Aino: PS3 Remote Play, But Not a PSP Phone

More details have arisen about the Sony Ericsson Aino cell phone that will have some PS3 integration embedded in it. It's not the "PSP phone" that people keep talking about and hoping for, and to be honest, it seems to lack a lot of what people might have been hoping for.

In a Q&A with the Euro PS blog, Sony Ericsson's Lisa Canning dished on some highlights, and lowlights.

No surprise, no UMD support. Did we ever expect it? Also, while you will be able to use Remote Play to connect and control the PS3's XMB through the Internet, you won't be able to play PS1 games as you can on the PSP.

To access Remote Play, select the Remote Play icon in the entertainment menu of their Aino. The PS3 generates a one-time registration code to be entered into the Aino.


Here are some more details on the Aino:

• Three-inch 432 x 240 pixel screen, 16,777,216 color TFT.
• Luminous White, Obsidian Black.
• Videos, podcasts, music, Facebook and YouTube, 30 frames per second high quality playback, video recording in VGA at 25 fps.
• Personalize Aino with music, movies and games from the PlayNow arena. It features game, new, specially developed ringtones, music tones and DRM-free music tracks.
• Traditional keypad with an intuitive touch user interface when in media mode.
• Play and organize content with Media Go, which automatically formats all content on a computer to be compatible with Aino.
• Insert Aino into its charging stand and Media Home automatically pulls new content from Media Go on a PC via Wi-Fi.
• Access the PlayTV service to watch, pause and record live TV from a huge range of free to air channels.
• Aino features an 8.1 megapixel camera, featuring face detection, Geo tagging, Photo flash and auto focus.
• Up to 8GB SD memory card.

Timeframe: still a question. The first Aino will be released early October in the UK, with the rest of Europe to follow.