 12.1 megapixel camera with xenon flash, touch autofocus, face detection, smile detection, 16x digital zoom, BestPic, image stabiliser, geo-tagging, photo fix and red eye reduction
  • Video camera with video light / video calling
  • Touchscreen display: TFT, 16 million colours, 640 x 360 pixels (3.5 inches) with auto rotation
  • Media player with PlayNow and TrackID support
  • FM radio
  • MP3/AAC ringtones
  • Speakerphone
  • aGPS with Google Maps
  • Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email with Exchange ActiveSync
  • 3D Java games
  • Picture wallpaper
  • Symbian OS
  • Memory: 256 MB RAM plus 128MB flash memory plus microSD memory card
  • Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB mass storage, WiFi, modem
  • Internet: EDGE, 3G HSDPA, web browser, RSS feeds, YouTube support
  • Flight mode
  • Vibration alert
  • Quadband GSM plus dual band 3G HSDPA
  • Size: 112 x 55 x 13 mm
  • Weight: 126g
  • Talktime: 5 hours (3G) - 11 hours (2G)
  • Battery standby: 340 - 360 hours

Sony Ericsson Satio User Reviews

Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

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Average rating from 107 reviews:

Reviewed by connor from uk on 13th Feb 2012
one of the worst phones ever!!!!. the software is useless it freezes all the time it doesn't charge, i have had this phone replaced 6times by orange and i wonder why it has been taken of the market -_-
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Reviewed by che from ireland on 18th Jan 2012
I ran out of battery and I try to charge it then now it won't even turn on . the red light is there and then in a few min. it goes away. then i try taking the battery out and putting it back in but it didn't work. Its been 4 months that its not working, I let it be seen by the service center but they told me to pay expensive amount to update the software. please help what I will do. Until now I dont have a phone.
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Reviewed by gav from united kingdom on 1st Jan 2012
i have just been clearing all the apps and stuff from this phone before my upgrade arrives in a cople of days and now it works for the first time in over a year i dont have to tap the corner of the phone to get the screen working. after this phone i wont touch sony ever again i like sony phone but this is the 4th one in a row that has caused problem i had 2 k800s and a c901 before this the other 3 died before they were 12 months old this has at least kept going for my 24 month contract although never worked properly
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Reviewed by Sonia from England on 20th Dec 2011
Okay by far the best feature of the Satio is the camera. The wi-fi is good. Its pretty fast when it comes to downloading and all. Apart from that.. I dont really think its all that. Ive had mine over a year now, i used it for a while until it started playing up; mine kept on switching of so i just flung it to the back of my draw and kinda forgot about it.. I found it the other day and surprisingly its working now, after many months so im using it again. Urmm i find it boring, i dont think theres much you can do with it. It shouldv been an android phone. Woulda been more fun to use..
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Reviewed by Albert Laik from India on 16th Dec 2011
Usually, m a fan of sony ericsson. Specially the "K" series. My last phones before Satio was K850i, K790i, K550i.. Now, to be honest, there are some secret cons about SE when it comes to after sale services.. Don't expect that of "Nokia Care" Satio offers a very good plateform for photography with is 12.1MP camera which easily dominates the camera phone market. But the rest, is just a junk. GPS that never works from day 1, a resistive touch that can upset you with lots of spelling mistakes, wrong hyperlinks and a processor thats quite slow!
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Reviewed by martin budd from UK on 6th Dec 2011
Like its precursor, the P990, it has insufficient internal memory. This would cause the P990 to go slow or occasionally halt operation, and reportedly the Satio suffers from the same problem. Surprised that Sony haven't put this right. Other than that, a good phone with plenty of features. Handwriting recognition I find very useful. Martin, London UK
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Reviewed by erik bachicha from philippines on 5th Dec 2011
i love this phone
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Reviewed by gord from UK on 17th Jan 2010
I am on my second Satio both have had same fault's worked fine first day then no link to PC unless I reboot phone then only for a few min's Grrrr My other problem with it is the lack of volume I use it for a alarm in the morning's it would not wake a baby up and you can not turn it up grrrr Other than that the phone has been good no problems at all. I to have had Sony phones since my first brick and apart from the K850I have had no problems so have to ask .Why did sony go to Nokia for software ? if I wanted a Nokia I would have got one. I have alway's found Sony phones easy to use but this is not Sony might have there name on it but the software page does say all right's Nokia !! why did Sony let all of us down with this phone ? If I can not get PC problem sorted I will be going back to my C 905 it is bulitproof
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Reviewed by Grant from England on 16th Jan 2010
This is my 3rd Sony Ericsson phone, and I love it. I've had it just under a month and have had no problems with it (except the menus being a bit slow sometimes). In regards to people saying you have to navigate through 5 menus to get it on silent, its not true, hold down the on/off button and it brings up a menu and choose silent from there. The camera on it is brilliant, 12.1 mega pixels the same as my mates new camera and it has pretty much the same features, including smile detection! To be honest it was either this or an iphone and I thought about it for a bit and am glad of my choice, the Satio looks better than an iphone, plus iphones are 2 a penny at the moment. Overall a great phone!
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Reviewed by Mahran from Syria on 16th Jan 2010
well i have to say that its an excellent phone ( but...) First and second and third :BATTERY and then Sound ....to tell you the truth... well i have to whisper to hear it playing I think that's all overall ..its a pretty good phone
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Reviewed by wsm from uk on 15th Jan 2010
GET ONE NOW !! THE PROBLEMS THEY HAD, HAS BEEN FIXED WITH THE UPDATES!! I HAVE NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER..ITS A REALLY GOOD PHONE, BATTERY SHOULD LAST FOR 2-3 DAYS IF USED FOR ONLY TXTS AND CALLS, THE BEST THING ABOUT THE PHONE IS ITS CAMERA...HOWEVER THE TOUCHSCREEN ISNT AS GOOD AS AN IPHONE BUT GOOD ENOUGH THOUGH AND A LOT MORE TO DISCOVER !!!!
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Reviewed by Tim from England on 10th Jan 2010
Acquired my Satio at beginning of December so may have missed the early bad batch. Previously had N905 which had the habit of turning itself off in the middle of calls. Satio rather complicatd to get to grips with and on line instruction book over 80 pages long. Like the touch screen but the radio doesnt tell you what channel you are on which the 905 radio did. Chose the phone for the camera which doesnt disappoint. Battery life is a bit on the shortside especially if you use the road sync function to push work related emails. Have had a couple of screen freezing moments and the radio appeared to disappear a few days ago. Hopefully the phone will grow on me but it isnt that bad.
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Reviewed by bilbo from uk on 9th Jan 2010
Man, oh man, this is the phone that I have been waiting for. I have owned this phone for a good few weeks now and it is fabulous. Iam not sure about the problems other user have been getting but mine is superb. Firstly the phone is totally classy in it's gloss piano black. It looks and feels great in the hand and the camera sliding cover is quality. The overall feel of the phone is Class. Its not too heavy or bulky and just feel right in my hand. The screen is big, bright and crisp. The phone is based on the symbian OS which I personally really like....its easy to navigate, icons and clear and well laid out. The touch experience is really nice with a nice light touch only required. Pictures scroll easily and texting is easy with a number of ways to input text. I use the full size QWERTY option horizontally and can text fast with no problems. The camera is truly amazing and you really can leave your digicam at home. There are a host of features and settings to ensure really good pics, even blown up onto my PC monitor...its that good. The flash is strong for low light and makes a lot of difference. Videos are also very good. Signal quality and strength are outstanding, easily out performing my previous Nokia and my brother Iphone 3GS by a mile. This hangs onto a signal when all others have long since given up. Internet use is superb with good views and nice page layout. Browsing is fast and enjoyable. Overall this is the best phone I have ever owned or used. It is simply amazing with fantastic features, camera, screen and enjoyable user experience. I have heard there were issues with older firmware/software, but new latest software updates are available free on SE's website. For information my phone works perfectly, never freezes, is fast and responsive and Iam using this version of the software(SOFTWARE 1218-9500 R1CA037.DATE 29/11/09.CUSTOM REVISION 1225-9491 R1BA028.DATE 29/11/09.MODEL U1). Break the mould, do something different, this phone looks and feels class, and is superb in my opinion. Thanks SE for a great mobile.
