All
five of you who have been waiting patiently for Sony to upgrade its
mylo Personal Communicator should be pleased to learn that the revised internet tablet has finally gone on sale at SonyStyle. With its high-res 3.5-inch touchscreen, 1GB of storage, and improved Flash support, the $299
mylo 2 does indeed offer a number of attractive feature bumps over its predecessor -- however, we're still a little wary of how Sony's positioned this product in the market. But hey, what do we know: apparently they pushed enough first-gen units out the door to give this restyled number a shot. Starts shipping on the 28th, in either white or black, says Sony.
[Thanks, Michael E]
posted Jan 25th 2008 8:59AM
why would I pay 300 bucks for this when it has 1 gig, when i can simply buy an iPod touch and get 8 gigs
iPod doesn't have qwerty keypad...
Even though it's touched-based, the iPod Touch still has the basic QWERTY lay-out:
http://adamsalamon.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/itouch.jpg
800x480 resolution screen. HVGA is so 2002 (Sony had a HVGA PDA back then). Besides the Mylo2 has Skype support, removable battery and more importantly expansion slot.
reid,
the iPod does have a qwerty keyboard you idiot. And it works far better than any device with plastic keys.
Did anyone foroget to mention, the ipod touch is NOT A PHONE!!!!!
@vdogg,
LOL. You are clearly deluded to think that any virtual keypad can replace a hardware one.
the only thing that would make an iphone better is the option for a physical qwerty keyboard. i don't think the mylo2 will be a huge success but at least it's headed in the right direction.
i don't see this trumping the iphone though.
Kinda what I was thinking. Pretty stingy on the flash. The iPod Touch seems like the better deal and I thought even it was lacking a bit in the storage department for the price.
Also, to the poster that claimed the touch doesn't have a keypad, you're wrong. It's just not a traditional one. I don't own one but I played around with one a couple of times and it's pretty simple to use. I'd venture to say it's every bit as fast and easy as a physical keyboard with a little practice.
The iPod Touch/iPhone touch keyboard is every bit as fast as a mini thumb keyboard pad, and its corrective spelling algorithms are outstanding compared to other mobile input schemes.
The main disadvantage are that 1) The on-screen keypad eats up significant screen real estate when active, and
2) You cannot type without looking at the screen. Hardcore thumbpad typists can usually hit most of the keys without looking, although I have less faith that that will be an option with the Mylo, as it lacks the bumple keys of a treo or blackberry.
Mylo and iPod Touch definitely occupy the same product space, and both have their strengths and weaknesses. I think the iPod Touch has a lot of significant advantages over the mylo, and along with other browser pads, like the Nokia and Archos pads, they will limit its adoption to a tiny, obscure minority.
I don't think mylo 2 is motivated by any success mylo 1 had, it was a real dog of a product. I think its just indication that this is a product space that they really want to be in. In true sony style, they will beat their heads against a brick wall over and over until something sticks. Usually, that something is brainmatter, but occasionally they hit pay dirt with market share.
I find it funny that my comment was marked down.
My first comment was in response to Reid's comment about the iPhone/iPod Touch not having a keypad. While there isn't a keypad, there is still an on-screen keyboard and you can't take that fact away. Whether you want tactical buttons or not is a whole other debate.
What is keeping anyone from comparing Apple's touch-screen products to Sony's Mylo 2 product, anyway? Both gadgets obviously have wifi and multimedia capabilities, it just depends on what you're going to do with either of them.
Tactile* (not "tactical") would be the correct term, sorry.
vdog, there is Memory Stick expansion slot... Yeah, you do have to pay extra, but it's quite hard to find a device with memory card option and 1GB internal...
Liquid Fusion, read Jon's comment. -_-" Being persistent in making yourself look correct would only make you look more stupid.
Excuse me? I'm not trying to correct myself, only trying clarify what I said for dense fools such as yourself.
*shakes head*
@ vdogg89
because it is not an ipod and can do things an ipod can't. I don't even see where you get an ipod comparison.
Maybe I missed something, but what can it do that an ipod touch can't?
Display flash? Tactile keyboard? Skype support?
Possibly connect to the PS3 in the near future!!!
Sorry I wasn't referring to the ipod Touch. I was only referring to every other ipod. But to answer you, it may have future connectivity to rempoteplay with the PS3.
