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The Sony Ericsson Satio U1i is a very capable camera and multimedia phone. Its camera is among the best you can get on a phone and is certainly a rival to entry level dedicated compacts. Meanwhile the large screen makes for a great multimedia viewing platform. However, the clunky interface, below par build quality and basic email facilities severely dent its value. Read full review

Overall

7/10

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By Edward Chester
Reviewed 18 January 2010
Updated 26 May 2011

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free/subscription

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Sony Ericsson Satio U1i details

Performance: 7/10
Value: 7/10
Features: 8/10
Design: 6/10
Overall: 7/10

Price as reviewed

free/subscription

Manufacturer

Sony Ericsson

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drdark

3:46 PM on 18 January, 2010

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@Ed: I'm confused by a couple of quotes from your review; in 2 successive paragraphs (separated by a picture).

"Speed is another thing this phone isn't left wanting for."

then

"It's not just in terms of speed where this phone trails top smartphones,"

Was this caused the early firmware problems you also mentioned in the review (which made reshooting the video necessary)?

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Ed

4:23 PM on 18 January, 2010

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Ah yes, that was obviously a hangover from a previous version. Good spot. I'll change it to something slightly less contradictory.

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ChrisC

11:04 PM on 18 January, 2010

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This whole crap UI thing is starting to baffle me! The iPhone, for all it's limitations, still has the benchmark UI, despite the fact it's been out for a few years now. It has the easily understandable layout design which anyone can work out how to navigate, and it has the graphics grunt to make it all nice, smooth and visually appealing. Can someone please explain, how any company looking to launch a phone in the same price bracket, thinks it's acceptable to provide an confusing, slow and unresponsive UI? Who signs these things off? If I was ticking the boxes for Sony Ericsson or any other phone manufacturer, I'd keep sending the developers back into the lab until they'd equaled or exceeded the benchmark. It might take a bit more resource but surely it will ultimately pay off in sales. All I see is manufacturers churning out new phones and none seem to be able to match the iPhone in this area. Sorry, but I see this as fundamental and I can't understand why this keeps happening! We want a viable alternative goddammit!!!

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Gordon394

11:14 PM on 18 January, 2010

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@ChrisC - preaching to the choir. We are equally baffled.

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Caleb9ce

1:18 AM on 19 January, 2010

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@ChrisC, my exact thoughts. How is it that a company like SE can even contemplate releasing a phone with sub-par user experience is beyond me. And from the pictures the build quality seems extremely shoddy.

It is fairly common knowledge that the OS and UI (user experience) are easily the most important features of any smartphone and any handset failing on any of these fronts is destined to fail miserably. The likes of Android, WebOS and even the Sense UI skinned WinMo 6.5 seem light years ahead of this junk.

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ffrankmccaffery

9:00 AM on 19 January, 2010

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@ChrisC: Clear and concise interfaces don't shift handsets as much as camera resolutions. My kid sister bought this piece of crap over the Palm Pre precisely because of the headline-grabbing 12 megapixels. The Pre's interface is just as impressive as the iPhones and yet its selling dismally.

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ChaosDefinesOrder

9:14 AM on 19 January, 2010

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The problem is mainly that the software designers have developed the software themselves so know how it works and therefore think that it makes sense. The problem is sloppy and/or lazy software testing. It's similar to how proof reading a document should never be done by the person that wrote it in the first place!

I suspect the problem with awful user experiences is down to them not properly testing them externally and/or refusing to implement the suggestions they get!

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Keithe6e

10:33 AM on 19 January, 2010

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@ChrisC: Simple answer, lawyers. The whole market is controlled by legal pen pushers.

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drdark

10:34 AM on 19 January, 2010

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@ChrisC: The problem with your argument is, it doesn't apply to everyone. For example, I still prefer S60v3 on my E71 to the iPhone... and yes, I am being serious.

Also, here's an example of impossibly stupid UI implementation on the iPhone:

Open Contacts > Hit the '+' > Tap the 'add new address' field

Now scroll down a little and tap the 'Country' field.

Why is this a bloody long list with no search bar at the top which I could tap and enter a name on the Virtual Keyboard in order to narrow the options down a bit?

Yes, it's just one gripe, but got on my nerves recently so I thought I'd mention it...

Also, back on topic to SE phones, I can never fathom why everyone's so impressed with the cameras (my wife's bought 3 of their 'camera phones' so far) as I find it's MegaPixels over Quality as far as the results are concerned (Been more impressed with N900's 5 than her W995's 8 recently - although to be fair it wasn't a 1:1 comparison of the same subject).

Also, I hear v2 firmware on the N97 improves Symbian's touch experience a bit; anyone here know from personal experience?

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Ed

10:55 AM on 19 January, 2010

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@ffrankmccaffery: They're two very different types of phone. Although the best camera phones still fall way behind decent dedicated compacts, they are still head and shoulders above the sort of thing you get on the Pre. So if your sister wanted a good camera then that was the obvious choice. However, there are many more situations where the situation is less clear cut and that's when user interface does make a difference even to the unknowing public.

@drdark: Let me just get this straight, you want a search function to find part of the contact info? If so... You say yourself that it's a short distance to scroll so is hardly much of a chore. Also a search function would just clutter and complicate the interface - while it may make the odd function slightly slower, one of the major keys to a good interface is making it consistent.

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