PS3 phone out next month

The first mobile phone to boast PlayStation 3 compatibility will be available next month, Sony Ericsson has confirmed. SE_Anio_01 Sony Ericsson's Aino: hits the UK next month Aino makes use of the PS3’s Remote Play feature to let you control the Sony console and access its media content over a wireless connection. SE …

[Andrew Moore]

Seriously???

They are going to release a product with a name that sounds like 'anal'???

[zourtney]

Logical (for the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player)

I like the idea, though the PS3 seems an odd place to shoe-in this technology.

As smartphones become the norm, the demand for interoperability with household electronics and appliances should be rising. I have thought multiple times, "if only the iPhone had infrared I/O..." The possibilities!*

Better yet -- start manufacturing TVs, stereo equipment, etc with WLAN capabilities. You'd never need a device specific remote control again -- just install an application on your phone (or a WiFi device with full OS, like an iPod Touch).

-----------------------------------------

* ...well, if Apple actually encouraged open development. Screw the iPhone -- I suspect the Android platform will take hold and become a dominant mobile-device OS because of their openness to developers. And once again, Apple will lose market share because of their closed-system approach, just as all the software dev types flocked to Microsoft's more open model when I was yet a wee tot.

[Thomas Bottrill]

What does it control?

Is it just for accessing media stored on the PS3 via your phone?

Seems a bit pointless really - I have no media stored on any of my consoles. Instead, it's all streamed from my existing media server. I would imagine a fair few people also use their consoles to stream stuff from their desktops.

Then, it's a simple case of using something like Orb to allow you access to it over the internet through either another computer or your mobile phone.

[Anonymous Coward]

@Seriously???

Actually, it should be pronounced "eye know." So it's a phone of love? /shrug

[Jason Togneri]

@ Aino / sounds like 'anal'

I dunno about Sony/SonyEricsson, but in Finland, "Aino" (pronounced "eye-no") is probably one of the oldest female names and is still in common use today, with over 66,000 recorded uses of the name in the last century alone. It certainly doesn't look or sound like "anal" in any language I'm familiar with, although I'll admit, I can't see why they used it here.

[Anonymous Coward]

couple of thoeries

Sony releases a media streaming phone called iNo. Could be a shot at Job's mob.

or, very worringly...

Sony (a member of the MPAA and RIAA) releases a media streaming phone named iKnow. As in, iKnow the contents of your PS3.

[JeffyPooh]

"Media" .NE. BluRay disks

"...stream media..." - well, except for BluRay disks which are not available via 'Remote Play_anything_but_a_BluRay_disk...'

[James Halliday]

So let me get this straight

I can buy the phone, then buy a PS3, store films on my PS3 and then watch them on my phone..."anywhere in the world"

erm so it's sortof like erm what you can do with pretty much any PC and erm any decent phone - except it just works with Sony stuff. How many people are they actually imagining are out there just crying out for this functionality?

[Annihilator]

Like PSP/PS3 compatibility...

... utterly pointless. The closest they came to a "cool" feature for the PS3/PSP combo was when GT5 was rumoured to use the PSP as a rear-view mirror. That's been long scrapped.

Just because it can be done, doesn't mean it should be!

[Anonymous Coward]

Aino, etc

SE's pre-launch product codenames are all girls names. For example the X3, the android phone, is called Rachael.

Aino is the codename. The launch name will likely follow their standard naming - letter, then numbers.

[David Webb]

Brilliant

I use the Play TV that you can get for the PS3, this allows you to record TV on your PS3 and gain remote control over it, so my PS3 can be recording "Debbie does Dallas" in the UK whilst I'm in a country with strict porn controls and watch it via remote play on my PSP, if the PS3 phone allows that you can watch UK TV when you're on holiday, brilliant!

[Anonymous Coward]

@Andrew Moore

It's because- as it's a Sony product- they'll bend you over the enormous stack of cash you've just used to buy the thing and have their wicked way with you.

And you'll probably thank them and get their next product too because it's expensive and hence better than the competition.

[b166er]

Yawn

Erm, Orb since 2004. Honestly, people who buy Sony must have some sort of tech-blinkers on.

[Citizen Kaned]

hmmm

@ b166er

sony produce some of the best AV amps and the best console available.

im no sony fanboy (although have had all the playstations) but this could be a cool new thing, but i doubt it.

@"Seems a bit pointless really - I have no media stored on any of my consoles. Instead, it's all streamed from my existing media server. I would imagine a fair few people also use their consoles to stream stuff from their desktops." yeah - of course lots of teenagers do this. <facepalm>

i use my ps3 with a 1/2 TB external HDD. its brilliant. i dont want my pc & ps3 on just to play music. plus the ps3 remote is bluetooth - meaning i can sit in my garden and flick through tracks, which is brilliant on nice days!

