Sony's do-everything-except-for-make-calls mylo has been updated to firmware version 1.100, and is now available at Sony's support site as a 61MB download. Because you ran out of things to do with your mylo about, say, ten minutes after unboxing it, rejoice -- the update adds WMV file support, SHOUTcast widget support (the widget is a separate download), a "Game" item on the HOME menu for easier access to all those games you downloaded to the COM-2 unit, and, of course, improved "system stability".

[Via Pocketables]

If you've already dropped $299 on a second-gen mylo COM-2 unit, then Sony has a little treat for you -- while all of you early adopters still poking around on an original mylo probably feel pretty silly right now. Sony is launching the "mylo labs" site for nabbing mylo widgets, and while right now there are just a few Sony-built widgets, Sony will open up the site to developers in March to add their own. Widgets seem to be a natural fit for a device like this, and hey, they're free, so there's really no reason not to love. It's just too bad those gen-one types get left out in the cold.

[Via pocketables]

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]

If you're a mylo fan, you're pretty stoked right now. We're doing our best to refrain from calling this thing the mylo 2 (namely because it's just the new "mylo," official designation COM-2 mylo), but we did get to kick the tires on it, and it's pretty clear how huge an improvement the new model really is. Unfortunately, that's not saying a whole lot, given the state of the original mylo -- but the new one? Really not so bad. Granted, the crisp, high res touchscreen wasn't quite sensitive enough for our taste, and it didn't really seem intended for use with a stylus, and most of the big new features we tested (RSS / podcast aggregation, YouTube playback, browsing heavy sites like Engadget, etc.) worked, but were pretty sluggish. For our money, between the two we'd say pick up an N810, but if you're down with the mylo this is a formidable upgrade.

The mylo is back, and this time it's gotten serious. The once humble, even kind of laughable device has been upgraded with specs respectable enough to make former naysayers sit up and take notice. Check it out:

• 800 x 480 3.5-inch (resistive) touchscreen display!
• 1GB internal storage, mini-USB
  
• 1.3 megapixel camera, 802.11b/g, colored info-LEDs
  
• WMA / PlaysForSure DRM, MP3, AAC, ATRAC, and MPEG-4 codec support
• Flash Lite 3 (capable of playing back YouTube videos, for example)
• Netfront-based browser, AIM / Gtalk / Yahoo IM support
• Skype support, podcast and RSS aggregator (!), and an expandable widget panel with access to Google, YouTube, Facebook and other web 2.0 sites
  
• Attachable face plates ($20) and cradle ($30) options
• Free Wayport WiFi access at your local participating McDonald's until December 31, 2010
• 5.1 x 2.5 x 0.8-inch footprint

Unfortunately you still can't add your own apps to the device, making it far less compelling then, say, the similar but far better equipped Nokia N810 -- which goes for $180 more. It's shipping this month for $300, "BS" key included for no additional charge.

So we were doing some followup research on yesterday's post about the upcoming mylo 2 Personal Communicator, when we happened to stumble upon the picture you see above, first posted in the beginning of October by qj.net. Part of an article sourcing someone claimed to be "close to Sony." this supposed mockup of the second-generation mylo immediately struck us as having an almost identical form factor to the FCC render that we just saw. And sure enough, as you can see after the break, a little resizing magic does indeed show the two outlines lining up pretty closely -- although not perfectly. Hmm...if this is in fact the production version of the mylo 2, what does that PlayStation-style typeface on the keyboard say about the device's features, we wonder?

[Image courtesy of qj.net]

Well hello there, never-before-seen-device bearing the mylo name, nice to meet you. We can only assume by your camera-equipped backside (and your designation as the "COM-2") that you're the mylo 2 we'd heard rumors about -- but no thanks to the tight-lipped FCC, we don't know much more than the fact that you'll be one-upping your predecessor by tacking 802.11g onto its b. Still, now that we've got you in our sights, the rest of your specs can't remain secret for long.

While you may have given Sony's hard-to-categorize mylo little chance at surviving in the market, a recent report seems to show that sales were "exactly as Sony expected," which possibly means that there's more where that came from. Although surveyed retailers expressed mixed results in regard to sales, Sony "considers the mylo the forerunner to a new category of devices that cater to kids who want to replicate their PC online experience in a portable," and reportedly mentioned that the "next-generation model would include new partners and expanded capability." Now, we're not sure if WWAN or WiMAX connectivity could be headed to the not-yet-confirmed mylo 2, but it's pretty safe to assume that competition in the converged device market will have heated up quite intensely for the second iteration.

[Thanks, Ryan]

Now's your chance to cast your ballot for the 2006 Handheld of the Year! (For reference: yeah, we're including UMPCs in the Handhelds category.) Our Engadget Awards nominees are listed below, and you've got until 11.59PM EST on Sunday, April 15th to file your vote. You can only vote once, so make it count, and may the best tech win! The nominees: Asus R2H, Pepper Pad 3, Samsung Q1P, Sony Mylo, Sony Reader PRS-500, and Sony VAIO UX280P.

