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my initial playthrough with sony mylo

I've been sent a new toy to play with for a period of time. Here are my initial thoughts. (Both briefly on campus and NYC.)

Design: Absolute thumbs up. I'm addicted to the sliding design, and it's really cute. The screen size is a little small, but I got used to it. The keypad is not bad either, but it can be a problem for big fingers. I have small fingers and hands, and it was a little difficult for me at first. The feel of the keyboard is a little strange.

Communication Support: What?! No AIM support.. That took care of 75% of my contacts. No MSN support either, but that's not surprising. The Skype support is very cool, but it's only useful if my wireless is on most of the time. The problem with this is that I have to authenticate myself to the campus network every time I turn the machine on. So receiving calls is not going to happen through Skype unless I am logged into the network. Support for Google Talk and Yahoo! Messenger isn't necessarily terrible. I just don't know anyone who has accounts on either of these except for my techie friends (who have Google Talk).

Web: Browsing isn't that bad once you figure out that to scroll you need to press Fcn+(direction key). After that initial barrier, scrolling through web pages was not bad at all. It's great for checking email quickly.

Media: It's fun to carry music and video on your memory stick. Unfortunately, Sony likes being a monopoly and forces you to buy its branded memory stick instead of offering trans-flash drives.

Battery life: General surfing/chatting/listening to music occasionally.. getting around 4-5 hours. That's not too bad, but it could be better. I'm on campus at least for 8 hours per day. I don't like hauling a charger around. However, apparently you can charge this through a USB cable hooked to laptop. (In this case, the battery life isn't too much of a problem)

What have I not played with yet? What's up UI... The concept is intriguing. I like the fact that I can manage all my contacts in any communication medium in one list. Unfortunately, most of my contacts are on IM services not supported by the device. GRRRR....

While in NYC: The device is nearly useless unless you have access to a constant wi-fi network. I used it in my hotel's wireless.. but otherwise.. it was almost useless.

What my friends thought: Design is cute. Functionality a little lacking. What's the difference b/w this device and PDA besides Mylo's inferior computing power among other things. Quoting from one of my friends, "Add in phone capability, bluetooth, and AIM support... I will pay the extra $100 on top of the initial cost of the device." This rings true because there is a limit to the number of devices I'd like to haul around campus. Currently, I carry a phone and laptop.. occasionally the music player.

More to come soon. Got a Model UN conference in Penn this weekend, and that's the epitome of the need to stay connected. Let's see if this device gives me a leg up as the conference is held in a hotel with wi-fi access throughout.

posted by Koh @ 4:55 PM