[lukewarmdog]

fail

I use my PS3 to prop my door open, now it is a remote door opener and closer.

Thanks Sony Ericsson!

[Anonymous Coward]

@ Citizen Kaned

"sony produce some of the best AV amps"

Please rephrase

"sony produce some of the best mass market AV amps"

Thankyou.

[Dave Bareham]

@ Thomas Bottrill

Thomas, like you I have all of my media on a server. In the lounge I use the PS3 as a media client.

In the past, when I have been working away the remote play feature of the PS3/PSP has allowed me to view pictures on the Home Server via the PS3. I havent used the facility much but it was useful at the time.

If there was a "Remote Player" plug in for the BB storm I would use that alot more.

[Citizen Kaned]

@ ac

thats funny. sony won the best under a grand category in what hi fi for amps. not sure a £1000 amp is mass market is it? of course there are amps that costs thouusands that are supposed to be better but i was just saying.

thats like me saying porchse make some of the best cars available and you coming back saying what about F1 cars.... personally anyone that spends over a grand on an amp has too much money.

[The Avangelist]

I don't get it

Am I missing something here?

Nowhere on that does it say you can stream stuff off your PS3 from anywhere, that would never be possible, you would have to have a VPN app on the phone, VPN abilities on your router then a connect option for your PS3.... no no no, none of you have read this.

All it is saying is, we slapped the same wireless stack in it that the controllers use so you can use the phone as a remote control. That is it.

And it's pointless, certainly not a selling point that is for sure.

[LuMan]

If you don't like it...

....simply don't buy it.

Incidentally, it is quite possible to stream media content to a PSP from your PS3 via the internet. You can even set W/LAN wake-up so you only need leave your PS3 on stand-by. Putting this into a 'phone wouldn't take too much new tech. And the 'phone doesn't look too bad.

To be honest, the best use I can see (other than for someone who MUST stream content from their beloved PS3, for some reason) is to watch media unavailable in the country you're in; like watching BBC iPlayer outside of the UK, for example.*

*Yes, I know this involves actually being able to 're-stream' 'net data, but this IS an example.

[Anonymous Coward]

@The Avangelist

Check the actual specs (linked in the story), it works the same way as remote play on the PSP. You connect to the internet and you once it is set up, you can start up your PS3 and then you can see your PS3 XMB desktop. Then you can see your pics, play music and watch vids stored on the PS3 (via the psp/phone). I can also play vids from my computer at home via the media server that the PS3 picks up and then to my PSP (or I guess this phone). Only thing it can't do is play PS3 games & blurays.

[Darren 4]

Which OS?

What "OS" is it running? Even Sony don't seem to know...

[Rob]

@zourtney

"Better yet -- start manufacturing TVs, stereo equipment, etc with WLAN capabilities."

You should check out Samsungs latest offerings. I've recently purchased a low budget Blu-ray player/sound system that has WiFi functionality. I can now stream all my music, videos and pics from the desktop PC to my TV in the living room, quality is fantastic. Looking through their product range they are including it in their TV's as well now.

It's in it's infancy so I can't wait till I get a firmware update (direct to the player from the net) to improve the functionality. Smasung are my favourite home entertainment vendors for the moment, streets ahead and affordable to the average Joe.

Something ElReg should think about reviewing maybe?

[Citizen Kaned]

@ rob....

odd... we have samsung stuff here at work and one at home that im 'borrowing' :) just a samsung upscaling dvd player. the player and all our samsung tvs are shite. the player only ever gets used to play music when the ps3 is on. for example if im playing worms with the mrs. ah the joys of going out with a much younger women - she will even play video games with me :) (im 34 - she is 24 - just in case that sounded like i was a paedo lol)

[Anonymous Coward]

Not bad, not good...

Sony should open the protocols up for Remote Play. It was hacked (see Open Remote Play) but Sony promptly nobbled it in the next FW upgrade.

"Remote Play" is very useful, as mentioned above - you can watch TV/listen to media content remotely, which I do via the PSP when out remotely and have access to WiFi - and you *can* play some games (like Lair), just not very many of them. It also provides me with another method of accessing my home LAN if I don't have access to SSH/OpenVPN.

It'll be interesting to see if the phone implementation won't even let you play Lair - although without analogue sticks, it might be tricky....

[Rob]

@Citizen Kaned

odd... I rely heavily on my samsung blu-ray for streaming, I was worried the quality was going to be terrible, but thankfully after watching a few Divx progs and films I was pleasantly surprised. The Anynet+ feature also means I can get rid of the TV remote.

As mentioned the initial setup on the network was fiddly but once working, happy days. Never had a problem with the quality of the TV either, although I could probably do with upgrading the Sky box to HD to improve it further.

(only as young as the woman you feel ;) my missus enjoys playing video games as well, think it started off as, if you can't beat them join them mentality now she's into World of Warcraft as well)