SONY MyLo

The new SONY MyLo WiFi communicator is an interesting WMD. It's main advantage over the PSP is the inclusion of a slide-out keyboard for way faster text entry!. Still, I'm not sure that it has enough features to capture a large market share - the prob with WiFi only wireless is limited connectivity - a 3G smartphone wins on connectivity, and there's no Bluetooth to connect via a cellphone. There is USB2, but it appears to be oriented to file synchronizing with a PC, and with only Memory Stick storage, its not going to replace a full iPod for your music & video library. Web browsing is via a 320x240 screen using Opera - so the same web experience as a Palm or PPC device. Would have been nice to have a PSP or Nokia 770 resolution screen :-( . I guess they are targeting an alternative 'cellphone' market (small enough to pocket & not look silly when holding it to your ear!). They've also missed the Blog & RSS integration - maybe in an update?... One to watch for possibilities...

Large Flash/video overview here.

"Speaking of unholy abominations, Sony decided to take some design tips from their own PSP, functionality from the OQO, usage scenarios from Nokia's 770 (and a wee dash dash of inspiration from Ixi's OGO), and mash it up all together into a single device: the mylo. The name refers to "my life online," ahem, which we assume probably has a little something to do with the Sony's old school MYLO / My Life Online, a wireless service Sony launched launched at PC Expo 2001 "to offer mobile users an original and personalized way to access information and entertainment content for work and play." (Yeah, that's specific.) This blast from the past now takes shape as a $350 WiFi-centric handheld features a slide-up 2.4-inch screen, VoIP capabilities via Skype, web access, media playback capabilities, 1GB flash, and a Memory Stick slot" http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/08/sony-launches-mylo/