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Reviewed by Nath Auty from UK on 9th Jan 2010
Only one major gripe with my brand new Sony Ericsson Satio is the battery life. Lasts roughly 20 hours when left on after charge. Then again, there's so much running when the phone is on, due to the myriad of features, that I guess its par for the course.
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Reviewed by Zoe from UK on 9th Jan 2010
I've been an SE fan since I can't remember when. The K800i was legendary and will always remain so, in my book at least! So I couldn't wait for the Satio to come out. Oh Dear. SE you've messed it up and messed it up BADLY. It constantly freezes, requiring the battery to be taken out, the touch screen is unresponsive, no 3.5mm jack and more faults too long to mention. Luckily I was within time to take it back so back it went. I went and bought the W995 instead and couldn't be more chuffed with it. It has a 3.5mm jack on top as well as Sony's propietary jack - so why have you gone back SE?! Your review was spot on. It is really a great camera, 8.1 instead of 12 but that's hardly noticeable. My words are dump the Satio and get the w995 instead - a marvellous phone and no sticky fingertips!
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Reviewed by Suzanne from Scotland on 6th Jan 2010
I got this phone after upgrading from a Nokia N95-8GB. To begin with I loved everything about it; the touchscreen, the music player, camera and most of all the memory! However just before Christmas, the phone started to freeze, switch itself off and on again, not holding a charge etc. so I took it back to the Carphone Warehouse and got a replacement phone. Was working fine with messages to begin with but the same thing happened. Took it back again and it worked fine with them! Anyway I took it back today and got yet another replacement and guess what.......same thing again! Even tried switching sim cards but nothing. Sadly I'm stuck with this phone for another year since they won't let me change it! Sony Ericsson you should be ashamed! I certainly won't be buying another in a hurry thats for sure.
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Reviewed by sally from uk on 5th Jan 2010
THIS PHONE IS AMAZING,I THINK THIS REVIEW NEEDS LOOKNG AT AGAIN BECAUSE I HAVE NOT HAD ONE PROBLEM WITH IT.MUST BE THE NEW BATCH.DOES ABSOLUTLEY EVERYTHING,TEXTNG GREAT/NO NEED FOR PEN!INTERNET FLAWLESS!CAMERA FANTASTIC.I PREFER TO THE IPHONE ANYDAY.DONT LET THE PREVIOUS BAD REVIEWS PUT YOU OFF FROM GETTING THIS PHONE,I LOVE IT,BEST PHONE I'VE EVER HAD.
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Reviewed by RAZGRIZ from ENGLAND on 31st Dec 2009
MY GIRLFRIEND HAD THIS PHONE. BASICALLY A COMPLETE DISGRACE TO BE HONEST. COMPARED TO MY IPHONE THE SATIO IS A COMPLETE TOURIST. UNRELIABLE, POOR INTERFACE AND SHOCKINGLY SLOW. HOW A DEVELOPER AND MANUFACTURER LIKE SONY COULD DROP THE BALL LIKE THIS REALLY SURPRISES ME. THE CAMERA IS FINE, BUT REALLY 12MP JUST SLOWS THE DEVICE DOWN TERRIBLY. GET YOURSELF THE IPHONE AND SET YOURSELF FREE, AND YOU WILL SEE WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN MISSING ALL THE BEST..:-)
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Reviewed by Mark from UK on 30th Dec 2009
I ordered this phone before reading the reviews- if i had i wouldn't have ordered it! But to my great surprise i can't fault it, i find the messaging easy to use, browsing a dream, camera brill- No phone on the market has everything i wanted, the Omnia HD comes close, but even that has a missing lens cover. My only gripe with the Satio would be that i miss the sterio speakers of my N95!- Taking a shower is a bit dull without music!
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Reviewed by Jonsey from England on 29th Dec 2009
Having had Sony Ericssons for over 7 Years now and like most people I know what I like and Like what I know!! I have just got my new Satio having previously had the C905. At first I thought it seemed complicated against the C905 but having taken time to get used to it I think its absolutely fantastic. I didnt want to follow the trend like most people and get the iphone but did contemplate it for a short time as I love my gadgets. On thinking what I wanted out of my new phone I put the preferences in order 1) A Phone 2) The Best Camera avaiable (Only 3gb on iphone!!!) 3) syncronisation with Outlook for my diary, contacts and emails 4) An average web browsers for when I am on the move. All the other extras on this and other phones were just a bonus to me as the first 3 were secific needs. I have presently not had any software problems or slowness of use as other people have reported but I probably have the newer version software now available. For those people who want a sat nav, buy a sat nav, for those who want a P.C. buy a net book, it can however do these tasks very well but remember it is a phone with a mega camera that keeps you on the ball with the diary etc. Give this phone a chance you will get to love it as I have!!!
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Reviewed by Sophie from UK on 24th Dec 2009
Well i have had this phone for a few weeks now and all i can say is BRILLIANT ! i cannot fault it at all, easy to use,great picture quality,good sound and the wifi is amazing! 10/10
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Reviewed by Bogdan from Romania on 20th Dec 2009
A very big dissapoint. It could have been a nice phone, but some matters are horrrrrible. 1. Touch experience: - horrible 2. Lag of the menu - high 3. Could not get rid of the themes 4. Messaging makes your life miserable 5. Browsing - oh my GOD - TERRIBLE. I took back my phone.
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Reviewed by Kafu from England on 18th Dec 2009
A big disappoint! Having always been sony user I upgraded from the c902i to the satio obvious pull the camera, which is the satio's only saving grace! The camera is amazing, xenon flash, face detection etc. However as a phone the satio is awful. The touchscreen is painfully slow, sometimes you have to touch the icon 2 or 3 times and even then it freezes. For some reason sony have decided on the satio to make the menu and applications really complicated and hard to find. The music player is great as well but again you have to go through countless menu's to get to it. Text messaging is a nightmare as the touchscreen is so slow and trying to accept a call can be a challenge. For me sony have a phone with all the credentials to be the best but have seriously let themselves down with poor touchscreen software and an overcomplicated menu design. They have produced a camera with a phone not a phone with a camera. For me stick to what you do best sony ericsson: walkman and cyber phones with keypads in either slide or normal design. Leave the touchscreen to LG, samsung and HTC.
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Reviewed by Ian from UK on 17th Dec 2009
So disappointed :( I've had several Sony phones over the years (K series then C series) and they've been great - no nonsense products and well made. The Satio I'm afraid is a joke. Kept switching itself on and off and freezing. Sent it back last week. Now thinking about an I-Phone or a Hero. Sorry Sony - you've blown it for me.
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Reviewed by Kafu from England on 16th Dec 2009
I have used sony ericcson for the past 4 years loving all the phones I have had with no problems at all. Upgraded to the satio from the C092i like most pulled in by the camera spec. However having never used a touchscreen phone before and trying sony's first attempt at a touchscreen it was always a risk. The phone is ok but lacks any real wow factor. Camera is great but I use my phone mainly to call and text and I find the touchscreen to slow and no not very user friendly. The battery life is shocking, sony not renowned for good battery life I know but this one is the worse. Phone is a bit clumpy can't put it in my pocket. I have returned the phone and settled for the sony ericcson W995 which is excellant. Not a touchscreen with still an 8 megapixel camera. For me phones need to go back to keypads and ditch this touchscreen business!
