As many of you may already know, the Sony Ericsson Satio got pulled out of the shelves of Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse due to firmware problems. Apparently, many people were complaining that the much famed Satio was suffering from slowdowns, freezing, power downs, battery drains and the occasional missing ring tones.

The news came at a very bad time for Sony –who badly needed the Satio to make good sales. Having a major device getting pulled off the shelves right before the holidays was the kind of bad news that spreads quickly, and tends to mutate as well. Pretty soon, there were also rumors that the Aino was getting delayed due to problems.

While Sony and some retailers were quick to bust the Aino rumors, Sony’s own firmware fix for the Satio seemed to take forever. It was not until about a week ago that a downloadable patch for the Satio finally became available on the SE website. The patch not only fixed problems, but it made all devices run faster and also, handle battery consumption better (a bonus that Sony probably figured out due to fixing the battery drain problems).

The battery control solution seemed to be so efficient that just recently Sony Ericsson released a patch for both the Aino and the Yari that will also allow the device to consume less energy.

With the Satio fixed, and the Aino and Yari also sporting better battery consumption settings, Sony Ericsson’s holiday line-up is looking a lot better now. The delay of the XPERIA X2 to 2010 is seriously straining Sony’s marketing schemes.

Alongside the Satio and its cousin devices, Sony will also be releasing a couple of Greenheart devices during the holiday season. Sony Ericsson’s Greenheart series features mobile phones that are composed of at least 50% recycled plastics.

Sony Ericsson is doing damage control, but they are not letting it stop them from improving already good devices.

While the Satio suffered a lot due to freezing problems (it was pulled out of shelves from Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U for a while), Sony finally released a hot fix that would solve the many problems that plagued the device. Officially, the Satio is back for the Holiday sales face-off between mobile phones.

This comes as a much-needed update to Sony who just recently delayed the launch of the XPERIA X2 to January of next year.

Anyway, in order to bolster their existing lineup of mobile phones, Sony Ericsson just released updates for the Aino and the Yari. The two devices are also going to be part of SE’s front line during the holiday season.

The Yari will be getting an update for lower battery consumption and streamlined GPS and Bluetooth functions. Two new games will also be added into the device: Snowboard Rush and Hamster Hustle.

The Aino will be receiving a similar update. For those who read about it previously, the Aino got hit by some rumors that it, like the Satio was going to be pulled off shelves due to problems in the firmware. This is actually not the case and even Carphone Warehouse clarified that the device was doing okay.

Anyway, the Aino will now have better energy consumption rates and streamlined wireless LAN, GPS and Bluetooth functions (not unlike the Yari). What the Aino will have over other devices is the inclusion of the Loco Roco mobile phone game.

Loco Roco is a major hit for the Sony Playstation Portable that used unique game physics in order to create an innovative game. You control a strange creature across the landscape by tilting and bouncing the terrestrial surface –honestly, it is more fun to play than to describe. Loco Roco also has a very impressive soundtrack of catchy and well arranged tracks.

Its official, Sony’s answer to the SE Satio problems comes in the form of a firmware hot-fix that should –hopefully, solve all the problems plaguing this otherwise amazing mobile phone.

The Sony Ericsson Satio got pulled out of the shelves of Carphone Warehouse and Phones4U due to many the problems reported by costumers. The most common problems were slowdowns, freezing, power downs and the occasional loss of ringtones. In various mobile phone forums, there were other problems raised but they are not confirmed to be directly linked to the Satio’s firmware problems.

The pullout was a major problem for Sony. With the holidays just over the corner, they could not afford to have a major device be taken off the shelves at a time like this. SE has been having financial troubles recently, as they already closed off offices in and out of the United States, over 2000 employees had to be let go. There are also some reports that SE is planning to let go of 600 more. With the XPERIA X2 delayed to next year, this Christmas shows a very slim lineup of SE devices (the Aino, the Greenhearts, and hopefully, the Satio).

The new update, named R1CA037, is already available, and has been available for download for about a week now. Sony has been strategically quiet about their patches since they are still apparently waiting for patches for the branded Satios (so the fix is only for non-branded units, owners using a Vodafone version of the Satio should still wait).

As of the time of writing, Carphone Warehouse has not yet restocked the device despite the availability of the patch, but sources indicate that the Satio will be back on the shelves by the 8th of December. Initial findings show that the hot fix will make the Satio run faster and smoother, but no one has confirmed that it will fully fix all existing problems.

Sony Ericsson’s Satio has had a rough start, no more than a month since it has been released; the device has been plagued by problem after problem, with the culprit being Satio’s own operating system. The problem has been isolated to unbranded units -which show that the problem lies internally within Sony Ericsson’s own output.

The issues were so wide spread that both Phones4U and the Carphone Warehouse (both major UK retailers), decided to pull out the Satio from the shelves. No worse timing could have befallen this phone than a pre-holiday pull out.

Prior to this, Sony Ericsson has already been having financial setbacks, with the closure of several of their offices, it is clear that Sony is relying heavily on the Satio to do well during the holidays.

The Sony Ericsson Aino, a device similar to the Satio but only uses a Sony OS instead of the Symbian, hit a snag when rumors that the device was also suffering from problems as was being pulled out of shelves as well (a rumor that spread due to the recent news about the Satio). Fortunately, retailers and Sony Ericsson was quick on the draw and swiftly cleared up the issue.

The only thing left is the Satio. While SE has already released a firmware patch that would fix the problem (contrary to earlier reports that a software fix was not enough to take care of the problems) the phone is still “not back on the shelves” on Carphone Warehouse. According to Techradar, they have been informed by Carphone Warehouse that the retailer is currently working with Sony Ericsson regarding the problem and both parties are trying to put the Satio back on the shelves.

With Satio still out of the picture, Sony’s current holiday front will have the Aino and the Sunny & Susan Greenheart phones.

Good New Release

The Sony Ericsson Satio is a new release from Sony Ericsson that runs on the Symbian S60 5^th Edition, much like the Nokia N97 but with a different user interface and theme. It is a tablet phone measuring 112 mm x 55 mm x 13.3 mm, with a 3.5” resistive touchscreen with a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. It also has 100 MB of integrated memory, with a microSD card (16 MB), and a Ram of 256 MB. It also comes with an accelerometer, 1000 mAh battery, and an FM Radio with RMS. The design of the Satio is flashy and stylish and certainly a design that no one will complain about. All in all, together with its other functions and features, this is a mobile phone that will delight a lot of people.

Great Camera

The Sony Ericsson Satio is also predominantly a camera phone, which means it has a camera that will rival even the best point and shoot out there. It has a Cyber Shot 12.1-megapixel camera that is said to be the sharpest camera ever in a mobile phone. This camera also comes with an autofocus (as well as a tap to focus feature), a Xenon flash, smile and face detector.

Multimedia Fun

Sony Ericsson has also equipped this mobile phone with some gesture control capabilities that will be used for gaming and multimedia functions. The inclusion of Media Go allows one to drag and drop media files between this mobile phone and your personal computer. It is also Youtube compatible, has a video playback application that can show the best quality videos and much, much more.

If you are looking for a great camera phone, with multimedia functionality that might just be unmatched, the Satio is the phone for you. This is a great Symbian phone offer from Sony Ericsson that you will not regret buying.

Sony Ericsson Satio Links:

• Sony Ericsson Satio Pay As You Go
• Sony Ericsson Satio Videos
• Sony Ericsson Satio Reviews