It turns out that the Satio doesn’t run OVI maps (out of the box,) isn’t as fast as the Cortex A8 CPU might have you believe and with a waiting line of Sony Ericsson phones expected, I really don’t see it getting the long term attention it needs from it’s creators.

All that remains now is to wait for Mobile World Congress and if I don’t see anything there, the N82 will likely be my phone for the next year. It’s been good from day 1 and with Gravity, Opera Mobile and Ovi Maps to make it even better, why shouldn’t it be the perfect buddy for another 12 months?

Supplementing the N82 with a MID like the UMID BZ is working out pretty well and we’ve got the Viliv N5 and Dell Mini 5 to look forward to too!

I took a brief look at the Sony Ericsson Satio a while back but it didn’t really register in my ‘want’ list because I didnt know about the CPU. When I found out that it’s got the same CPU in as the iPhone 3GS (AAS Review) I started to get interested again. Today I checked it out in the T-Mobile shop here in Bonn and sure enough, it’s got a lot of potential. The touchscreen is resistive but, like the Nokia N900, gives good haptic-assisted response. The slider-protected (essential) camera is 12MP and the pre-focus is quick and accurate. The only thing I found missing on the camera side (in my 10 minute test) was the ability to force the flash on (for fill-in.)

A quick test with the browser (on the 360×640, 3.5” screen) showed it to be accurate although over EDGE, I couldn’t really test the speed out. WIth the OMAP 3430 platform at heart, it’s going to be reasonable although with multitasking capability, probably not as fast as the single-tasking iPhone 3GS.

Must-have GPS and MicroSD are also included although the lack of 3.5mm headphone jack is hard to accept. Included headphones look good and included adaptor helps.

Two questions remain though:

• Am I happy with Series 60?
• Will Nokia bring out a new high-end cameraphone at MWC (on Symbian^2)

Series 60 is something that a lot of people moan about. It’s NOT intuitive and there’s a tough learning curve BUT, once you’re over that (I’ve been using S60 for 2 years) there’s a lot to like about it. Being able to choose per-application internet connections, good memory and process management, stable operation and a level of software support that is up there with Apple’s iPhone. I’m also a big fan of Ovi Maps. The application is quick, smooth, allows me to buy daily walk/drive licenses via my carrier’s bill and it syncs well with the online Ovi service. Exchange support works well with Google, the Gravity twitter app is one of the best out there and Opera Mobile 10 beta for S60 is a fantastic browser. SIP is integrated, Do I need any more than that? The Ovi store isn’t that exciting but it’s coming along. Android would be better for me but Symbian S60 comes in at #2 above iPhone and WM6.5. (Maemo 5 needs work to become a 24/7 phone.)

Many of you know that I’m a two-mobile-device man. I don’t believe that convergence can bring me the quality I require from a fully onverged web, pmp, navi, phone, pim, microblogging, camera device (a-la N900) so the phone doesn’t have to have the fastest and best web experience in the world because I’ve got another device for that. My priority is that camera. Capturing life around me and sending it to the internet, keeping up with news and email, twitter, mp3,  organising my agenda and making phone calls and SMS are the most important features I need in a phone.

480 Euro’s is a lot to pay for a phone but it’s only 30 Euro more than I paid for the N82 and 02 are doing some good internet-focused tariffs. (50 Euro per month for 24 months should see me covered for the phone, 5GB Internet usage including tethering/laptop use along with my low-end voice and SMS use. Initial payment – 29.95Euro. TCO, phone and costs – 1200 Euros)

So why didn’t I buy one then? Simple. At my second visit to the 02 shop today the staff refused to let me try a working model despite having one in stock. T-Mobile had a working model on display but their tariffs are focused on a flat and equal mix of voice, SMS and internet. My final option is to buy one from the O2 online shop. The ‘remote purchase’ law in Germany at least allows me 14 days to return it. 

But then again, Mobile World Congress is coming in just over a week!

Sample 12mp Satio image below (click for full size and see how much you can zoom in. its stunning!)

Note the widescreen form-factor of the image. Gives it a modern feel.

Any other N82 owners out there laboring over the same choice?

Marketing – Does anyone think that marketing teams will let this happen? What are the chances of the marketing team saying this to the board: “We have an idea. Lets stop separate MP3 and digicam sales and just focus on selling the converged device. It’s cheaper for the consumer.”

Buying cycle – The chances are that you’ve just bought one of the devices that your converged device includes. 1) Buying something you’ve already got doesn’t feel good. 2) The chances are that the dedicated device is better.

Pricing – The price of the separate items will drop to the point where you can afford to buy a PMP, MP3, EReader. In many cases the price drops to the point where they can be given as gifts.

Physics – There are physical reasons why everything won’t converge onto a smartphone. It doesn’t take much thought to see that.

Advancing Tech – Developing a converged device requires expertise, industry partners and speed. If you don’t get that converged device to market before the next wave of technology comes along then you’re already behind the curve on launch day.  Developers of dedicated devices will always be ahead of the curve because they have a more efficient focus.

A slim opportunity

There is an opportunity for a large, dynamic, dedicated smartphone manufacturer to create a single device that 1) does not cut across products that exist in their portfolio 2)  is more usable than dedicated devices at the leading edge of technology 3) to reach a big enough scale that the prices can be brought down to ‘no-brainer’ levels.

There aren’t many companies out there that could do this but Nokia is one example. Apple, Samsung, Sony and similar multi-product companies would have problems with this strategy.