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Reviewed by caz from england on 14th Dec 2009
omg this phone is utterly amazing. I was very jubious about ggetting this phone as i read all the bad reviews on it but i thought id give it a go and it is well worth it. mine has all the new softwear and works fine. i love it. defo buy it
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Reviewed by roberto from belfast on 14th Dec 2009
After buying the satio and handing it back. It can only mean 1 thing. I will never ever buy a sony fone again. Straight up!! Their fones are getting worse and to be honest I,m fed up of sony.
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Reviewed by Navid from N. Ireland on 14th Dec 2009
Many years ago I would have only bought a Nokia. Then, one day I saw a class advert showing a beautiful silvery Sony mobile phone. It looked lush and was advertised as having great photo-capturing capabilities. I loved the ad, and immediately went a bought one sim free. The phone was a neat little package with great features. The photos were great and video was awesome too. It even had a great mp3 player. I loved that phone. And this phone quickly prompted me to continue buying Sony. Which of course I did. I continued along this path, quickly snatching up all their hefty cybershot models. Fastforward to now and we have the Satio. Worst mistake of my life. Well, actually 2nd. 1st mistake was going out with this fat trout called Joanne. But thats another story. Lol. Sony have finally put the last nail in the coffin. The Satio looked lovely. But in reality it was useless. So bad that I have decided to never buy Sony again. They are a complete leat down and their products are hyped up, only to let us down again and again. Personal note for Sony: What are you guys smoking? You guys are supposed to be at the top of your game. But your actually very lame. Wake up and smell the faulty products. Very, very dissapointing. Can't wait to buy the I-Phone next. I think Apple is owned by the devil. Cos everything they do is devilishly awesome. Think about it. The logo is an apple with a bite out of it. Representing the bite that was taken by Adam and Eve. And how did the devil tempt them? He did it with temptation. Using an apple. Everything Apple does, not only works but looks sleek and sexy.
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Reviewed by Amit from UK on 14th Dec 2009
I have always been a Sony Ericsson fan since they started making there outstanding phones HOWEVER i have to say that i was very dissappointed when i upgraded to the Satio. Not only did it freeze every time i tried to scroll thru the menus, i could never see who was texting me as the name would not appear and only the number. After many calls to T-Mobile and having my SIM card replaced 2 times which wasn't needed, the outcome was that i had been sent one from the faulty batch that they had in stock. When i received my 2nd Satio, sadly it got worse. Not only was it slow and unresponsive but all the old problems that i had with the first one were all still there bar the screen freezing. This phone undoubtedly has a brilliant camera but with that comes the extra width which buldges out of your jeans/trouser pockets and with all the great slim mobile designs in the market now, its quite on the bulky side. I was lucky enough to send it back being on the 7 day grace period so am now entitled another upgrade and will hold tight for the iphone to come out on t-mobile. Its a shame but this Sony Erricson phone has not delivered like i hoped for.
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Reviewed by becky from uk on 13th Dec 2009
I usually don't like Sony erricson but what attracted me was the 12 megapixel camera! Which i must say is awesome even on night outs when its dark!! Iv had it nearly 2 months and not had any problems at all! The battery lasts nearly two days, and thats with me listening to music and using the internet quite alot and also lots of calls & texting! So how everyone has 4hours of battery? its rubbish. The screen is very responsive and much faster than all my other touch screen phones. the internet is fast too. I also like the little green light that flashes if i have a missed call or text msg. There are also alot of cool applications to download on this phone too!! My one and ONLY problem is when you recieve a text it doesn't tell you who its from untill you open it, but that doesnt really bother me. I would recommend this phone
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Reviewed by Stacey from UK on 12th Dec 2009
I am on my 3rd one in 2weeks, The first one just stayed on the sony erricson screen the second one switched its self off and on all the time and now the third on freezes all time!!!
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Reviewed by Gucky from Ireland on 12th Dec 2009
Please see review I made earler in Nov, would like to clear a few things up since that review was posted, satio battery life was lasting about 4 hours on a good day! If I was on the phone and got another call (being a sales rep that happens quite often) the phone tended to freeze, so it may say joe bloggs on the screen, but the screen was froze at that ie couldn't hang up accept another call NOTHING battery would have to be taken out and be reinserted!!! Take a pic, edit the pic ie zoom in and maybe my phone was a faulty model but their was no option to save the zoomed image (I am an advanced Sony Ericsson user so know what I'm talking about ) guy in o2 shop was stunned when he couldn't find the save image option either! O2 Ireland offered to give me a new satio no questions asked, but tbh with you I opted for iPhone 3 gs, oh my god! What a difference! Very disappointed in Sony Erricsson been a loyal customer for almost 7 years but never abandoned them until I chose to get their first attempt at a smart phone! Heads should roll for the poor poor software, the glitches, where have a lot of simple options gone available on se phones seven years old?where have accept calls from list? My email address is k_mcguckin@yahoo.com I expect a job offer Sony ericcsson, I would surely do a better job than the chimps you have employed at the min!!!! What a failure!
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Reviewed by jaychink from uk on 11th Dec 2009
this fone is without doubt the most overrated fone i have eva had the missfortune of owning!!!! DO NOT WASTE YOUR CASH!!!!!!! I HAVE THROWN IT AGAINST A WALL AS I WOULD FEEL BAD TRYING TO SELL IT TO SOME POOR EBAYER!!!!! I HAVE ORDERED AN HTC MAGIC & WILL NEVER USE AN ERICSSON FONE EVA AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Reviewed by alison from uk on 8th Dec 2009
you do not need to go through 5 apps to change to silent. Just tap screen next to date and drop menu appears then choose silent. simple....
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Reviewed by simon from england on 7th Dec 2009
This phone is prob the worst phone i have ever had. I'm sticking it on Ebay fob it off to some other mug. I can't believe i had a chance to get a HTC Hero but i chose this. I called up Orange and they said they won't even take it back what a joke. IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT BUYING THIS PHONE PLEASE DON'T IT IS TERRIBLE!!!!!!!
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Reviewed by Andrew from UK on 6th Dec 2009
This phone is useless, u have to get a hammer to get it to work!
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Reviewed by Adrian from UK on 5th Dec 2009
In reference to Richard Cranium (3rd Dec 09), the caller accept option is specific to Sony Ericsson's own operating system. Symbian, Windows Mobile and Android don't have it as standard although there are various 3rd party software downloads available that can be purchased to fulfill a similar role (Advanced Call Manager from WebGate should work on the Satio). I agree that it is a great bit of functionality that should really be a basic option on all phones.
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Reviewed by JACK from uK on 5th Dec 2009
I have had SE'snow fornigh on five years and am glad I stuck with it! Ok, so theirs no facebook app yet, but tbh with you I just use mobile facebook, and that does my job perfectly. The predictive texting on the phone is a god send, my wife has the i-phone and I find it pretty frustrating at time with just a qwerty keyboard on offer, whereas this phone gives you a good few options of writing texts including handwriting, full Qwerty, mini qwerty and my fave is the numerical predictive text which turns the screen into a more traditional mobile phone text input.
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Reviewed by Nathan from UK on 5th Dec 2009
What Kian said. Now have a HTC Hero 100x better! Carphonewarehouse let me swap even though it wasn't faulty :)
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Reviewed by mike from germany on 4th Dec 2009
sony ericsson is the best best music best camera best entertainment
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Reviewed by Richard Cranium from Ireland on 3rd Dec 2009
This phone, despite being "top of the market" seems to be missing the one thing I LOVED about all other Sony Ericsson Phones......... Where is the Caller accept option? You know on all the old phones we use to have an option as to who could actually call you? So, if you wanted some peace and quiet you could select the phone so only certain people on your list could get through, the rest would get your voicemail or busy tone , most most crucial was you could actually see the contact coming up on your phone as a missed call!!!! And the Battery?????? WF????? Lucky if i get 4 hours after a full charge with moderate calling! Shame shame shame on you Sony Ericsson. Thank god O2 offer a 31 day trial on the phone, mines gonna get swapped for I-phone 3gs
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Reviewed by Liam Brading from United Kingdom on 3rd Dec 2009
Brilliant phone
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Reviewed by Kian from UK on 30th Nov 2009
I received the new SATIO phone and returned it quickly. Apart from the camera (which is outstanding] the phone was not very userfriendly.
