Sony mylo Personal Communicator COM-1 2.4" LCD-Black

I wanted this forever, and finally bought it in January. I use it all the time!! It is so easy to use and convient. I can be sitting around and check my email without having to get my computer or getting out of bed. I can use it anywhere there is internet which is nice.

I wish it had a calendar and word or excel so that I didnt need to carry a PDA too.

The product was delivered on time and when I had a question customer service was very very helpful. A+

I bought my son a Mylo for Christmas. It was a nice device while it worked. 3 weeks later and the screen is acting up. As I write this I am STILL on the phone after 72 minutes waiting to speak to the 5th person. Noone has any power to do anything not to mention know what to do. The level of incompetence exhibited by their personnal is beyond belief. If this is how Sony supports their products this will be the last Sony anything that makes it into this house.

This is a wonderful device for the average college student. Alright so:
pros-
1) It's got wireless internet (some people have said it may not work on college campuses due to lack of the authentication support but it does work at my campus (with that type of authentication) and I have a few friends with these devices that go to other colleges and it works well there also).
2) Its got messanging services (google talk does run AIM)
3) Its got a text program (essential for taking notes in class)
4) The latest firmware seems to have fixed the wireless connectivity problems (some people were having to try to connect 2-3 times before it actually connected - I have only had to try to connect once).
5) The keyboard is spacious enough to allow for easy typing via thumbs - with a little practice you can get some decent words-per-minute counts
6) It works as a PMP (portable media player) meaning you can play mp3s, video, look at photos
7) It has a killer battery life...even if you are looking for just an mp3 player you should look at this device. It takes only 1.5 hours to 2 hours to fully charge and the battery for mp3s lasts somewhere around 35 hours (which is steller) although you can stretch that longer depending on what setting you have it on.
8) The resolution for video and photos is steller. I think the resolution is better than my cheap lenovo N100 XP laptop.

Cons -
1) The internet browser leaves a bit to be desired. If you view pages at normal size you can easily scroll and skip around using the orange "nub" but you will not be able to see the entire page all at once. If you use the "fit to screen" mode you get quashed html so the text is a bit distorted from where it is supposed to be. However, I've just learned that there is a zoom function under "tools" so I'll have to check that out.
2) The case it comes with sucks. It is good at protecting the device and rather cushy but not at all stylish. You'd expect something more from Sony (the company obsessed with style). I'll probably end up buying a "bean" case from a 3rd party seller - The sony case is just too ugly for me to carry around
3) The maximum size memory stick pro duo you can add is 4 GB. This leaves the device with only 5 GB storage. However, the movie format drastically reduces the size of the movies (Image converter is not included for some reason - but if you own a sony computer it comes with the computer) and honestly most of us listen only to our favorite songs which never comprise more than a couple of GBs of space.

The Sony Mylo is delightful, with great graphics and surprisingly good sound, even without headphones or external speaker. My only disappointment is that it will not play video without purchasing optional video software.

Good things:
Skype VOIP phone
Skype Messaging client
MP3 player
Photo Album

Bad things:
Terrible keyboard (too small, top row too close to display, space bar is not centered)
No VPN support for email
Display size is not optimized for web pages
No backlit keyboard
No games or flash support for web games

This little gadget is amazing and there is nothing out there that can compare. Yes there are tablets, but they don't have a keyboard. This is designed for instant messaging and music and it does that beautifully. If you want an internet tablet then go buy one, this is not your machine. I would give this a 5 out of 5 any day. AMAZING!

it does everything i bought it for.
Skype, email, chatting, music, videos.
The sound quality is better than an IPOD. the screen is bright and good quality. the sound is amazingly good. I use it on the streets for instant connection to the internet, Myspace, Facebook, Gmail, Skype.
I saved over $1000 in phonebills, and internet bills. and saved myself a lot of boredom at airports, hotels, coffee-shops, barber shops, malls, etc.
would recommend to anybody anyday.

After having this for about a week, I think it works a lot better than I had expected. While in Sweden last week, it worked very well. As a matter of fact I ordered one for my wife so we can use them to call each other while I'm in a foreign country working.

The fact that you can use free skype to skype calling is wonderful. The yahoo IM is also very useful.....