Is it like the cool thing to hate on Sony(gizmodo envy)? Obviously this little thing that no one wants created a huge buzz over the web. It seemed like a frequently reviewd CES item. If Engadget is going to be a Sony hater, might as well go back to Gizmodo. At least their hatred for Sony is obvious and not wormy.
It does seem they're specifically down w/ this. I am surprised since, besides the open platform, the new mylo does a lot that the beloved N810 does. I'm seriously considering it- *IF* I can figure out how to play DIVX or even not since they say it's MP4 compatible. Looks like a capable PMP that also has great internet access.
I was very much excited for the Mylo 1, but I didn't waste $300 on it. Considering my cell phone (Palm Treo 755p) does everything this does and more its not worth it. If you have $300, I'd simply go with an iPod touch.
From reviews that I have read, the web browser has severe problems and crashes when two programs are opened. I'll pass.
I have a Nokia 770 right now. It's a fun device that hits a lot of the right places but is horribly underpowered. Because of that I've wanted an 810 too but the price is just a little to steep for me. I saw the Mylo 2, it's price, it's improvements over the last gen (that screen rocks) and then remembered that not to long ago:
“Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer told an audience in Tokyo that Remote Play is only the beginning of the PS3's external connectivity. The Bloomberg news service reports that the executive said his company plans to eventually link up the PS3 to mobile phones and a range of other unspecified electronics.“
I had to buy one :)
Also Sony just got the PS3 DivX certified and I think I heard rumors that they plan on doing the same for the PSP. Is the Mylo next? hmm.
I've never heard of this thing before, but upon first glance, it looks like it was designed for a 15 year old boy. Bright blue home screen with a neon-orange keypad in Spider-Man typeface with green and blue lights on the edges? I think real businessmen want a phone that doesn't look like its a Toys-R-Us Spider-Man candy dispenser.
Also, that was a lot of hyphens.
maybe engadget is part of the great blu(ray) conspiracy. they wanted to support red but since warner (owned by Time Warner, which also owns Engadget's parent companies)went blu they had to hang their head in shame that they work for 'the man'.
800x480? That's a very nice resolution. Not only that buy it has a proper keypad as well, the price ain't bad either. I'd say this is one very desirable product but it will most likely be a flop since Sony won't market it proper and not only that but 1GB is very little for a $300 product.
vdogg89 has a point. When you look at the way Sony advertise it - "Surf the web, listen to music, watch videos and make internet phone calls with the mylo™ (My Life Online) personal communicator." it doesn't appear to offer much more than an iPod Touch and actually offers less than many smartphones - apart from the slightly bigger screen.
I would be all over this if it had 8gb and bluetooth (to pair with a 3g cell phone), would gladly pay 100 more for that.
Buy an 8gb memorystick. Less than $100. 3G. Well that's a no go.
needs either bluetooth or Wimax (in the future at least)
these things are useless to me if i have to search for wifi access. i dotn' mind teathering to my phone or even paying monthly for a good speed wireless internet service, but i'm not gonna resort to wardriving or paying t mobile so i can sit in starbucks with my overpriced coffee
They HAVE to get rid of that crappy Spiderman font.
Maybe Spider-man needs to get rid of the Sony font.
It *is* a Sony font. Who do you think released Spider-man?
People really need to put the whole font thing to bed. A company can never re-use one of its own fonts?
Ok typography lesson 101 if the font looks the same but isn't the same then its not the same font!
PS3 - Spiderman, very similar possibly the same.
Mylo (Vaio UX and several others) - Spiderman, very different just look at an E as an example.
I'm guessing a load of opticians are falling short of their targets, and now I can see why..
Of course Sony can reuse (or use a variation of) one of its fonts. It'd just be nice if the font didn't scream "too hip for my own good".
ya, add 8gb internal memory, and you can add 8gb extra, not bad. The web browser is not as good as the Nokia N800, only supports Flash lite. Looks nice, except seems kinda thick. The iPod touch will steal the show as far as quick intuitive usability except for the lack of keyboard and volume buttons. The resolution is great, same as Nokia N800, but the Sony is a closed platform.
"But hey, what do we know: apparently they pushed enough first-gen units out the door to give this restyled number a shot."
Not saying it's a bad unit - never used one. But that's not necessarily a good reason to keep dumping money into the product. (See: Caddyshack)
@ Alessandro Massone
That Spiderman font is also the "Playstation" font.