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Reviewed by Anders from Singapore on 30th Nov 2009
I am quite disappointed with my Satio, I bought it mainly because of the camera however the appalling battery time is a real turn off (pun intended). Now in retrospective I regret buying it, should have gotten an iPhone instead.
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Reviewed by Brandon from England on 29th Nov 2009
I have had the satio for about a month now and i had no problems with it. love the 12.1 megapixle, xenon flashlight. only 1 thing, bit sluggish touchscreen
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Reviewed by Andreas from Italy on 27th Nov 2009
I agree what you said about SonyEricsson in general. I don't buy Sony Eircsson mobiles anymore as I experienced myself how unreliable they are. But I disagree your opinion about Symbian. Since a while I stick to Nokia mobiles and Symbian OS as they reliable, never freeze, quick. I never have any problem and I won't change it for any other OS. Symbian had problem with Satio because has been customized, the same happened with Omnia HD.
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Reviewed by Andrew from UK on 26th Nov 2009
Well SE have blown it with another unreliable phone that should have promised so much. I must say that currently my phone (Carphone Warehouse, Orange) hasn't suffered some of the problems listed below but I am not exactly reassured given what I have read and I have experienced some issues of my own. Admittedly the camera is fantastic and I don't have too much of a problem with the touchscreen that others are happening so these issues don't concern me so much. The GPS chip is fantastic and works well with the Google Maps application. However, the battery life is appalling, the exclusion of a 3.5mm jack for headphones is bizarre and sometimes I get booted out of applications / checking email for no reason. One other problem I have recently discovered is that the phone decides not to inform you when you have received a message. I looked at my inbox and discovered several unread messages - the phone had not beeped nor had it lit up to indicate a new message. Some of the errors you can overlook but others are inexcusable for any phone, let alone one that is meant to revive the fortunes of a flagging mobile manufacturer. Whilst I like the phone I do not like it anywhere near as much as I had hoped I would do and can not recommend it to anyone. Certainly not what SE would want to hear from people who have waited so patiently for this model to come out.
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Reviewed by kukisan from uk. on 26th Nov 2009
up until today i was on my second satio having always used se i was hoping for big things namely camera wifi etc.the first one went back after 2 days of crashing and turning itself off.just sent the other one back and got the nokia n97 mini what a difference quality is right up. there shame on se heads should roll for the major let down.get it sorted sony ericsson.
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Reviewed by libby from uk on 25th Nov 2009
I was amazed after getting the satio 2 weeks ago to have experienced so many glitches, I wish I had gone for a iPhone, also no smilies on a phone with all new technology? terrible wish I had not got the phone at all.
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Reviewed by BTJ from UK on 25th Nov 2009
Carphone Warehouse & Phones 4u have temporarily withdrawn this phone from sale following software issues. Now is not the time to buy!
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Reviewed by Dave Enty from England on 25th Nov 2009
Seems that Carphone Warehouse & Phones 4U have just withdrawn these from sale... Link here: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8377312.stm Too many software problems, though Sony say they are working to resolve them. Hmm Stable doors and horses spring to mind here.
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Reviewed by mike from uk on 24th Nov 2009
Had the phone for 3 weeks now, first imnpression was WOW. 3 weeks later i'm trying to get my provider to change it for something else. Why ? Battery lasts about 2 hours after a full overnight charge, phone randomly freezes and the only way you know is when you try and make a call or someone calls you on another number to ask why u dont pick up. Phone switches off during calls, u have to remove and replace battery to get it going again, some of the menus dont alway work, wi-fi keeps disconnecting....it goes on and on and on......Nice Idea but they should have sorted out all the nasty bugs before releasing it.
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Reviewed by Gucky from Ireland on 22nd Nov 2009
I got this phone on Thursday 19th of Nov, and have to be honest, I found the phone a bit frustrationg and (Friday morning) was about to return it to my local O2 store and get an i-phone instead. HOWEVER, after "playing" with the phone for a good few hours on Friday, I had TOTALLY changed my mind! This phone is NOT an I-phone, to compare it to an i-phone is like comparing a Jumbo Jet to a goldfish as they are COMPLETELY different phones, aimed at different clientelle. I have had SE'snow fornigh on five years and am glad I stuck with it! Ok, so theirs no facebook app yet, but tbh with you I just use mobile facebook, and that does my job perfectly. The predictive texting on the phone is a god send, my wife has the i-phone and I find it pretty frustrating at time with just a qwerty keyboard on offer, whereas this phone gives you a good few options of writing texts including handwriting, full Qwerty, mini qwerty and my fave is the numerical predictive text which turns the screen into a more traditional mobile phone text input. Ie, press 2 to get abc or number 2 really cool. The media on this phone is second to none! 12.1 megapixel camera, and the video playback is unreal. Download a movie, and watch it on your hd plasma via the cables that come included! An honest opinion is, this phone is a very,very cool phone. Stick with it and familiarise yourself with its controls before deciding that its pants! In my opinion this beats the i-phone HANDS DOWN!
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Reviewed by matthew from England on 21st Nov 2009
This is a good phone, and clearly the camera is awesome. But can anyone help me? I cannot connect the mobile to my laptop. I have downloaded the Sony PC suite software, but that doesn't seem to do much except sync contacts.I want to download my pics onto my computer. Not sure if the supplied cable is a problem. All my other mobiles have been detected by my PC, but not this one. Has anyone else had this problem. Please help!
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Reviewed by Jim Seah from Singapore on 21st Nov 2009
NO equalizer Cause it not a Walkman phone... You can't draw free hand on the picture... like W960i... And there is problem with the chinese dictionary i think need to get it reinstall... There is no goggle singapore??? probably there isn't any! Slow And Stady to get the phone working properly... Use to have this problem on SE so just get use to it. Just for now, cause i just got it yesterday... Well what can i say. Just think of technology today that you have use it yesterday...
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Reviewed by DaZ from ENGLAND on 21st Nov 2009
The phone is brilliant considering what it can do and there has not been a firmware update yet which can only make it better, yes the battery is not great but what smartphone powerhouse is, all I did was buy another charger so I can charge where ever I go. The touch screen on mine is very responsive and it has not frozen, all I can think is people are not closing all the apps. running in the background thus running low on system memory then the phone will crash. The camera is fantastic after having the N82 I did not think this would come close...it does and then some! the sat nav is very good, I use navmii it works great and very well priced at the minute £30 a year with updates included.. cant go wrong. All in all I would thoroughly recommend this phone to gadget lovers, but if all you want is a simple phone this is not for you. Symbian OS is a marmite thing you either love it or hate it!. I really cannot understand why this phone is getting slated by users, all I can think is they are not giving it a chance, after two weeks I think mine is the muts nuts!.