The negatives, which everyone has already mentioned... no light on the keyboard, and it does not download video.......

As a communicator, it is very good. I'm trying to get my friends to get them, and we'll set up our own little network through these. For people traveling to foreign countries, spending a lot of money on cellphone bills and fees from their carriers, this is a great alternative. Even if it sounds kind of expensive, in the long run, you'll save a lot of money. Most hotels and a lot of cafes in Europe offer free wifi, or very inexpensive connections.

By the way, the sound from the speakers is quite good..... good luck

Sony came oh-so-close with this one. I use my Mylo mainly as a Skype phone, and although the voice quality is out of this world, the phone is too heavy and the battery life too short. If you intend on keeping this phone on all of the time to receive calls, then it needs to be plugged in. The battery life is just too short to be left on all day (I've gotten into the habit of turning it off when I don't it use it). In addition, the unit is too heavy to be used as a handset for an extended period of time. My wrist starts to complain when I'm on a call, and I'm always reminded of how heavy it is when it's pressed against my ear. All in all, the design is endearing and slick, but Sony ends up missing the mark. I'm looking forward to version 2.0.

The Sony MyLo is a great idea, but poorly executed. The hardware itself is beautiful! The slide out QWERTY keyboard feels solid and well designed. It's screen is bright and clear; and it's battery life is fantastic. The only complaint I have regarding the hardware itself is the complete lack of Bluetooth...and it needs to be added. As to the software...

The IM is limited to only Yahoo and Google Talk -- there's no AIM, no MSN, no ICQ, and no way of adding them.

The e-mail support is via web browser only, which could be okay if the browser was any good. The web browser has numerous issues: it doesn't support SSL encryption, which means anytime you enter your user ID and password, you're doing it in clear text (oops!). It doesn't render pages very well; it's slow; there's no Flash Player (or means to add it)...meaning no online videos (youtube = no); and if you trying going to eBay or to Amazon, you get this large warning that the browser is out of date and needs to be updated to support the latest web features.

Moving on to Multimedia, the Videos are clear, but only support 4:3 resolution...there is no support for 16:9 widescreen vids...they just won't play.

The Audio Player is okay and the device even has external controls for play/stop/next/previous. However, there's no equilizer and the sound is a tad flat. Also, you have to use a proprietary connector to attach headphones...which is one more thing to lug around.

As to Skype, it works very good (IMHO). The calls are crisp and clear. The Mic is a little off, so you sound "distant" on the other end, and you can't edit your contacts...it only imports them from the Skype account you setup on your desktop. No big deal, since that's how I manage them anyway. All told, I do Like this feature. Best of the bunch.

As for productivity apps...there isn't any. No Word, No Excel, not even OpenOffice (since it is a Linux Device). There's no Telnet, SSH, or VNC option so the device could be used to manage servers or remote desktop, and there's no development kit to add any new functionality via third party.

All told, the hardware itself is sweet (minus Bluetooth), but the software it comes with leaves alot to be desired. Maybe Version 2.

i travel a lot around the world and need to communicate with my family very often,so this mylo let's me call to my home using the skype website without having to carry my laptop everywhere and also i bought one for my wife so calling her is free;apart from getting all my emails.so goodbye to the laptop.

I wanted to like this device. Really. I spent a great deal of time looking at the reviews before I got it.

Whats good: battery life, cute, great screen and audio.

Whats bad: All functionality is essentially only halfway there...

You like IM? GREAT, I hope you like Yahoo or GoogleTalk, because AIM isnt there.

You like Skype? GREAT, the sound quality is there. Unfortunately, the "manage my account" button doesnt work and the Skype caller ID functionality doesnt work. Sony tech support is unhelpful.

You like the Web? Yup! Mylo's got a browser... At WiFi speeds it should be pretty zippy.... Unfortunately, it isnt. It also doesnt render most pages very well at all. Oh.... and if you go answer an IM while browsing, realize that you have to leave the browser app.... So, you will have to reload your page if you want to browse some more.

You like Open source? It is built on Linux, Sadly, it is incredibly closed.. There are some "hacks" but the community doesnt really seem to be trying to build anything for it and there certainly arent dev kits from sony...

