Sony Mylo: First Impressions

I just got the Sony Mylo, a WiFi-enabled, palm-size personal communicator that lets you surf the Web, talk with friends using built-in Skype and GoogleTalk, IM with Yahoo! Messenger, and listen to music, video, and pictures. In a nod to the annoyingly omnipresent "social networking" trend, the device also has a feature that lets you stream music from one Mylo unit to another (provided you're within 30 feet or so of the other Mylo unit). Aimed at college students on Wi-Fi-saturated campuses, the Mylo is accordingly styled in sexy, white-and-orange tones with a slide-out keyboard for easy messaging.

Before I even took this out of the box, I wondered why anyone—particularly budget-bound college students—would want to pay $350 for a device that doesn't even have a cell phone or download music or video directly (you have to transfer media via USB or to a Memory Stick). Most PDA cell phones—and plenty of standalone cell phones—do what this device can do, and more. The real-time IM feature on the T-Mobile Sidekick 3, which also does a fine job of web surfing and phone calling, is top-notch. And though it's cool that the Mylo lets you make unlimited VoIP-based calls over the Internet, it may face stiff competition from UMA devices due out later this year. Hybrid UMA handsets seamlessly switch from cell phone networks to VoIP-based calls and will be available later this year from Samsung and an as-yet unnamed U.S. carrier (which means it will likely be less than $350).

And let's face it: Wi-Fi is just never around when you need it. It took me a good 30 minutes to get this up and running on my home network, since typing in my super-long-and-secure WEP encryption key to get onto my Wi-Fi network is time-consuming on the keypad's little buttons. Inexplicably, but not unexpectedly, the device didn't get onto my network on the first couple of tries. Once I was in, the device froze twice: once after loading up the BBC website, and once when I went into Yahoo! Messenger. I had to pull the battery out and restart to get the device going. I'll get back to you when I have the patience to troubleshoot once more (these are just my first impressions). Will college students put up with this?

A few other complaints: The proprietary headphone jack means you have to use a special wired adapter to plug in your own headphones (where's the Bluetooth for this wireless wonder?); it only plays MP3, WMA, and ATRAC files natively (for all that music you bought on Sony Connect, right?); and like many of these media-player/phone devices, this thing doesn't go anywhere near 11, volume-wise.

There's no doubt this handheld looks nice, both outside and inside (I also like the modern and colorful interface and menus). And video and pictures on the 2.4-inch LCD are crisp and clear. But this type of cell-phone-less communication device has been tried many times before (usually with bad results). Unless the Mylo can drop in price to about $100 or less—unlikely without heavy subsidies from a mobile carrier—it's likely to go the way of the AT&T Ogo, the PepperPad, and the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet (the latter two are still around, but for how long?).

Would you pay $350 for the Sony Mylo?

Disclosure: Yahoo! Messenger is an online service owned and offered by Yahoo!, Inc., which also owns and operates Yahoo! Tech.