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Reviewed by azmol from uk on 20th Nov 2009
the touchscreen is responsive at times,but being a satio user i am not one to complain.the phone kicks butt.as for the freezing,it just needs a firmware update from time to time,so stop moaning peeps,the satio is far better then the pixon 12 in terms of camera usage
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Reviewed by Darcey from UK on 20th Nov 2009
The camera. The good. A very nice 12 mega pixel camera. Nice video recording. The confusing. The camera is set to 9 mega pixel when first purchased. The bad. When set to 12 megapixel the picture quality is no longer as good as when it is at 9 mega pixel. Self timer has to be turned on each time the phone puts itself back into key lock mode (luckily this time is adjustable). The very bad. Placing this phone in your pocket and pulling it out will open the camera shutter, which removes the phone lock allowing your pocket items to take pictures etc (SE still not learnt their lesson here from older models - makes me wonder what muppets they have designing and testing these things). Summary. A great camera, and good quality pictures at 9 mega pixel, just buy a case for it when you can to help keep that camera lens away from your house or car keys. 9.5/10. Hardware. The good. 12 Megapixel Camera. Support for large storage m2 micro cards 8GB. The confusing. Such low memory in the phone itself to handle applications running by the OS. The bad. The phones internal mic is very very very sensitive to the touch, so moving your hand while on the phone often results in the person you are speaking to hearing what sounds like me sand papering my phone down. Phone memory is very low for what the phone is designed to do (in my case when you have placed a good few images/photos/videos on the phone and try playback or create that funky picture message it often results in an alert the phone is out of memory and the application crashes). Due to low memory applications not in memory take a while to start Standard SE adapter for headphones not 3mm jack. The very bad. MP3 Player (places ringtones into the music listings) MP3 decoder/playback for calls is not resident in memory so those mp3 tones take about 1 second to start up after phone starts to vibrate and your screen already tells you someone is calling. Summary. It all works, it is usable, it can be annoying, but is far from an unusable device, but can be annoying when you start to dive deeper into the satio's use and it doesn't have the internal memory to do what you want until the 2nd try. 7/10. Touch screen. The good. Can be used with your fingers. Can be re-configured in the settings. Phone rotation for automatic vertical and horizontal screen viewing can be turned off. Excellent quality picture and vibrance. Video playback quality is good and seeking is quick. The confusing. There is often a delay in response to finger presses. The bad. Can often be slow to respond but this is due to the lack of phones internal memory and/or operating system programming. The very bad. Summary. The touch screen is good to use, can take a little getting used to if your coming from the old mobile phones but once you get into it, it does it's job. 7.5/10. File finding/management. The good. It has a file manager. It's operated via a scrollbar. The scroll bar allows clicking/tapping top and bottom to move up and down a page. The very bad. Allows for finger press and drag down to move file list up and down, often resulting in leaving the user wondering where they are in the file list - not smooth, not clear and not a usable feature. When you are browsing through a folder which has a lot of files in it that scroll bar has now become a challenge to use. Tapping below the scrollbar position locator often results in you hitting the screens bottom right function button of the file managers options instead of moving down a page. Summary. This file manager is a great tool, often clumsy to use but often gets to what you want quicker than using the music and video tools from SE. 5/10. Text Messaging and user input. The good. You can text message. It's easy. You have old style, full qwerty keyboard layout and hand writing recognition to choose from. Nice special character insertion screen. Hooking up the phone to your pc you can read and send text messages from your computer (love this!) The confusing. Often your not allowed to use predictive text and forced to go old school. The bad. Predictive text has to learn single letters, for example I wanted to place an x at the end of my message and i pressed the x key and pressing the suggest key it never got to x, so i had to go into spell word x. No smileys (or is this a good thing?) Special character insertion screen places the quick list of characters used at the top of the screen and not in reach of a one handed user at the base of the screen. There are inconsistencies between the user interface for inbox, sent, saved and reports sections, as to how you manage select and remove items. Summary I like it, despite it's inconsistencies I do like it, it does it's job. 8/10. Picture Messages. The good. It has a picture message editor. The confusing. The bad. Unable to get pc software to send mms from computer - but this could be network related. The very bad. Still not found how to preview a picture message I have created (only once it's in the sent list!) Music elements in your picture message show up as a graphical music notes spoiling the preview during creation Extremely poor picture insertion file browser. This is essentially a mini version of the file manager which loads up into the picture message editor. Which in my case I added 40 smileys to the phone (small gifs) and when pressing the add picture option - kiss goodbye to the picture message editor as the application will crash saying out of memory quit some applications (when there are none running but the once running picture message creator). Adding music to your picture messages also results in a huge list crammed into a small space making it hard to find what you want in with all your songs (why even try to include them in the picture message when limit is 300k?) Summary. A big let down, bare minimum work on SE's part and it shows. Poor interface, poor file management, poor usability, poor customer experience. But hey it's usable. Also watch sending those pictures, it will warn that the person you are sending an image to may not be able to receive the mms, this is either due to mp3 (which case fire and forget)... Picture is not automatically resized and no options to do this on adding one which can result in that mms costing you but never being received by whom your sending it to. 1/10. Music player. The good. It has a music player. It has play lists it has album viewing it has full track viewing nice scrolling mechanics. Good quality sound playback MP3 ID's read and listed for the above Album art. The confusing. User interface icons are a bit confusing at first. Play random track feature is a bit weird. The bad. Slow to add track to playlist. No graphic equaliser. The very bad. The song playback position slider is so close to the rewind/previous & next song buttons that you will often end up rewinding or ending up in the next song (poor ui design there). Sluggish to move track in play screen. No crossfader for track to track. Also lists everything outside of your music folder on your phones memory card, say hello to your ringtones popping up when your listening to your favourite album. Summary. All in all a good music player, good quality sound, easy to get to your tracks, albums etc but really annoying when a ringtone pops into the mix, a graphic equaliser would have been nice but is not essential. 8/10. Video playback. The good. It has video playback. Great screen to watch videos on. Quick to respond once loaded. Nice simple user interface. The very bad. On first try of playing on a video file it can/may crash, just try again and if you have any (ANY!) other applications running press bottom right key (for back to menu) hold middle key down then by holding your finger down on each icon listed choose close to exit those running applications and try again - note 2 can not be closed (stand by and one other)). This is due to lack of internal memory in the phone. Summary. Love it. 9/10. Photo/Picture browser. The good. Nice icon lists and user screen touch drag and bound effects. The bad. Image icons are not rescaled correctly or icon is not captured from centre point of photo/image and can result in leaving the user wondering what that icon actually is The very bad Animated gifs while scrolling full screen through your photos & pictures will often randomly appear onto of the image/photo you stop on - this is due to the phone taking all that time to process the animated gif and then display it. Summary. 8/10. Operating system / Browser / Features. The good. It can run applications Web browser supports flash 8 AS2 Stand by themes are configurable to a degree WI-FI easy to use and to setup Of what can be customised it is great to be able to do this. The bad. Bit slow to respond at times. Have found my No mp3 decoder/playback software resident in memory for quick ringtone execution on call. Unimpressive photo assigned to caller display. The very bad. It's not android. Alarms can now only have 1 tone assigned to them all. Time and Date are so small you need a microscope to see read them in digital format. Time in analogue format has no markers and is small and can be easily miss read. Setting ringtone opens all music files and ringtone files in the file manager - see above for issues with that. Summary I expected so much more from the OS, but then thinking about it what did I expect? too much? yes and no, but SE could have done a lot better. A good OS with great features but lack of testing, features analysed 6.5/10. Calling. The good. It can make calls. It can make video calls. Quick calling keys. Screen detects when pressed against ear. The very bad. If your right handed and select a contact from your contacts list and are using your thumb to select that contact, when you move your thumb away you will reveal why your call is not being made as a menu option is underneath is it asking you video call or normal which is also very very small which makes finger selection a pain. Warning when your at this stage pressing the green button to call will take you off somewhere else leaving you feeling like throwing the thing against the wall. Summary. 4/10. OVERALL SUMMARY. So there you have it, the Sony Ericsson SATIO from a customers view. When I was getting myself into this 18 month contract, I was 50:50 between the TMobiles Google Android G2, and what do I think now? I am glad I got this phone, as the Google Android on TMobile (G2) has it's own issues too but the camera is nowhere near as good as the one on the satio. Granted there are some big issues with the satio's software - but this can be fixed, if they ever decide to update their operating system you can simply go to their website download the update service software and update your phone. The picture messaging has been a big let down for me as I enjoyed creating them and previewing them. The phones lack of internal memory is a bit of an issue but doesn't stop me getting done what I wanted to do, it just takes 1 or 2 attempts to get the phones applications to run without crashing, you will find ways like add a picture to mms before music as you can do this from the picture / photo / file manager which doesn't crash the phone and thus avoiding the phones mms file browser (caboooom!). And lastly the calling, I guess I am getting used to this, but having features being hidden by my thumb like video call or normal is a biggy which keeps biting me. So my overall rating: 7/10. Due to software and handset memory issues but an awesome camera.