It has a real pretty screen. The sound quality is good. It is quite possible that as a media player it isnt bad. So, if you want a media player with mediocre and limited skype/yahoo/web functionality -- this is your box. I wanted it to be the device for me. Now I will just be returning it :-(. The fact that nothing seemed to work as it should was a big deal to me.

I travel a lot, and I'm getting ready to move overseas, so I was looking for an something that would allow me to stay in contact with my friends and family back in the states. I was interested in something portable--that didn't have to be tied down to a phone line, neither to a laptop. There are several wi-fi phones out there that look great, but they don't have web browsing capabilities, so if I was in an area that had wi-fi, but you had to authenticate in order to use the internet, you were out of luck. The Mylo is great because it does have web browsing capabilities. With that I can always get online, whether I have to authenticate or not. The only thing that the mylo browser cannot do is view flash based web pages, and you cannot download anything...and you can't stream media. But that's not to say that Sony won't have an update sooner or later to fix those things. The PSP at first didn't allow one to view flash, and they've fixed that problem. Sony, please update the firmware!

The Mylo comes with Skype, Google talk, and Yahoo messenger already pre-installed. I have used each and they have all worked perfectly--I had crystal clear phone calls with skype. These programs are not fully loaded as their computer based versions. They do have the necessary functions, though. With Skype, you have most of the functions. You can make skype calls, skype-out, and skype-in. Google Talk is strictly text messages..as it Yahoo M. Both the Google T. and Yahoo Messengers have links to your inbox, which is nice. Another nice feature is the "What's up" feature. The What's up feature allows you to view all of your contacts from each of the communications programs at once. You can easily see who's online, and you can customize each of your contact's ID.

This product will never take the place of your cell phone, because most of the cell providers already give free long distance, etc. and your cell phone is always in service wherever you travel. The mylo's communications abilities are only available when you are within wireless internet range. This would be a great replacement for your home phone, though...Skype has really great calling plans that local phone companies cannot match.

The mylo also has the abilities to play music, view photos, and even play video. Sony knows how to make money, and they give you all of the necessary programs to upload your music and photos, but you have to purchase the video program if you want to watch your favorite videos on your mylo. Thanks Sony.

The Mylo does come with 1 Gig of internal memory, with an memory card slot for additional memory. I've been able to put plenty of music and photos alone on the internal memory.

The Mylo even has the ability to produce, store, and view text documents. You can transfer your text to and from your Mylo. Nice if you have a to-do list or want to create your own address book...

The Mylo is compact enough to fit in your pocket.

...it is a nice little device that pretty much does everything i bought it for. as well as some other reviewers i do agree that there is a lot of room for improvement. in the first place i think of the flash and java support, built in email client and download capabilities. to my surprise, the skype client does an excellent job on the voice communication. the slide out keybord being usable comes in very handy too.

this is how it goes... I am not giving a '1 star' rating on this gadget because I bought it more because of it's music feature and it really offers, in my opinion, a great sound...BUT.... IT is totally limited... I can not believe that SONY would make such a device that you can not listen to any songs online.. or watch videos on youtube.. no MSN messenger... only one screen at a time while surfing the net.... and when you have no wi-fi and you would like to spend the time listening to music and playing a little basic game.. forget about it... NO GAMES at ALL. It was 300 dollars to the waist basket. NOW.. I do like the fact that starting from november(2007) all mylo users will have one year of free access to t-mobile's wi-fi..... Good things are... great sound.. great picture.. very easy to use... long battery life... ahhhh... one other really bad thing about it is that the key board has no light for night use.. so if you are in your room at night about to sleep and someone sends you a messege and you want to reply.. you would have to get up turn on the light and then reply!!! :-)..over all the product it "okay".. but for 300-350 bucks... thats a rip-off!!!

I've had the Mylo for about 2 months and use it 3-4 hours a day: an hour a day as an Mp3 Player, and about 3 hours a day as a Skype phone. Soon I'll begin using it to share pictures and watch videos as well.... Overall, I think it's a good product to support and I hope Sony makes the next versions taking our feedback into account.

