By Chan Chi-Loong, a freelance writer

CALL this a case of touchscreen hide and seek.

Slide the Aino open to reveal the standard 12-key cellphone keypad.

In this mode, the screen displays a phone interface that can be accessed only via the keypad. The touchscreen is inactive.

Slide the phone shut and a different phone interface with five colourful icons spring to life. The icons, which allow you to access media functions like video, music and the camera, can be activated via touch.

This keypad-cum-touchscreen system is confusing.

The phone, which uses Sony Ericsson's own operating software, can also be a little slow when it comes to accessing data from the micro-SD card slot.

It is a real pity about these interface issues. Otherwise, the phone, which was launched at the end of last month, has many good points.

For one thing, it supports most of the popular ways of connectivity - GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G. Add to that, an 8.1-megapixel camera with flash and a free 8GB micro-SD storage card.

The phone has no physical audio jack, but it comes with a Bluetooth stereo device that plugs into any typical earphone, which is great.

Certainly, one of the gizmo's top draws is that it automatically pulls new content from your PC via its Sony Ericsson Media Go platform. It is both an online storefront where you can buy music from Sony and a program which organises and plays music and video content.

For example, any new music or podcast that you have downloaded on the PC is automatically sent over to the phone - over Wi-Fi - when the phone is in its charging dock or when it is within range. I also like the breadth of applications.

They provide easy access to Google, YouTube and Facebook. Throw in other useful tools like Wisepilot, a map routing application using the GPS, and TrackID, a cool song recognition program, and you have a pretty decent phone for its price.

Final say

If you can get used to the interface, the Aino is a great mid-priced phone.

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