The news
Sony is set to introduce in September a Skype WiFi phone with a difference. As well as letting you make and take Skype calls through home wireless routers and open wireless networks, the $350 mylo has a built-in web browser and can use free online emails systems, such as Gmail, and send messages through three free services - Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger and, of course, Skype Chat. On top of all this, it also plays MPEG-4 videos, JPEG stills and MP3, WMA and ATRAC music.
Oh, and sadly "you" in this case is someone living in an area where Sony sells the product, which looks like it won't include the UK for now.Grrr!
We'd thought that mylo was some ultra clever name, probably derived from the Japanese and meaning Skype WiFi phone with a difference. However, Sony says that it actually stands for "my life online". Tsk!
All these features make the mylo considerably more versatile than the two Skype WiFi phone we've so far written about, a $300 offering from Netgear and its $195 rival from Belkin - both due to arrive soon in the USA and UK.
Some might reason that all the extras make the Sony considerably better value than Netgear's product, too, and maybe a serious Sony competitor (at last) for Apple iPods.
Click for larger imageThe unit - offered in black or white - measures 123(w) x 23.9(d) 63(h)mm and weighs 150g, including a lithium-ion rechargeable battery that, Sony points, out is removable. It features a slide out QWERTY keyboard, 1GB of internal flash memory (940KB available to the user) and a 2.4in LCD. This runs at QVGA (320x240) resolution and shows 65,536 colours.
A listing of JiWire’s hotspot directory is built in and reckoned to give acces to over 20,000 WiFi networks in the USA. An embedded HTML browser (Opera) is said to let users quickly connect to full web pages on the Internet and use web-based mail services, including Gmail and Yahoo! Mail.
Boot up takes "seconds" (Is that 300 seconds or 10 or what? Ed), after which the device immediately scan for available wireless networks. Details of 90 online contacts can be stored - each with up to nine online identities. The person to be contacted is chosen first, followed by the method to use.
The supplied rechargeable lithium-ion battery is claimed to offer up to 45 hours of music playback, about seven hours of text-chatting or web surfing and over three hours of continuous Skype talking.
Other in-pack accessories include a microphone, a stereo headphone set, a USB cable (for media transfer), a mains-adaptor/charger, a neoprene case and two pieces of Sony's own Windows software - SonicStage and mylo Utility. There's a card-slot for using Memory Stick Pro Duo for media transfer but no card is included in the price.
To read the full specs in PDF format, click on the fuzzy image below or right-click on it to download the file (21KB).
Click to view PDF version,
right-click to downloadIf you want to find out about mylo from the horse's mouth, Sony USA's press release is on page two.
Having read that, you might care to share your thoughts with us in this thread in the HEXUS.community.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this articleHEXUS.headline - Netgear unveils world's first Skype WiFi phone at London showcase event
HEXUS.headline - Belkin set to heavily undercut Netgear's Skype WiFi phone
External.links
Sony USA - mylo home page - Customers in the USA can call (888) 222-SONY for more infoBelkin - Wi-Fi Phone for Skype (F1PP000GN-SK) home page
Netgear - Skype WiFi Phone (SPH101) home page