PROS:
-Portable.
-Many useful functions.
-Easy to use/figure out.
-Mp3 player sounds great!
-As a web-phone, can make practically free unlimited calls to anywhere in the world, saving me about a thousand cell minutes (and a lot of $) a month!
-Has an external memory stick slot.
-Sony releases rather frequent firmware upgrades for it that produce noticeable improvements.

CONS:
-Needs unlocked Wi Fi Hot Spot for the web-phone and internet functions, which is not so easy to find in most public areas.
-It does not connect to all unlocked signals.
-Can't send SMS using Skype with it.
-Has no Web cam--yet.
-If you use a memory stick other than Sony it's very difficult to get it to work. Tech support didn't know what to do about this, but my cousin figured it out: You have to copy and paste a picture/song from the internal memory to the memory stick, and then it'll start to recognize the external memory.
-Has no office tools, e.g., Word, Excel, etc...
-The right side earphone wire is about a foot longer than the left one, which is extremely annoying, as the extra wire gets in the way. Does anyone know why some company's do this to the earphone wire?

The sony mylo really surprised me. I saw it in a random ad for ski gear, and just liked the asthetics of it. I tracked it down and played with it for about 10 min in store before buying. I figured, if I didn't like it I could just just ebay it.


Being a college kid I am always at a coffee house, on campus, or at home. It is very rare that I am anywhere without wi-fi. (not to mention my entire county is supposed to go wi fi in the next year or so) Therefore I am always reachable by skype (the phone), SMS, and email. I find it all easy to use. I am always logged onto Yahoo! Messenger, and can chat up my classmates on there or by SMS. I paid $30 for my skype account. I can call anywhere in the USA or Canada for free for the next year. Also, as long as I call another skype phone (world wide) its free free free.
I also like that I can call almost anywhere in the world for pennies. The phone is wonderful. Its clear, no dropped calls, and 1000Xs better than my verizon cell service. (and you get to choose your phone numbers from around the world)


The web browser is great! I find it easy to use. I can easily access large pages like MySpace, as well as Yahoo!News. I personally have never had a problem connecting to any wifi services. I like that you get 1 year free t-mobile hotspot with your purchase as well. So at almost all starbucks I have wifi for free there too.



The buttons are kind of small, but my hands are smaller so its okay- think the treo 700w. The video is crisp and clear, and it holds a lot of mp3s. Neither of which really matter if you have an iPod, although I can't really compare the two.


bottom line, if you spend a lot of time in wifi zones and need a cheap phone, and want to browse the internet, this product is for you. There are a lot of features I could live without, but they are nice to have.

Pretty cool product for IM and Skype, but take into consideration that you need the Sony proprietary software, Sony Image Converter 2, to make the video function work properly. Currently, this software is not included with the purchase of a mylo.

The wifi antenna is very weak -- you have to go stand by the Linksys router for it to work. Non-portable. No value, high price... Useless. I played with it the first two days and now I have not turned it on in a month.

If you're looking for an Ipod Nano that can connect to the internet and send email, as well as watch video and view photos, then this is the device for you.

I decided to get one after loosing my Ipod to an accident. It has a nice picture, the sound quality is great, and the video quality is fantastic.

But it's not a cell phone replacement by any means. Without a WiFi connection, you can't communicate with anything but maybe someone with another Mylo. Plus, and this is very surprising, it will only connect to an 802.11B (or mixed) signal. It will show other networks (such as the faster "G" signaled WiFi networks), but if they're not the "B" type, then you won't connect. Also, it seems like the USB is only 1.0, not 2.0.

The way the menus are layed out is very similar to the PSP, another neat Sony product if you like gaming. That unit will also play video and audio, as well as cruise the web. But the Mylo has the advantage of a keyboard, so texting on it is much easier.

If only Sony could figure out how to bring this unit to market without having to spend an arm and a leg on it, then it might be a lot more popular. $349 is a tad bit steep for what it does offer. But the next time i'm stranded in an airport, it'll be much nicer passing the time watching a movie or surfing the web without using my cellular data minutes.

I have to start by saying I don't like the idea of cell-phones. Thus, when MYLO came about making the WiFi claims, I thought this ought to be my device. Indeed, I like the idea of periodically checking email and voice mail, or making a quick phone call, from what seems to be the increasing number of WiFi hot-spots. Most all its other features (media player, etc.) were just the cherry on a good cake.