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Reviewed by Darcey from UK on 20th Nov 2009
It has an awesome camera but the rest is a complete let down. The phone doesn't even have enough memory to handle adding pictures to mms's not to mention the total lack of being able to preview an mms. I wrote a review from an owners point of view after 1 months use at: www.allforthecode.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=97&t=401 If you want a camera go for it, if you want a phone with gadgets get the G2.
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Reviewed by Michael from UK on 19th Nov 2009
I ordered this phone on Vodafone. I liked the camera and the way it focuses on the subject’s face when taking a portrait photo. I also liked the screen and the colours. The first difficulty I had was that the phone froze and I had to remove the battery and restart it, to get it to work again. I was disappointed that the phone does not have a bell ringtone. It has a range of tones but they are not business like. The next difficulty concerned the widget at the top of the screen referred to by Steve Stanley below which brought up the Profiles menu. This disappeared after a day or two’s use on my phone, not to return. The phone does not have voice activated dialling which I like. When I installed the PC Suite and Media Go, I found this caused difficulties for my internet browser which began disconnecting itself from the internet. I could only resolve the problem by uninstalling Media Go. The Xenon flash is very bright and a couple of portrait subjects complained at the glare when I was trying to photograph them. The phone spec is attractive but the operation is inadequate. I have returned mine.
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Reviewed by jamie from oxford on 19th Nov 2009
my mate got this phine and i dont like it it really slow i got the samsung pixon 12 it really good then when i use my mates phone it slow freezs and when you doin something and you get an incoming call it goes black and then shows you who is ringing ..i would stay away from this phone as it just rubbish
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Reviewed by eimantas from lithuania on 19th Nov 2009
this phone is awful because it froze when i was on runescape
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Reviewed by Dan from UK on 17th Nov 2009
This phone promises so much, but it ultimately let down because it is 'bugged' beyond belief. Am with Vodafone, and am currently on my second Satio in two weeks (soon to replaced again). At random times during the day, the phone will 'freeze' at other times if I have an incoming call, the ringer will not sound (despite the fact that it is NOT in silent mode). Stay away from this phone unless you want endless grief.
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Reviewed by Steve Stanley from U.K. on 17th Nov 2009
Tried the Satio twice, but sent it back as I want to try the iphone, got used to the menus & touch screen, Jane Taylor, you don't have to go through 5 menus to get the phone onto Silent, you just touch the top of the main screen & low & behold a list of profiles appear & you touch Silent & voila it's on. One thing I don't like is when you press the cancel button for a menu, it doesn't cancel the whole operation down it still runs in the background. Another main omission is NO VOICE dialling, god knows why they'e missed it off, I use this alot on the SE C905. Final thing is NO RDS on the FM Radio
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Reviewed by FrankieD from England on 13th Nov 2009
I have had this phone for nine days now and I had been waiting for some time for it to be released. My initial response on first using it was that it was a nightmare. It is my first smart/toucscreen phone and i found getting around the menus very confusing and frustrating. It has been a bit painstaking getting to grips with the way the phone works and I can understand why some people are giving it such bad reviews. But here is the thing, after over a week of adjusting i have grown to really like this phone. Yes there are a few niggly bits, particularly when tranfering contacts from your sim card and it has occasionaly crashed but that seems par for the course with most smartphones. The camera is excellent and the video capture is very good too. I have used the internet on 3g and wifi and they work great. I have read reviews where people say the touch screen is unresponsive but the screen on mine works just fine and you definitely don't need a hammer to use it as one reviewer said on this site, I have an ipod touch so I know what a good touchscreen feels like and while the satio's screen is not as good it certainly works very well for me. I have used the preinstalled wisepilot and while it is not as good as my garmin satnav it does the job just fine. The battery life really is not great when you use the media features a lot and that would be the biggest issue i have with it, but if you are willing to charge it every night then it's not a huge problem. If you want the perfect phone then this is not it. If you want the best camera phone plus very good media features and don't mind a period of adjusting to how the phone works then it is definitely worth trying.
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Reviewed by Katie from England on 10th Nov 2009
i hvae had this phone just over a week and whilst in principal i like it, it has a lot of problems which i can see will become a serious source for annoyance very soon. it is occasionally unresponsive and it does freeze however the worst problem i am having so far is one of the themes has corrupted which is causing a big problem. it is not that easy to work out and i cannot seem to download an update or restor it to its factory settings without a mystery code. They seem to have forgotten the simple things which make a phone good to use like being able to select the type of number you are programming in and i had a nightmare copying all my numbers over in the first place. If the little niggles were sorted out i would be really happy but at the moment it looks like i will have to send it back to be repaired or replaced.
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Reviewed by Jane Taylor from UK on 9th Nov 2009
Just sent it back after 2 weeks for the Samsung Omnia 2. I wanted a phone that could replace my digital compact camera and 12mp highly rated camera on Satio sounded ideal...However, it is such a difficult phone to use! A nightmare! Loads of menus to navigate. Takes about 5 menus just to get it on silent mode. Can't connect to my Wifi as says No gateway error (a known Nokia Symbian glitch). I wanted to throw it out of the window after a few hours. I was SO disappointed. The screen is unresponsive, It has very limited apps at the moment...Too many gripes and niggles to see me through a 24 mnth contract despite the great camera. Now that I have sent off for the Omnia 2 and read the just published review here I know I am doing the right thing! Unless you are desperate for a 12mp camera on your phone and will only use it for that purpose...Leace it well alone until they have sorted out the usability and made the operating system more fun to use. It is just a Nokia with a Sony Ericsson Badge on it.
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Reviewed by constantine from england on 9th Nov 2009
I am a fan of good camera phones, so on that front the phone is ideal. However I have never been a fan of any sort of touch screen phones(bad experience of a certain samsung phone) and have found several annoying features on this phone.Rubbing the screen up and down to scroll is a right pain.Also trying to navigate thru the confusing menu gave me a headache( had several sony ericsons in the past which were easier).Also not exiting programs when going back to start, they stay on and drain the battery.Very difficult to locate the bit to switch off the programs. Calls were very clear. Overall its a good product but needs its niggles sorting out.Maybe i should have waited for the iPHONE3GS!(orange network)
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Reviewed by Trevor from uk on 8th Nov 2009
Had the Satio about a week now and love it.Seems to be a quality product so far.Decided on the silver version and very glad I did.Absolute joy to play with.
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Reviewed by Aran from UK on 7th Nov 2009
Ok, so my Girlfriend ordered the Satio, we have had the phone out of the box for about 3 hours. Heres a few problems I've found.... 1. The media library shows photos as corrupted (only sometimes? the picture is scrambled!). 2. The touch screen is sluggish, requiring a hard press to register. 3. The inbox only shows the senders number, not the name, but it is in my phonebook? 3. Pain in the arse to get to settings. 4. The supplied cable to connect to tv is the three plugs, yellow (video) and sound (red and white), yet Im taking photos in a resolution much higher than HD. A HDMI cable would have been better so I could hd, NOT 640x480 pixelated messes. I have the HTC hero, which is a dream compared to the Satio. I have to admit, the camera is awesome, SE are good at one thing. Oh and where is this PlayNow thing I hear so much hype about? I can't find it. Granted I've only played with it for a short time, but those magical first few hours with a new phone are supposed to be a joy, not a pain!
