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The range of applications on the Sony Ericsson Aino is bewildering, simply because it seems the company has lumped every single one it could think of in there.
We'll take you through some of our personal favourites, although the likes of the torch (which turns on the LED flash) and the photo tutor (some basic hints on how to take decent cameraphone snaps) are worthy of honourable mention.
TrackID
Anyone that knows Shazam how this works - hold the phone up to a speaker when an unknown song is playing and TrackID will perform music recognition magic for you. It will then send you to a portal where you can download the track -either from the Sony Ericsson PlayNow arena or your network provider's music store to buy the song in question.
TrackID also has searchable elements, an option to see the most listened to and downloaded tracks in recent days and an easy to use interface – but it can't work out what song your mate is trying to hum to you, sadly.
Tracker
Seen the Nike+ iPod? This is pretty similar, as it works out where you are to help you train while running. The best thing is once your size and weight are calibrated, there's no need for a pesky shoe sensor - it can map your runs and give you detailed feedback at the end, complete with motivational voiceovers.
Crazy Penguin
A cool game that's so addictive we nearly published this review later than we were supposed to. Basically you fire penguins at polar bears, and try and navigate the scenery to do so before you run out of winged ammo.
It sounds rubbish - but it's really not, and while it's not a reason to buy the phone alone, check it out if you do end up with the Aino.
PlayNow Arena
While the likes of Apple, RIM, Nokia and friends are off making their own whizzbang application stores, Sony Ericsson, well, isn't.
PlayNow Arena is basically a store front to buy ever-so-slightly pricey games, ringtones, tunes and wallpapers, with an added applications section too. But most of the applications cost to buy - there are only two free, Snaptu and Fring, in the store. We don't know if the phone is incompatible or the library needs completing, but this needs to change soon if SE is to be a big player in the future.