Then, I ran a search on YouTube and saw how real people use, and listened to their comments about, MYLO. What I learned was not persuasive enough to get a unit without seeing one first.

The next step was to stop by one of Sony's stores, not where I live, and get my hands onto this device. Here are my conclusions:

The device itself seems to target to 15-24 yo female demographic--cute lights, round shapes, etc. Then, maneuvering through all options is a long maze, non intuitive, with too many nested options. There are no shortcuts, and the general layout is as if the Sony folks thought about enriching one's MYLO experience by making so necessary the manual. After 45 minutes worth of playing with it, I figured out how to get from A to B (e.g. connect to the store WiFi, bring up a web page, etc.). In the end, connecting to a WiFi spot seems to be the Achille's heel of this device. I found this out when I tried to connect to a neighboring WiFi that was somehow accessible in the store.

To sum it all up, the looks, or richness of features, could work one way or the other, however difficult connectivity is a show stopper for me. And this is not to say that connectivity is Sony's problem as much as the problem with the availability and accessibility of WiFi in general. This device might have hit the market a year too early, not only from Sony's engineers, but also from a WiFi perspective. I'll let you decide your perspective.

P.S. There is plenty of talk about battery life, and people have come to know Sony's outstanding record. Not clear for me, my use-scenario being that I have to fly from place to place, is how much battery is left to maintain the hungry WiFi connectivity after spending 4-6 hours listening to music.

I was delighted when I first recieved this little toy in the mail; however, I am now severely disappointed.

It has poor connectivity; at least, mine does. It takes several tries for me to connect, even when the device detects a strong signal. Then when I do finally connect, half the time the pages I wish to view will not load.

It has excellent sound, which to me is its only redeeming quality. I use it now primarily as my MP3 player since I didn't have one until I bought this device . . .but I am seriously considering selling it on Ebay. For a little more, I could have gotten a Sidekick III.

This device is intended to be efficient and sufficient to web browse, hear your music, and most importantly communicate. This is an awesome device that will save you money if you have wireless and DSL or cable and travel to places were you can use wireless. If you want to spend a fortune with cell phones continue to do so. People in Japan and Europe laugh at the amount of money we spend for cell phone use.

I bought this gadget because I'm a Sonyphile....unfortunately it did not meet my expectations. The Skype feature did not work well...my movies, easily seen on my PSP would not work on this device, album covers would only transfer using Sonic Stage and the topper is that no one at Sony knows how to fix one of these things. I'm returning it today after two weeks of screwing around with it. Gonna get me a Sony w850i Walkman phone and replace my Audiovox 5600 SMT for the same price.

Based off of the package specs online, the Mylo looks quite promising as wifi enabled mobile solution for the instant messaging / VoIP generation... That is if you ignore the hefty $350 pricetag. I would not have taken the cons for this device as seriously had the price been in the $150-225 range.

So what does $350 get you?

You get a bean shaped gadget capable of connecting to various types of wifi networks, instant messaging (Yahoo, Google Talk, & Skype), VoIP (Skype), movies, music, pictures, and a semi-impressive browser.

What $350 doesn't get you is a device that you can use when the lights go out. An instant messaging device with one of the poorest keyboard designs I have ever used. Sony slapped a pulsing light on the side of the device which constantly glows when connected to a wifi network. Why the hell wasn't a backlit keyboard included? As soon as the lights go out, your device looses much of its value.

Hold off from purchasing this device until Sony implements an acceptable keyboard AND decides to support the larger AIM / AOL network.

Reminder that the mylo is targeted to COLLEGE AGED KIDS which where most campuses has wifi everywhere. Not 30 y/o business execs. They have others toys for you guys leave the mylo alone to college kids.

4 stars for neat factor, 0 stars for price. in 2006 you now know why sony sucks at portable electronics, they not only missed the boat, they still think their original sony cassette walkman is still the bomb. for half the price you can pick up any smart phone with ten times the features. file this under mini-disc, memory stick, and beta along with the soon to be defunct blu-ray. a strong brand getting weakened by its own products... who's in charge there anyway??? (although for $50 to $99 i can see this item flying out the door.)