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Reviewed by Jasmine from UK on 7th Nov 2009
Had the phone for a week, its garbage! Have had to send it back twice because it froze the first time! And the second time the screen came off- NO! i had not dropped it. wouldnt recommend this to anyone.
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Reviewed by Felidae from UK on 6th Nov 2009
I bought this phone because simply because of the camera & because is Flash enabled. Overall, i like the phone apart from the fact that the OS does freeze sometimes & i need to reboot. I have a K800i & you can go into camera album via file manager,view a photo if needed, rotate it. That's it just rotate & job done. You cannot do that in the satio. You have to go into Media - options - add effects to rotate & then you are asked if you want to save the photo. This is a long winded way just rotate a photo.The other thing i don't like is the fact that if you get a text whilst doing something else the message program does not automatically close after you have sent a reply. It does in the K800i. In a nutshell, if SE produced a K800i with Flash/touchscreen & a 12mp camera i'd buy that.
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Reviewed by Baylee from Essex, UK on 6th Nov 2009
I've had this phone for 3 days now and I think its brilliant. The camera obviously is fantastic and I find the touch screen very responsive. Had no problems up to now. Have found the battery life to be very good considering I am a Facebook addict and constantly checking it and my emails and the battery has lasted. For me the only real disappointment was that the phone doesn't come with an adequate user manual I found it quite tricky to set up with the basic sheet of paper that came in the box.
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Reviewed by Jamie H from UK on 5th Nov 2009
I have had this phone for two weeks now. My last 3 phones were a Nokia N95 8GB, Sony Ericsson C905 and a W995. After a few days of getting used to the touch screen I can safely say to anyone, take a chance with this phone as it is much better than any of them. . It is absouletly fantastic. Texting I find easier to use than any of my previos phones. When using its internet function I will admit scrolling is a little painful but the screen is fantastic to view web pages on. I dont think the software is as polished as on the W995 but if you do buy this phone you are buying it ultimately for the camera and you will not be disappointed. Fantastic in daylight conditions, not as good at night indoors but easily the best camera on a phone on the market today. Infact indoor night pictures are usually awful taken on any other mobile I have used but this phone's camera does a very very impressive job. If you buy this phone you will not be disappointed. It takes a while getting used to the touch screen and software but bare with it as it is worth your patience. Everyone who looks at the photos from the camera have been amazed at the quality.
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Reviewed by Rebecca Kelly from UK, Leicester on 5th Nov 2009
I am on my3rd phone as they keep freezing up but apart from that its a wicked phone. Easy to use, camera is good and i would highly reccommend this phone to anyone.
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Reviewed by keifeira from scotland on 5th Nov 2009
had this phone for 3 days and already got a problem with it, water under the screen, has been like that since day 1 = this phone is an epic fail tbh.
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Reviewed by Grattus from England on 4th Nov 2009
Have to say the phone is a major disappointment. Camera works great but everything else is worse than a bog standard SE. Unit is inconsistent in general use (not turning off/on, struggling to find network etc). Battery life is appalling. Have put it on GSM, display down to darkest, ringtones low volume and phone still runs out of juice in 1-2 days of moderate use. Touch screen is not user friendly, parts of menu require 2 pushes, others 1. Screen and camera very good, but cannot say camera is better than C905 and my previous phone the N86 produces better overall pics in general use. In conclusion, if all you are after is a good camera get a camera, if you want a phone too look elsewhere!
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Reviewed by K from UK on 4th Nov 2009
Ok, everyone knows that this phone has a superb camera. It looks great and its made by an established brand. However when I used this phone for other features, such as texting, I found the touchscreen to be a bit slow. It would bug the hell outta me if I had to keep dragging my finger across the screen a number of times to get a command! I personally didnt like this phone but im sure many others will like it. I now have a Samsung H1 and let me say this is one superb phone!
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Reviewed by hassan from uk on 2nd Nov 2009
words cannot explain! 12 mega pixel works fabulous. reccomend it to any one
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Reviewed by Jason from England on 2nd Nov 2009
Best phone i've ever used, i've had an iPhone 3GS and Nokia N97 in the past and i simply just love this phone much more than the both of them. Yes the Satio has some minor problems, but so does ever other phone... Amazing phone.
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Reviewed by Carolyn from UK on 2nd Nov 2009
I agree with Gregor in Norway I love Sony Ericsson phones but this was terrible, the camera was awesome!! but the rest OMG I fought with it for 4 days having to bluetooth all my contacts one by one and tried to transfer music out of the 9 one only had 2 songs? The touch screen, was crazy typing a text you had to push so hard and yet trying to find music it flew past everything or kept opening things not needed, I have an ipod touch and will wait and get the iphone plus a camera!!
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Reviewed by pedro from uk on 30th Oct 2009
Mixed views on this phone, using it for a few days and most the faults that everyone seems to point out are minor niggles - no phone will ever have everything you wish for! What I am really dissapointed in is the phones inability to connect to a wifi spot using MAC filtering - does anyone know how to access the phones MAC code? I was also under the impression that you would be able to access PS3 content, access network shares etc. My 2 year old Nokia (N82) could play network media files yet this phone cannot. I had also hoped to use the phones sat nav facility in the car but having seen the offical SE phone car cradle and charger it's almost as big as the phone itself! in all honesty there's not a lot of difference between this and my olf k750i bar the camera and the media go software has a very poor interface. Thining of returning it for a Nokia :(
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Reviewed by aung khine si from myanmar on 30th Oct 2009
satio is the best touchscreen and camera ph ever,as far as i believe.it`s rocking style and color makes me chills
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Reviewed by Davey from UK on 30th Oct 2009
@Gregor: Did you, er, try updating the firmware? Early releases of any phone (you're an early adopter/beta tester, frankly) tends to show up bugs and yours may be original stock. Many people don't seem to realise you can usually iron out issues by updating the phones (it's free). If you want to try before getting rid of it go to tinyurl.com/yjktq23. SE tend to be pretty good at this. I tried out this phone and was impressed: The photos are outstanding considering it's not a dedicated camera, and the fact it has a proper lens cover is the big no-brainer for me. It's being compared to the Jet, etc. but most 'shooters' now don't seem to have lens covers. What use all that mega-pixellage if the lens is scratched after 3 months? As for interface: It's okay, if not so intuitive, but you're getting this thing for the camera and media, right?
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Reviewed by Mark evans from England on 27th Oct 2009
Fantastic phone, upgraded from c905 and this phone is lightyears ahead in every area, toutch screen took a little time to get used to but thats only because i havent used one before
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Reviewed by ems from uk on 27th Oct 2009
I have got this phone for 1 day and its fantastic although not as user firendly as the n97 because of the lack of a physical qwerty keyboard.
