Sony Ericsson Satio back for sale
A new Satio firmware is out; the R1CA037 is already available for download at the official Sony Ericsson website and we can expect to see results about the effectiveness of the update soon.
For those who are not familiar, the Sony Ericsson Satio got pulled out of shelves from both Phones4U and Carphone Warehouse due to a lot of major firmware issues. The symptoms of the problem were quite varied, ranging from slowdowns, to crashing, to power-downs and even losing ringtones.
This was a major problem for Sony Ericsson, who recently had to shut down several offices within the United Sates and a couple of facilities worldwide (one in India, another in Sweden). The company had hopes that the Satio and Aino would boost sales during the holiday season and the pull out of one of the devices could not have been at a worse time.
This problem grew worse when unconfirmed rumors of the Aino spread after reports that the unit was suffering from problems. Fortunately for Sony Ericsson, the Aino problems were either easily manageable or the rumor simply was not true. Spokespersons from Sony Ericsson and Carphone Warehouse have both confirmed that the device is still on schedule for its release date.
Back to the Satio, many people are hoping that the new update on the Sony website will finally bring their mobile devices back in working order; and who would not want that? The Symbian S60 mobile phone is a pretty impressive device (sans firmware problems) and works great as a media player too.
The current firmware update is specifically for owners of unbranded units that are having error problems. One user has reported that the patch made the phone work faster. This is a good indication that the firmware is working (slowdowns were among the problems reported), but whether this update actually fixes all the problems still remains to be seen.
Scott Hooton, Phones 4u trading director said: “Phones 4u are pleased to confirm that all Sony Ericsson Satio stock has been flashed with new software and recommenced trading on Saturday 4th December. Sales of the Satio were strong over the weekend and we’re confident that the device will continue to perform strongly throughout the Christmas trading period.”
So it looks like Sony Ericsson staff will be getting their Christmas party after all. Phew.
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