This device gets a lot of critism for limited feature, and that is true. HOWEVER, this is the best Skype phone on the market. I bought it and then lowered by cell phone bill. Since it cost as much and any other Skype wi-fi portable phone, just think of more as a high-featured skype phone than a low-featured communicator. Definatly worth the purchase.

P.S. The Opera-based web browser on the Mylo is about 2x faster than my Sprint PPC-6700 and 3x faster than my PSP

The audio quality using SKYPE is very, very good. Battery life is so far exceptional, particularly with regard to the Mylo as an mp3 player. But what is troublesome so far has been my inability to make video that plays acceptably by the device. I have used PSP Video 9 and InterVideo to Go to produce mp4 video which the player invariably plays, but the end result is a pixellated catastrophe. Playing the same mp4 files with QuickTime causes no such problems. I have downloaded mp4 files made by Sony's proprietary Image Converter 2 Software; these work well in the Mylo.

I hate the phone companies so much I puchased a Mylo in hopes to replace my cell phone. I guess WiFi is not as ubiquitous as I thought in LA. It works well once it's sync up with a WiFi connection but it takes effort to find a "hotspot", especially a free hotspot. Note that McDonalds and Starbucks charge an unreasonable fee to connect to the web and not worth the expense; borrowing signal from unsuspecting neighbors can be hit or miss, that is if they don't secure their WiFi modems. Some examples of free hotspots are Apple Stores, Whole Foods Grocery Markets and Panera Cafes. The phone comes with a hotspot data base which is easily updated with either a Mac or PC. When the USB is plugged in, it acts like a external drive and things are pretty straight foward. You just drag and drop files.

The unit itself is surprisingly small and easily fits in the palm of you hand, it's slightly larger than a typical cell phone, however the screen is large and clear enough to see video and pictures but is a little cumbersome to navagate around a web page. Another thing about the screen, it's nice and bright when viewing indoors but very difficult to see when you're out in the sun light. It should be good enough for IM and Chat functions. The keyboard, at least for me I have to use my index finger nails, hunt and peck method. I've used it with Skype and it works fine. The audio is bright and clear when using it like a phone. The earbuds/mic oddly comes in two separate cords and the audio is very acceptable. The first cord has a special plug for the Mylo and the second cord plugs into the first cord and is a typical earbud set-up.

Here are some suggestions for improvements. I know that size is personal matter but I think the optimal size would be the size and thinness of my HP Scientific Calculator. It think Sony gave up too much in screen size to navigate web pages easily. A larger unit means you can navigate the keyboard with you thumbs, like a Crackberry and you can use full sized USB plugs instead of expensive propritary equipment. Also, if they can make a unit with better WiFi reception, I noticed when I had a laptop, the reception was better.

I gave Mylo 4 stars because Sony gave a good effort and was to first to come out with a Skype Phone. Belkin claims to be the first but as of this date Belkin still hasn't released their phone yet. Besides the early reviews claim the audio quality of the Mylo is superior to the Belkin and the Netgear WiFi phones.

This device has a lot going for it. It has internet which allows for messaging, e-mail, and multimedia functionality all at the palms of your hand and easily accessable with a full QWERTY keyboard. Here are really the pros and cons of the device.

PROS:
-Bright screen
-Very portable
-Great looking device
-Good menu system
-Expansion slot
-Durable
-Great battery life
-Wi-Fi/E-mail
-Build-in microphone (also come with external mic in box)

CONS:
-Not a phone - don't be fooled by Skype, it's not as galmorous as it sounds and you NEED an internet connection to use it (for a little more you can get a Sidekick 3)
-Expansion is limited to Sony's propietary Memory Stick DUO
-Screen could be higher res (more colors too)
-Attracts fingerprints too easily
-No built-in camera
-No productivity programs (Word, Excel, etc.)

My biggest beef really was that it really isn't fully functional in any way, except maybe a multimedia player. The good battery life makes a pretty good MP3/video player replacement, especially with the cost of flash memory going down. But as an internet device, only at hot spots. As a phone, only at hotspots. As a PDA, no productivity pack or Windows Mobile 5.

BOTTOM LINE: Get a Sidekick 3, or wait until the next generation comes out.