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Reviewed by Gregor from Norway on 26th Oct 2009
Got the Satio last week, I'm fond of the SE cell phones, but this is rubbish. Why did they even let this one out on the market. It reminds me of my last BIG SE cell phone, anyone remember the touch screen QWERTY profesional phone called P900??? That one was a mess, constant freeze up, crashed on a daily bases, I had it more at service than in my hands, Finally after 1 year they accepted a full refund. Now SE have done it again. Satio takes the best pics ever, That feature I fully admire...BUT...the films from their web service crashes the phone, turning it around while flicking in the media files after pictures, it CRASHES,I could go on and on (yesterday it crashed 3 times in 10 min). The touch screen is the worst responce touch I have tried, The P900 was better and that was 6 years ago people!! And when my Satio crashes ans freezes, you have to pull the battery before one can restore it to life... Truelly, this one has to go back to R&D, I will buy it when they come back with a Satio v.2. The one I got now is going back to the dealer, OMG I'm so happy we have a 14 day full return right. Apologise to any SE fans who disagree, you might be lucky and have a Satio with better hardware than mine. Take care
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Reviewed by frati from London, UK on 26th Oct 2009
Had this a few days and so far so good there are a few little niggles that need to be ironed out, just need to get used to the quirks of any new phone, as this is my first touch screen phone and I think it’s very good. the fact you have to hit the screen quite hard it a good thing at least you can not accidently go into another section or function that you don’t want, when you hit the screen you get a nice reassuring vibrate to confirm selection. Camera – 12.1 mega pixels with xenon flash in pitch black fantastic pictures taken, what more do you need form a phone. Again more time is needed to make sure you have all the little bits and pieces ironed out but you can not master a phone like this in a few days. The only problems I have had is with moving the contact from my old phone, in the end I had to Bluetooth them one by one! Was unable to or missed how to move them all across, could not do it via the SIM card as on the phone memory I have two or three different numbers for certain contacts but when moving them to SIM it only picked up the first number! For all of those who want all the apps give it time! If you want facebook and loads of apps get a laptop this is a phone, first and foremost everything else that is added is luxury. In time there will be apps for the Satio. Learn how to use the phone before making too many complaints, or giving poor feedback any one lines on here do not have the phone. Battery if used then yes it drains but that is the same with the iPhone, all those I have spoken to say the same thing the more you use the iPhone the more it will drain the battery. Remember this iPhone fixed memory Satio you can chop and change when you feel like it, currently iPhone you need to pay a price for the handset Satio you don’t. So you could invest in memory cards if you really wanted more capacity.
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Reviewed by Alan from United Kingdom on 26th Oct 2009
Some Big Faults: The phone's generally great but I've had two quite serious faults on both Satios I've had (Vodafone versions). Periodically the sound simply fails - switching off by itself - including the ringer (so many missed calls!).In addition to the media player fails to make any sound at all on music and when you try playback, the song play indicator sticks at zero/start. Secondly, the record levels on both sound and video are so low on phone playback that you have to virtually hold the speaker to your ear in a silent background to listen to recordings.At such times, the phones may freeze completely.
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Reviewed by Paul Clark from England on 25th Oct 2009
First release seemed to have a software fault, would not let me vreate a profile. Straight back to supplier and changed immediately with no quibble. Other than that great looking and functional once you have deleted all the demo software.
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Reviewed by emma from south wales on 24th Oct 2009
to nottmbantam, tried downloading it, got as far as installing fring but says its not compatible with the satio. thnx anyway
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Reviewed by russell from england on 22nd Oct 2009
I have got , iPhone , n97 , and. idou. I think Sony is brillant phone , use all day , battery does not let me down. I am using this as every day phone. lot better than n97. yes camera is 10 . 10. . and have got used to screen, must admit I am no wizard , end of , still using iPhone , but cannot trust battery , but still best by far. thanks Russell
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Reviewed by nottmbantam from Saudi Arabia on 22nd Oct 2009
Thinking about ditching my Nokia N97 for this phone. Four months down the line - it's too unreliable. Bit I think I will miss the physical keyboard - how is life with a 'virtual' keyboard? Just two quick suggestions - Emma South Wales - you can get an application called 'fring' which is free. This allows you to access Skype as well as MSN. Nathan UK, screen shots, there are a few apps out there for the N97, and as this runs on the same platform - Symbian Series 60 5th Ed - should work? Screen Snap ( free ) allows you to do just that - take a snap of your screen. Cheers.
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Reviewed by emma from south wales on 21st Oct 2009
got the silver version today after contemplating for a while and playing. overall impression so far, quite good. am getting used to it all after having blackberry 8900 which i loved,just fancied better camera and it don't disappoint. just 2 questions if any1 can help me please, how do i get mobile uploads for facebook like i had on my blackberry on the satio. used to just go to whatever pic on my memory card and would give me option of sending to facebook. i've tried everything and cant get it on this. also i been told u can have windows messenger on this phone too, anyone know where i get this app from and how to get on phone. i'm not usually this thick but i'm stumped this time. get this phone,its fab
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Reviewed by Dawber from United States on 20th Oct 2009
GREATEST PHONE EVER. Mint phone, but I think they should have kept the 'idou' name instead of 'satio', only because 'idou' sounds like: I do, meaning you have the power to do whatever you want with the phone
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Reviewed by Nathan from UK on 17th Oct 2009
Evrything fab, wants to be the iPhone but just missing good touch screen and ability to take screen shots, but the camera is amazing!! Super HQ in pitch black!
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Reviewed by Rhoda from England on 17th Oct 2009
This phone is a nightmare. I have had problem after problem with it freezing. Sending a message? It freezes. Trying to answer a call? Well good luckk! Cos guess what it freezes. Went back to the shop where purchased and they were absolutely no help whatsoever!! Stuck with this phone which i can barely use! For 24 months oh joy. What a mistake.
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Reviewed by Jason from UK on 16th Oct 2009
OK the Satio does not have the 3.5mm jack but THERE is one on the headphone lead so you CAN use your own headphones if desired. You just have to plug the SE headphone lead and then use your own headphones. That apart, my daughter has the phone and she absolutely loves it. She is very much into her gadgets and loves everything about the phone.
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Reviewed by Fred from England on 16th Oct 2009
Had the phone a few days now. First week impressions. BATTERY. Well up to now I can not fault it. Used it lots to play with (as you do) and made a couple of long calls, still on 3/4 full, left it overnight and still 3/4. TOUCHSCREEN. I find it responsive. a little like a blackberry storm, you touch the part you want and it lights up, then touch again. Quite a light touch. I think it is very good. SHORTCUTS. There are little things you keep finding, suck as press the clock top left corner on main screen and up pops the alarm / clock screen. touch top right and up pop calender, etc. I have changed from a N95Bgig. I would say that the apps are about the same speed, but they seem better laid out and better design. The symbian 60 series is lovely. SCREEN. What can i say, superb, my daughter has a samsung jet, thats good, this is as good.bright and clear. CAMERA. Without a doubt unbeatable currently. The quality is as good as a normal camera, anti shake is very good, practiced video with wobbling my hnd, on laptop it came out clear, no fuzz at all. SUPERB. NO 3.5 MIL JACK. So...buy a blue tooth set of earphones, 10 times better, no wires and easy, Try Motorola.... SIZE AND WEIGHT. If anyone moans about the weight, can you really tell me you can tell the difference between 90g and 120g in your pocket, its a standard phone. WALKMAN. Well what can you say, Sony Walkman is iconic, superb, this phone has a sony walkman in it.The Sony Media Go application for your PC compliments this. Overall, I have not found a problem yet, apart from Vodafones software, Did I want AOL, SKY and Google Mail already pre loaded, NO...The battery will last ages if you spend a few seconds turning off unused apps now and then. Still very new and a couple of the apps are 'awaiting' being turned on. i phone...not a chance now, I like pictures and music, this is top draw...
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Reviewed by Simon from UK on 16th Oct 2009
I'm not normally a fan of Sony Ericsson, but I have been anticipating the Satio since it was announced early this year and finally got my hands on a SE roadshow model yesterday. Looks-wise, this phone is up there with the i8910 HD in sexiness. The customisable front screen is pretty neat too, but I found the n97 and the Motorola Dext's screens a bit easier to use. I'm used to Symbian so I found the Satio easy to navigate, but the background themes I found rather dull. Hopefully some customisable themes will be released by SE soon. The camera is excellent, though the one photo I took with it didn't turn out too well, even set at 12 megapixels. I think I'd actually have to buy the phone to truly find out what it can do, but overall a good phone and hopefully the shape of things to come with 12 megapixel smartphones.
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