I know. The point is that that font was formerly only Spiderman's. They used it for the three Spidey movies, then pushed it for the Playstation 3 logo, then here.
@Jeff: It's okay to use some font again and again BUT not a font like this. I mean, this is really obtrusive. It's okay for a film logo, kinda works for a console branding (while feeling already 'old' and pretentious, there) but for a keyboard? Yahkt. They really have to stop with that, the mylo is quite ruined by that 'o-my-I'm-so-sci-fi' keyboard font imho.
@ Alessandro Massone
To be honest I'm not so hot about it it either.
Now that they have used it on the Mylo 2 I figure it is foreshadowing to further PS3 connectivity.
@Alessandro Massone
So you have a degree in fontology? Come on man just shut up and let them do as they please. Who are you to say "it's okay for this to be used for movies, but not for gadget"? Anyone who decides on buying a gadget for the right font is a dumbo anyways.
The VAIO Type U also has the same font on their keys.
Spiderman wants his font back!
@ Evan Blass
O Btw, these started shipping on the 1/24.
It has a memory stick pro duo slot, meaning up to 16gb at the moment.
I may not be your regular user but everywhere I go (for long periods) has wifi. My home, school campus, work, my families and even some of the bars I go to. Yes it sucks that it doesn't have anything but wi-fi, (even my old ass Nokia 770 has bluetooth) but I can see how it works for my general life. I already got one of these, should be here on Monday and I'm going to take a trip in the next few weeks. I'll have to evaluate how well it works in that situation.
what they need to do is throw that kind of screen (800X480) into the PSP slim...release an attachable hardware keyboard, and throw in bluetooth as an extra bonus and they'll be flying off shelves faster than the DS lites.
It does seem nice, but 1GB of memory is a bit too small. All new devices should have SDHC slots to get that 8GB goodness.
I had read that this device does not allow you to add applications, so that's one thing less it can do than an iPod touch even if it does need to be hacked.
I think the Nokia N800 or N810 are a better open source alternative to this thing.
Even though I am buying this thing I have to agree. I can't see a huge development scene growing around this device but who knows, look at the PSPs customs firmwares and such. Long shot though. I have a 770 and I love it sept for its sloow speed. I'm buying this because I have lots of other Sony products and it fits. I have a Vaio, a PSP and PS3 so I already have the Memory Stick. Big advantage for me.
Originally...
"All five of you who have been waiting patiently "
What's with all the hate against Sony? I've noticed alot of this kind of remarks in other articles....
ohh well...sony prolly refusing to give them 1 of the new vaio's for reviewing (and keeping later...) hehehe...
Its not hate against Sony, lots of people worry/wonder what the heck Sony was thinking putting out this half-a$$ed device.
Mylo is a horriblly positioned device in the market, it has no spotlight feature whatsoever, it does every thing every other device does even Sony's own PSP can do 70% of its functions (keyboard/touch screen is nice though), and the fact that it does not support MSN messenger is going to hurt its sales outside of the US. Although supporting Facebook/Youtube etc, web surfing are sluggish, probably just like the PSP.
So basically, Mylo = PSP - game function - UMD drive + Keyboard + touch screen + 1GB Memory + $100
and I say, no freaking way dude! I really wish Sony could have put the sources they put in Mylo on the PSP, Mylo 2 is no doubt a high quality device but it will fail just like the 1st one.
Sony didn't give Engadget a huge money hat, probably.
Really, couldn't they just roll this extra functionality into a PSP and give it a keyboard add-on?
Looks like a cool gadget, but a little expensive if they're not going to let you run full screen video on that luscious screen (only QVGA is supported) and don't include a lot of memory.
I'm also a little surprised they're not going with the XMB for the interface--they're even putting it on their TVs now.
I was surprised by the the fact that they didn't use the XMB as well. I thought it was their baby. I have heard people complain about it. Maybe they were trying to do something less minimal.
i think they didnt use XMB because they dont want people to confuse it with the PSP, which will happen anyway.
Is that a BS key? Oh wait... must mean Back Space... nevermind.
nope its BS, fox news use that key to report their articles everyday!
Please please make this a normal phone as well. I don't see how I can fit this AND my phone in my pocket at the same time, not to mention the extra charger that needs to be stored somewhere. I am so tired of having all sorts of chargers and wires in my luggage while traveling and I refuse to fork up 400 bucks for an iPhone, because it does not support Skype in a convenient fashion.