Today Sony and T-Mobile announced a partnership allowing all mylo users (mylers? mylites? mylanta -- nevermind, that's already taken) to use T-Mobile's massive network of WiFi hotspots (appropriately known as HotSpot) for free until late 2007. To get you online hassle-free, Sony will be releasing a "special application" as a virtual permission slip to T-Mobile's network. Now for those of you keeping score, the mylo will cost $350, while a year's subscription to T-Mobile's HotSpot (if you're mylo-less) will cost you $360 -- so if you were thinking about getting T-Mobile anyway, you can now spend basically the same amount and get a cool piece of sexy hardware for free. But most probably, you'll only be able to access the HotSpots directly on the mylo, until of course, someone figures out a workaround.

A kind employee reports that the CompUSA in Clearwater, Florida is stocking the $350 Sony mylo (only in black, apparently), and he's got a set of pics to prove it. The store's SKU spotted in the photographs assures us that these are the real McCoy indeed, and not just some pre-production model. Of course, just because mylos have been sighted in one CompUSA (and on various online retailers, including Amazon and SonyStyle.com) doesn't mean they're necessarily available everywhere yet -- so as always, your mileage may vary. That said, be sure to click through for one more mylo close-up before we send you on your merry way to your local gadgeteria.

[Thanks, Dan the Man]

While the Sony mylo isn't really meant for your lap (we envision it as more of a dual-handed device -- or, erm, "dual-core," if you will), Laptop nonetheless decided to take 'er for a spin -- one of the first in-the-wild reviews that we've seen since our recent unboxing. The verdict? It's a cute little curvaceous piece of hardware that does what it advertises -- you can surf the web, Skype, IM, and play back media from it all with ease (they even claim it plays back WMA "secure", i.e. PlaysForSure, which we somehow highly doubt). But the mylo isn't the be-all Sidekick killer that Sony would surely like it to be. The magazine described the keyboard as too small and cramped for their liking and added that the mylo didn't handle all web pages perfectly (specifically the image-heavy MySpace, whose denizens Sony is aiming at) on its 2.4-inch display. This led us to wonder if we'll start seeing mylo-friendly webpages in the near future, but nevertheless, we still think Engadget looks best on the biggest screen in your house.

Holy hot damn, we got us a Mylo up in this piece. Yes, unfortunately it's only a late prototype (we haven't actually heard of anyone getting a final production unit yet) but here she is, Sony's ever-hopeful ace in the hole to get a foothold in the pockets of disenfranchised Sidekick 'tweens everywhere (and maybe even some 770 user throwbacks as well). Click on for the full report.

We're back! Again! Yes, we're quite sorry for the delayed program (listen in to find out a bit why), but there's no dearth of news to discuss. Fresh from Apple's big WWDC 2006 kickoff event we've got the long predicted and somewhat jejune Mac Pro, the Cinema Display bumps, and some interesting tidbits on Leopard, including Time Machine -- which Ryan sorely needed this week. Sony also pulled a fast one on us with the mylo, an intriguing and beguiling new WiFi handheld that seems to compete more with the PSP than anything else. Also hot off the presses is Engadget Mobile's scoop on the BlackBerry Pearl, RIM's new mobile consumer foray, and their first with a camera, removable media, and media playback capabilities. Thanks for welcoming us back, and enjoy!

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Hosts: Peter Rojas and Ryan Block

Producer: Trent Wolbe

Music: Solvent - Instructograph (Ghostly International)

Format: 1:00:15, 27.6 MB, MP3

Program:
6:05 - Apple WWDC 2006
6:48 - Mac Pro hands-on
7:03 - Apple OS X 10.5 "Leopard" officially debuts
15:56 - Sony launches mylo
27:51 - The BlackBerry Pearl
44:00 - Listener emails

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Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com

Now that we've recovered from the initial surprise of Sony's mylo announcement, we're starting to get a few more details on its functionality. Turns out the teeny device is powered by an unspecified version of embedded Linux (possibly from Wind River), with a graphics and application framework provided by Trolltech's Qtopia platform. There's also Java Virtual Machine support, which seems to give homebrewers plenty of options for creating apps for the device -- if Sony hasn't locked things down too tightly. As for that QVGA 2.4-inch screen, Sony is packing in MP4 video support, so ready-to-go videos shouldn't be hard to find. There's also MP3, ATRAC and WMA to round out format support. While the mylo dodges that main Nokia 770 bullet by packing a QWERTY keyboard, Sony's device suffers from a hefty pricetag for its younger target audience, a notable omission of AIM and Windows Live Messenger, and a lack of explicit gaming or 3rd party support. Still, those WiFi and Linux specs hint at a lot of potential, so we're sure that this thing can manage to be a bit more than another Skype handset.