As Christmas is just around the corner, I wanted to start writing about some neat gadgets and gizmos that anyone in our nerdy culture could appreciate, yet might have looked over.
We will start off today by reviewing Mylo. The portable internet / media device by Sony.
Mylo stands for “My Life Online”, so this would lead one to believe that this device offers maybe some internet, maybe some instant messaging, and perhaps an RSS reader?
Well if you guessed all of the above, you are correct, but you sorely under estimated all of the available features on Mylo.
Mylo is a media monster. Yes it DOES have a web browser and AOL / Yahoo / Google Instant Messenger, but it also stores a library of other useful features such as Skype phone, Facebook, SHOUTcast Internet Radio, Youtube, downloadable Adobe Flash based games, MP3 music player, MPEG4 video player, Photo viewer, and built in camera.
Keep reading down below for the Pros and Cons.
The Pros:
1. As I stated before, Mylo is a media monster. Mylo is similar to your common media phone such as Blackberry or the iPhone, but with a cleaner interface and more focus features. Also instead of using a cell phone carrier service (AT&T, Verzion, T-Mobile, etc…) like a common cell phone, you have the ability to make phone calls with Skype (free). The ability to use Skype is quite useful on the go. Everywhere I go generally has WiFi these days, it is great to use the Mylo to dial up a friend over Skype and avoid using up my cell phone minutes which I am already frugal with.
2. The ability to download and play flash games was pretty sweet. A lot of mobile devices offer few trial games and then you have to pay a over priced fee for a poorly made game. With Mylo, you can download games off Mylo’s official site or move downloaded SWF files (published Adobe Flash file) to your games folder on your Mylo.
3. Other perks include the MP3 & MPEG4 video player. Music and movies are easy to migrate to your Mylo. Once migrated, the media player can que up videos and music within 1-2 seconds.
Just a note, Mylo carries 1 Gig (enough to carry a couple hundred songs depending on file size) of on board storage with the ability to add more via Sony Duo Memory Card.
4. Widgets are a useful tool, giving you the ability to check out the hottest Youtube videos and login to Facebook among other things.
5. Mylo also comes with a built in 1.3 megapixel camera. The camera only takes a few seconds to turn on, and uses digital zoom.
6. Mylo uses a slide out full QWERTY Keyboard that doesn’t scrunch all the keys together and feels quite comfy when in use.
The Cons:
The downfalls of the Mylo aren’t anything that would turn a person away from using the device, but could occasionally make you sigh with disappointment. Here are a few of the things I ran into.
1. I wanted to post some picture of Mylo’s web browser on this article but I kept running into memory glitches with the browser. Now most of the other sites I jumped to loaded fine but Nerd Fellowship and a select few other sites for some reason wouldn’t load and kept running image memory errors. I ran into this issue with Sony’s PSP and their solution was to increase the available memory allowed to the browser. Unfortunately most people aren’t gonna know what the issue is and will brush it off as an un-fixable error.
2. Expanding your Mylo storage is as easy as sticking a memory card into the device, but since it’s a Sony product, a regular SD Card will not work. No, you need Sony’s Memory Duo card which is some what a pain, because now you have to run out and get a new memory card instead of using the small pile of SD cards most people have built up around in their house.
3. Having a built in camera with the Mylo is awesome, but with the low 1.3 megapixel picture quality won’t you give you any bragging rights when all your friends are taking pictures on their camera phone with 2.0 megapixel or higher. The photos are some what blurry and there is no built in flash.
4. WiFi…it’s a love hate thing. Yes, most WiFi is free, which makes using the Mylo all the better, but not every place you go will have WiFi. So if your in the car / restaurant / where ever…you maybe not be able to use all the features Mylo has to offer if there is no WiFi floating around.
Now we can’t blame Sony for this issue because they have nothing to do with the area you live / travel in. But it is a CON none the less that everyone should be aware of.
Overall:
Mylo is a great media device for a young teen who is looking to listen to their MP3’s and chat on AIM / Skype and browse Youtube videos when they are away from a computer…or for the business minded adult who is constantly traveling from hotel to hotel and is looking to call his / her family (Skype) without using up cell phone minutes, as well as making use of all the great media features on the Mylo for those lengthy plane trips.
As I stated above, yes Mylo does depend on WiFi, and there will be times where WiFi is not available, but in the society we live in, WiFi access is only getting more and more accessible. Cities are already planning on offering city wide WiFi access.
I give the Mylo an 8/10. It makes a great gift for teens and young to mid-aged adults.
You can read up on Mylo at Sony’s product site by clicking HERE.
The Sony Mylo is available at Amazon.com.
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