Wow, if this were an apple product, iGadget would have 34 different articles on it, each about every 2 hours apart, and varying only by a small detail or two.
ROFL!!!!! Dude, this is such a great comment!!! I totally agree.
UGLIEST sony product i've ever seen. looks so Chinese !
you're clearly the by-product of a monkey having sex with a retard fish frog
"you're clearly the by-product of a monkey having sex with a retard fish frog"
Don't judge people by their avatars.
I want mylo and PSP to have a baby.
a $200 baby
At that price, if I wanted to be productive on the go and have internet access, I'd rather get an Eee PC. If I want a media player, I'd rather get something smaller and more portable. It doesn't even make phone calls (outside of WiFi range) so it doesn't even replace your cell phone. So what is this thing for?
So, I think the killer app for Sony would be to combine this product with a cellphone (smartphone) and a next-gen PSP. Think about it. That would really be an all in-one, especially if the next PSP doesn't use UMD. And give it 8-16GB, it'd kill the iPhone.
Agreed. I don't think Sony would ever do that though...
Well there's a ton of things that I thought might never be... but eventually with the down-sizing of technology and convergence of devices, we'll all have some sort of all-in-one gadget in the future - question is, which company has the guts to spearhead the platform first. Mylo? Great. Sidekick? Wonderful. iPhone? Spectacular. But keep going! Don't stop there. Let's see more convergence and more innovation. If Sony can pack a whole PS2 into a portable (basically), and an iPhone is nearly a Mac mini that's been cut off at the knees, and UMPCs are getting smaller and better, let's get it all together in one very useful object! One day, not too long from now we'll think back on all these devices and say, "That's ALL they did? You'd have to buy 2-5 devices to do all the stuff my Whatzamagigit 3000 does!" We said it with the Palm, with the first smartphones, and we'll keep saying it until the chips are implanted in our heads. But for now, gimme my Whatzamagigit 3000, damnit!
When did Fisher Price get into the internet tablet market? I'd better read the post and find out.
That was awesome!
I LOL because I was thinking the same thing.
this product needs to be combined with the PSP and phone capabilities
I'd pay the extra money to get GPS with the Nokia 810.
i'm not exactly sure why sony hasn't made the correlation yet. if you mold the two together, you have an incredible device that would most certainly rival the iPhone or whatever next gen N-Gage device Nokia is conjuring up.
The rumor out on the street is, the Mylo3 will have a built in 3G (ATT) modem. Of course, you will be able to unlock it for say, Tmo? Hmmmm... And, if you had ATT broadband, you would also get WiFi for nothing at Barstuck!™
Guys I dont think your supposed to be comparing this to an iphone or treo or other smartphone. I think its more of a direct hit at the crappy sidekick market.... the kids love that shitty piece of hardware.
i think this is a solid device, may just need more memory though
but ill stick w/ my archos 605 first =]
Yes Engadget favors Apple and takes cheap shots at Sony, Microsoft, and numerous other companies. Welcome to reality. This is probably why I haven't seen much coverage about the leaked specs of the Thinkpad X300 which is .5 lbs lighter than the MacBook Air and rapes the MacBook Air with its superior specifications and why it took almost two weeks for them to finally post about Mylo 2 being for sale. Actually, the Mylo 2 has been on sale at the Sony Style store for awhile now. I played with it at the Sony Style store at San Jose, CA at the Valley Fair mall less than a week after CES. It feels nice in your hand. The slideout QWERTY keyboard felt nice. However, I saw two major problems with the device . First, it was EXTREMELY slow and the user interface was not too intriguing. Second, the product was not defined or positioned very well. People don't know what to make out of it. It's not a PSP, a UMPC, a pocket PC, a PDA, or a phone. It is a "personal communicator." The Sony Style employee told me that most people go up to it interested, because they thought it was an iPhone competitor, but stopped playing with it once they found out it was just for chatting, media, and going on the Internet. If Sony changes the UI, makes it faster, and makes it into a phone, I think it will sell well. This would of course make it an entirely different (better) product, but I know more people looking for that type of gadget than the Mylo 2.
whatever dudes, im still gonna buy one!
now add phone functionality.... and I'll buy a dozen
or make a phone with this screen...
I got my Mylo 2 in today. It looks and feels great!! I'm impressed with the software so far. It doesn't seem like Sony but I never used the old Mylo.