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And just to prove that miracles do happen, Sony Ericsson broke down and included a 3.5mm headset jack. We’re not sure what made the company change its mind, but we couldn’t care less.

The W995’s Walkman player offers the standard range of features, including album art, shake control, TrackID, and an adjustable bass level. You’ll also be able to save MP3 and AAC files as ring tones. The 8.1-megapixel camera is straight out of a Cyber-shot line. It has a 16x digital zoom, auto-focus, face detection, a flash, image stabilization, Sony’s PictBridge, a video recorder, and picture blogging.

Finishing out the feature set are stereo Bluetooth, assisted-GPS with support for Google Maps, Wi-Fi, messaging and e-mail, a voice recorder, an FM radio, phone-as-modem capability, USB mass storage, PC syncing, instant messaging, organizer applications, a speakerphone, gaming, and direct access to YouTube.

With so much under the hood, it’s imperative Sony Ericsson backs it all up with solid battery life and memory. Fortunately, the W995’s specs look promising. Its Memory Stick Micro slot will accommodate cards up to 8GB, the internal memory is 118MB, and Sony Ericsson promises that the W995’s battery life will be long enough to support two full-length films (9 hours talk time, 20 hours music time and 5 hours video time).

The W995 will be available in the second quarter of this year for an undisclosed price. The W955 will be quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900) and dual-band UMTS (900/2100), while the W995a will be quad-band GSM and tri-band UMTS (850/1900/2100). The latter is formatted for the North American market.

Key Features:

* Brushed metal body parts
* Quad-band GSM, dual-band HSDPA
* 2.6? 256K-color TFT display of QVGA resolution
* 8.1 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection
* WQVGA video recording at 30fps
* Built-in GPS with A-GPS functionality
* Wi-Fi with DLNA support
* Bluetooth (with A2DP) and USB v2.0
* Accelerometer sensor
* 118MB of internal memory and M2 memory expansion (8GB card included)
* Stereo speakers
* 3.5 mm audio jack
* Kickstand
* Walkman 4.0 music player with Shake control and SensMe
* FM radio with RDS
* Multi-tasking support
* Smart dialing
* Comfortable keypad, nice sliding mechanism

Main disadvantages:

* Video recording limited to WQVGA
* No lens protection
* No DivX/XviD video support (though it’s touted as a video-centric phone)
* Kickstand construction could’ve been more reliable
* No office document viewer

Of course, Wi-Fi and GPS are also in the mix to make the device that much more tempting. The Remote Play feature, initially developed for PSP, enables users to control and access media content on Playstation 3 from their phone.
Unfortunately, we don’t really find the Sony Ericsson Aino exterior breathtaking. It rather takes a somewhat conservative approach and an unassuming touch-only look, when it’s not opened.
Sony Ericsson Aino at a glance:

* General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/900/2100, GPRS/EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps, HSUPA, 2 Mbps
* Form factor: Touchscreen slider
* Dimensions: 104 x 50 x 15.5 mm, 134 g
* Display: 3-inch 16M color TFT display, 240 x 432 pixel resolution
* Memory: 55MB integrated memory, hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
* UI: Proprietary Flash-based UI
* Still camera: 8 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, smile detection, image stabilizer, smart contrast
* Video recording: VGA video recording at 30 fps
* Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, GPS receiver with A-GPS support
* Misc:Partial touchscreen functionality, accelerometer for screen auto rotate, FM radio with RDS, Remote play for Playstation 3
* Battery: 1000 mAh battery

The Sony Ericsson Aino is the first phone by Sony Ericsson to sport a widescreen and touchscreen display. Yes, the 3-inch screen is actually touch-enabled but only in the multimedia part of the menu and the camera interface.

The 8 megapixel camera is all there as well, so you can bet you get all the goodies that Sony Ericsson can offer in one single device.
The Sony Ericsson Aino

Well, the Sony Ericsson Aino is in our lab right now and it’s ready for some pre-release action. There are limitations of course – for instance, the camera is nowhere near proper working condition, but there’s plenty of time ahead of market release. We really hope to get a better working unit.

But let’s not keep you waiting any longer. Head on to the next page for our hands-on scoop of the Sony Ericsson Aino hardware and ergonomics.