All I wanted was a phone

A phone, as in “a handheld device with which to make and receive calls, and also send and receive text messages.” I know, How quaint. I think they stopped making those 10 years ago.

The developments in mobile phone technology and marketing are sort of similar to the women’s liberation movement of my childhood. Women could not be confined to the kitchen; they conquered the workplace and proved that as professionals they were as capable as, or better than, their male colleagues.

However, the more they achieved in male-dominated professions, the more they were called upon to show their “feminine” (emphasize quotation marks) side. When they got home from running corporations, they still had to be perfect wives and mothers, whip up fabulous dinners, provide emotional counseling to the kids, and keep their houses camera-ready in case Architectural Digest dropped in. In short, they had to be all things to all people.

Something similar (though much less complex) is happening to the mobile phone. It is no longer enough to be an efficient gadget for calling Mom and telling her you’ll be out late (Kids, you should train yourselves to do this, hitting that one button will save you so much aggravation). Besides, that task is not entirely within the phone’s control, but dependent on the telcos. The most sophisticated cellphone still needs some kind of signal.

Today’s mobile phones should also take photographs of a sufficient resolution to display on highway billboards, surf the Internet, send and receive e-mails, play music, contain games, show several full-length feature films, balance the national budget, and bring forth world peace. All while smiling fiercely in a skimpy bathing suit. You know what I mean.

Consider the new Sony Ericsson Aino. It doesn’t just take pictures, it takes them with an 8.1 megapixel camera with up to 16x digital zoom. It doesn’t just surf the Internet, it displays websites on a 3-inch 16-million color screen. It doesn’t just play music, it offers a clear audio experience and wireless stereo headphones.

It doesn’t just play movies; users in the Asia Pacific region have access to an extensive content library for downloads. Place it on its charging stand and its Media Home application automatically pulls media content on your computer to your phone via Wi-Fi.

It doesn’t just play games, it controls your Playstation 3. You can access all the media content on your Playstation 3 with Aino anywhere using Remote Play. At home you can do this via a local network between Aino and Playstation 3; anywhere in the world, you can connect through the Internet.

So far, so great, but what about the phone?

Sony Ericsson Aino is a good-looking phone that comes in luminous white or obsidian black. It has a slide-out keypad for typing text messages and e-mails, the organizer, and other “regular” functions. The keypad is alphanumeric, so those of us accustomed to QWERTY will have to re-learn texting with one hand, which makes the other hand fidgety.

Text exchanges are conveniently arranged as Conversations, very handy for arguments (“But you said. . .”). Let me remind you of the lesson we should all learn from the Tiger Woods imbroglio: Delete all incriminating text messages and photos. Now.

Transferring your old phone directory and other information is easy: you can download a plug-in from the Sony Ericsson site that lets you to sync the Aino with your Mac or PC.

Apart from the keypad the Aino has a touch screen, but only in media mode. You can get your pictures, videos, movies, games and music instantly, but only when the phone is closed. For calls and messages you have to slide out the keypad and punch a few buttons. You can answer calls without sliding out the keypad, though: just drag the icon from left to right. It also works for muting or rejecting calls.

The touch screen is particularly useful for viewing your photos. Tap on the photo icon, review the photos by dragging your finger across the screen, then touch the chosen picture to enlarge it. When taking photos, camera settings can be selected by touching the screen.

Why not just make the whole shebang touch screen-accessible then? In this brave new world, apparently, getting entertainment is a more urgent need than communicating directly with other humans. Hmmm, interesting. Then again you have to admit that most text messages are not absolutely necessary; we send them out to remind each other that we exist ... or that we’re not goofing off when we should be working.

The Aino is now available at Sony Ericsson dealers; suggested retail price is P24,500.