It's Sony Ericsson's first ever S60 smartphone, running the same version of S60 5th Edition as the Nokia 5800, but with several Sony Ericsson extras, plenty of horsepower under the bonnet and a distinctive camera-centric tablet form factor. Can Sony Ericsson succeed where Samsung have been struggling in the battle to compete with the lesser specified Nokias? Here's part 1 of my multi part AAS review of the Satio.
Read on in the full article.
Interesting that you chose to review the Satio in its 'buggy' state. Yet in your own words, didn't review the original N97 because you knew a firmware update would improve it later.
Why one method for Nokia and another for SE? seems a bit biased to me
Well if Steve *knew* a firmware fix was coming for the Nokia, it was only logical to delay the review. Maybe Steve is not aware of a forthcoming firmware release that will fix all these SE bugs, so how long should he wait for unnanounced bug fixes?
Give me credit guys, and READ my text. I clearly state that I'm leaving the software side of the Satio for 'part 3' of the review in a few weeks time, giving S-E the same chance to get their update out. If the update is 3 weeks or even four (i.e. Christmas) then I'll delay too.
Sigh... Over quarter of a million words for AAS over the last six years and you guys STILL don't trust me to be objective. 8-(
There we go then. (I must confess I hadn't clicked 'Read On' before I'd read the first responder's comment above. Shame on me for commenting before I RTFA but I was defending your impartial style.
slitchfield wrote:but the sound capture was far too quiet - as with the Samsung i8910 HD.
On the i8910 there is a fix for sound recording on video.
(ok, its a 'workaround' and not for the average user, but it is known and documented.)
And to give Steve some credit, the review says (too many time's to be overlooked) that the Satio's firmware is accepted to be buggy and unfinished at this time.
However, people ARE going to remember that you held off on reviewing the N97 for the same reason. Also, the news that the Satio has been pulled from several UK stores may have made you consider holding off on releasing a review until a fix was in place.
The Satio fell over before it even got out of the gate. The timing of your review *could* be perceived as kicking it while its down.
UKJeeper wrote:The Satio fell over before it even got out of the gate. The timing of your review *could* be perceived as kicking it while its down.
Eh? Kicking it? I thought I was surprisingly positive about much of the Satio's design and hardware. With rock solid firmware, it's certainly got tremendous potential as a device.
i just sold my n82 for this.phone. i love it. i needed the xenon. i have no problems regarding responsiveness of the screen or hitting the s.e shortcut buttons at the top. kinetic scrolling is in the se apps media and contacts plus opera.mobile which im typing.this on does so the lack of it else where is not really an issue for me. im used to charging my evry evening so batt isnt prob either. i love.it.but i spose im easily pleased. not really suffered any probs wit mine that is orange branded
slitchfield wrote:Eh? Kicking it? I thought I was surprisingly positive about much of the Satio's design and hardware. With rock solid firmware, it's certainly got tremendous potential as a device.
Look back over your tweets this week. There wasn't one that didn't mention Satio and 'bug' or 'buggy' in the same sentence. Now here's a review that although appears to like the hardware, still throws the words 'bug', buggy' and variations of 'when the firmware is improved' around with enough abandon to flavour the rest of the otherwise positive review.
And now you've done it in the podcast too!!
The people who follow you, and there are 1 or 2, have now had 3 days of you saying Satio and bug at the same time. In at least 3 different mediums. Twitter, AAS review AND the AAS podcast. Intentionally or not, you've contributed to the probable sidelining of the Satio.
UKJeeper wrote:Intentionally or not, you've contributed to the probable sidelining of the Satio.
Don't you think that shop chains and then Sony Ericsson themselves all pulling the device from sale have rather more effect at 'sidelining'?
I *WANT* to like the Satio, notice all the positives in the part 1 of the review. It's just completely un-recommendable at the moment. I'd hate for any of my contacts/friends/followers to buy it YET. Give S-E a month to sort the mess out and we'll progress with a proper evaluation (part 3 of the review).
Part 2 will be about the camera, which, from tests so far is stonkingly good.
Steve, as a former owner of a Satio, I think your review's right on the money. There were far too many niggling issues that have been experienced by tons of folks as evidenced by the lengthy discussions on various tech forums. Anyhow, with the N97 getting pulled off the shelves too, do you think maybe there's an inherent problem with S60v5 itself?
Anyhow, I've jumped aboard the Maemo express, so I don't see myself coming back to S60 unless they can pull a real techno marvel out of the hat, which seems highly unlikely at the moment.
Most pertinently all the manufacturers who've tried bringing phones on S60v5/SF^1 have been burned and although Sony are a founding partner none of their (much neglected by them) UIQ legacy seems to have shone through and like Samsung when they have tried to customise the UI to differentiate the product from Nokia they have run into trouble.
Sony have limited resources for new phones after the last 1yr+ of dismal results and althogh Android doesn't offer them much differentiation at least enough of their new UX platform has been shown to realise that they are getting some done and if that proves to work better than efforts on SF (and early video suggest it does) even though they're not a favoured partner of Google on Android I think their parlous finacial state is going to constrain them to working on more Android and ignoring SF. They simply can't afford more failures and no one (Nokia included in fact especially included) seems to be able to get a working, reliable user friendly smartphone out the door under SF and all seem to experience huge ammounts of instability. Andorid may not be perfect but at least people appear to be able to get it to work, this may or may not be an inherent fault in Symbian (complexity) but it's certainly starting to look so.
