In Sony Ericsson's rush to get its phones out to Christmas buyers, it forgot to actually make its last two handsets work properly.
The company's flagship 12 megapixel phone, the Satio, was the first handset to be withdrawn by major retailers: Phones4U and the Carphone Warehouse. Satio came with Xenon flash, a wide-screen display and a glitch within the phone's firmware that resulted an unusually high number of customer returns.
Now the newly released Aino handset hailed as a phone for gamers with PS3 support, is also experiencing technical issues, this time with its touchscreen
Sony Ericsson may have been hoping for the Aino to ride on the media tails of its big brother, but probably not quite like this.
Industry analyst Geoff Blaber from CCS Insight has highlighted that these two handsets are Sony Ericsson's key products for the final quarter of this year.
"These problems couldn't' come at a worse time, just as the market approaches the highest volume weeks of the year. They have days, not weeks, to fix these issues," he said.
The Aino's technical glitch follows a lukewarm response from tech reviewers, with a widespread consensus that the media player, camera and gaming aspect of this phone are on the slow side.
While the Satio has sold well in its two months on the market, the Aino was slow off the start line, and now faces quality-issues which, let's face it, doesn't exactly invite consumers to part with their recession-strapped cash.
Both the Satio and the Aino were released in October this year, coupled with an expensive marketing campaign. Looks like SE's budget would have been better spent on making its products in the first place. The company hasn't made a profit since Q2 of 2008.
The saying goes, bad things come in threes. Let's hope SE bucks the trend and the X10 lives up to its hype a bit better.
Have you experienced an SE glitch? Leave us a comment and let us know.
6 thoughts on “Sony Ericsson Satio and Aino Pulled from Stores”
I have the Satio, got it about a month ago now and i haven’t had any problems. Bought it directly from Vodafone so i don’t know if that makes a difference. i have experienced none of the problems they listed. In fact, it’s the best phone i’ve ever had.
Agree with Aino reviews- had a play in-store and it had the slowest interface I had come across in awhile. Not good for a brand new handset. Even the sales guy was a bit embarrassed about it!
Got the Aino a week ago, now the touchscreen doesn’t work, it freezes so drains the battery, no camera available, or anything! Very disappointing!!
Sony Ericsson Satio comes with a 12.1 megapixel camera which tends to bring realistic snaps with wonderful clarity. The high definition images clicked with face detection software installed in this device.
My 2nd replacement AINO has all the same problems as the other 2? The camera flash stopped working and they decided they should replace the phone with half a 2nd hand phone with a scratch under the plastic screen protector? And VODACOM says it’s standard procedure???
Well I’ve had the Sony Ericsson Satio for over a year.. and Have discovered many problmes with it.. would not let anyone buy one.. the camera is great don’t get me wrong but it has been one problem after another!