All the repetition that we need to wait for SF^3 and especially ^4 isn't helping I'm sure they're (possibly) great but they're way too late and very soon Nokia is going to be left as they only developer on a supposed open platform and will find themselves carrying the entire devlopment burden whilst having to give others open access to it an even worse position than they were in before.
@snoFlake
5800 and 5530 are stable phones. I don't know why Nokia managed to get them working fine almost from the first release, but couldn't do it with their more expensive phone. There is no way these can be described as having a "huge amount of instability". Where the N97 was ropey in the early software, it does seem to have been rushed out.
I think there must be a shortage of good software engineers willing/able to work on these phones, it's not like the Symbian style of coding is taught in universities. You are much more likely to get people with unix type skills to work on projects that are based on linux, or (albeit somewhat removed) BSD type projects. Maybe SF just aren't paying enough to get the talent? Maybe Nokia aren't. Maybe they are not connecting with the ODMs in the far east properly. The types of problems I see with phone softwaree seems to be screaming out inexperienced contract engineers, people being thrown at deadlines. We all know that the law of diminishing returns applies in these situations.
Unregistered wrote:Steve, as a former owner of a Satio, I think your review's right on the money. There were far too many niggling issues that have been experienced by tons of folks as evidenced by the lengthy discussions on various tech forums. Anyhow, with the N97 getting pulled off the shelves too, do you think maybe there's an inherent problem with S60v5 itself?Anyhow, I've jumped aboard the Maemo express, so I don't see myself coming back to S60 unless they can pull a real techno marvel out of the hat, which seems highly unlikely at the moment.
LOL. Just watch Maemo crash and burn!
Fan Buggy Dozy for the Satio,carphone warehouse as stopped selling this mobile an Sony Ericsson are getting worse at producing mobiles,they never seem bothered about the quality nowdays ,C902,C905 an W995 might have looked good mobiles on the surface but you really had to take good care of these mobiles or the Value bof the phone would drop that quickly,C902 fascia paint peels of ,C905 all had speaker problems,an W995 the labels on this mobile peel off easily, an the Satio following the trend ,they are really in trouble now an might be the last phone before this companies goes there own ways
I think this is a good review: I almost want to buy the phone just after reading the review... and it's part 1! No really... I keep my N86 with me for a while. 😊
Interestingly, my battery lasts *much* longer 2 months in than it did at first. I get just under 2 days with it now, compared with a day when I got it a month ago
12.1 mpix, same as my Canon 450D.... Now I can throw away my awfully heavy camera and have the best pictures ever made by Satio... Only one thing bothers me: why Canon lenses (eg. IS 18-55) are so big? 😉 Can I attach it to Satio. Maybe duct tape, the black one, would be handy?
@ 'Unregistered' (eh? Qui? Why can't you guys ******* log in??)
Don't throw away your standalone. Megapixel numbers aren't a good indication of quaity in all light conditions. Your standalone will produce far better results when the sun's not shining and the light isn't optimal, on account of its bigger lens and bigger sensor.
@Steve,
I think he was being funny or attempting to. The duct tape was the give away. Anyway, you are correct about the megapixel myth. Great article by the way. I have a Nikon D300S and I am more than sure it will blow the Satio out of the water on picture quality because of the lens and the image processing software in the camera.
@Steve
The guy's standalone will produce far better image quality results period. Regardless of lighting conditions. The toy camera in the Satio will not even come close even in ideal light.
And yes, he was spooning on the sarcasm.
As for logging in. It's OK for people who have this site as one of their main activities, but us casual users have got enough passwords and login names for loads of different sites, which may be our main activities. I've got enough trouble remembering all the passwords I've got already without another.
Woohoo, just recovered my username and password.
Satio looks OK to me if FW is sorted out but I probably won't buy one because we're in a really marginal signal area and SE handsets usually don't work here.
My 5800 works just fine.
OK, so I logged in.
Yes, I tried to be a little sarcastic. IMHO 3-5 mpix is max enough considering lens size of pinhead.
Unregistered wrote:@Steve
[...]As for logging in. It's OK for people who have this site as one of their main activities, but us casual users have got enough passwords and login names for loads of different sites, which may be our main activities. I've got enough trouble remembering all the passwords I've got already without another.
But what's wrong with simply putting your name under the message?
Maarten
filipp wrote:OK, so I logged in.Yes, I tried to be a little sarcastic. IMHO 3-5 mpix is max enough considering lens size of pinhead.
Sarcasm seems to have been missed 😃
I totally agree - 3-5 is the general sweet spot until there is some radical change in sensor and lens technology.
Considering that lens technology hasn't really changed that much in the last 100 years, and that sensor technology hasn't really changed that much, I dont' expect anything magical that soon.
clonmult wrote:
Sarcasm seems to have been missed 😃
English is my "second language", maybe that's why. I hope nobody took that duct tape as a solution, I don't take any responsibility :tongue:.
maartenmk wrote:But what's wrong with simply putting your name under the message?Maarten
For all the difference it will make.
Donald Duck.
filipp wrote:English is my "second language", maybe that's why. I hope nobody took that duct tape as a solution, I don't take any responsibility :tongue:.
Well, your second language is considerably better than mine - haven't really even attempted to speak german or french in waaaay too many years :frown:
@Donald duck
The point is that at least you can track who writes what. A login is also not really a secure ID...
maartenmk wrote:@Donald duckThe point is that at least you can track who writes what. A login is also not really a secure ID...
If it matters to you so much.