In Brief

If you're part of the always online, always communicating MySpace and Facebook set, Sony's new mylo ($350) is designed for you. The mylo (short for My Life Online) is a Wi-Fi-based gadget that connects at any hotspot (free or paid) and lets you make Skype calls (including SkypeIn and SkypOut), and do instant messaging over Skype, Yahoo IM and Google Talk. It also doubles as a portable media player, with 1GB of built-in memory for photos, music and videos, plus a Memory Stick Pro Duo expansion slot. The bright 2.5-inch color screen is great for video, and also gives you a reasonable-size view on the included Opera web browser. This is a pretty compelling combination of features for a student-oriented device.

The mylo is also notable for what it isn't: there's no cell phone service (and thus no monthly charges), no AIM/iChat or MS Messenger support (although this might be coming), no camera, and no games. That last is perhaps the oddest omission given the target market, but Sony already makes the popular PSP for portable gaming, and it too doubles as a media player and Wi-Fi device. For mobile pros, the biggest omission is not really the lack of cell service, but the lack of an email client -- webmail just doesn't hack it for many users. But the mylo is built on Linux, so there is great potential for adding software features like games or email in future releases.

If your world consists mainly of Wi-Fi-blanketed spaces like school/college campuses and dorms, the mylo is a great way to keep connected, make calls, and save on cell data charges. The media playback features are basically a bonus -- it won't replace an iPod, but it will be enough for most users.

In Depth

Opening the mylo box is quite a treat, with well-packaged contents including the headphones, CD, startup guide, USB cable, power adapter, and neoprene slipcase. We spent about 20 minutes with the startup guide, checking out the functions of the various buttons and navigation basics, before plunging right in. When you first turn on the mylo, a wizard pops up that prompts you to enter your Skype profile information, time zone, and date/time. You can then go on to set up Yahoo IM or Google Talk with your account information, if you use those services (we bet mylo buyers will). You'll also make your first Wi-Fi connection, a process that is quick and easy (more on Wi-Fi below).

The mylo has a sleek design, and is easy to hold and operate with thumbs and index fingers, much like a game controller. The keyboard slides out easily, and locks into place. Various buttons are placed around the case for controlling volume, music/video playback, and navigation functions, and for turning the Wi-Fi radio and power on and off. Headphone and USB ports, plus the Memory Stick Pro Duo slot, are at the top of the case (see the Photo Gallery for more images).

Once you've set up your services, the What's Up screen becomes communication central. There you can see all your contacts (and groups of contacts), represented by avatars. Click on an avatar, and you get a list of the user IDs associated with it, so you can have three ways of contacting each friend, for example, via Skype, Yahoo or Google Talk. This screen also shows the on and offline status of your contacts, so you can see who's around easily. The other way to see your contacts is to choose a particular service, such as Yahoo, and you'll get a list of who's online. Click a contact to initiate a chat session. Your own online status is shown at the bottom of the screen in the status bar, and incoming new messages, chat requests and voicemails are shown in a handy popup event list for easy reference.

Wi-Fi Skype calling is mylo's killer feature, however. Calls are clear and seemed just as good as with USB Skype phones. And the mylo's ability to login at paid hotspots with the included Opera Web browser puts it head and shoulders above most Wi-Fi Skype and VoIP phones (which cost at least $200 for VoIP alone). If you don't already have a Skype account, you can set one up on the mylo. You can also add money to your Skype account for SkypeIn and Voicemail service (SkypeOut is free within the U.S. and Canada until the end of the year). SkypeIn and SkypeOut allow you to recieve call from and make calls to regular phones, in addition to the free Skype-to-Skype calling. You can put calls on hold, and reject or ignore them, but there's no call waiting, nor emergency 911 service. Choosing a friend on the Skype contact list lets you call, chat, send voicemail, or transfer files, just as with the desktop Skype client.

The chat interface (which is similar across the three instant messaging services) is easy to use and you can save all your chats for future reference. You can add friends to a chat (multi-chat), and save groups of friends so that you can initiate a new mult-chat quickly. The Skype calling interface is just as streamlined. When a call comes in, it will pop up a window on top of what you are currently doing, and you can answer, reject or ignore it. If you are currently playing music or video, playback will pause during the call, and resume where you left off afterwards.

The mylo uses Wi-Fi 802.11b, which is perfectly adequate for the limited functions of the device. It has WEP and WPA encryption support, but not 802.11x or WPA2, which means you can't use it on many college campuses that rely on authenticated 802.11x connections. You can save settings for multiple Wi-Fi networks, making it easy to connect as you move from home to campus to Starbucks. As an added enticement, Sony is throwing in a free year of T-Mobile Hotspot access for your mylo. Signal strength and connection status icons are shown in the status bar.

The mylo also supports ad-hoc Wi-Fi connections between users for sharing music. You can pop up a list of nearby users connected to the mylo ad-hoc network, and stream songs to and fro. This feature depends on having a critical mass of mylo-owning friends to share with, but is cool nonetheless. We just wish we could also make ad-hoc connections to our computer for file transfers, something you can only do with the included USB cable and dedicated Windows software. Sony includes a copy of Sonic Soundstage; you can also use the Windows Media Player to organize and transfer your music files. Photos and videos (MPEG4 format only) can also be copied over for viewing, and the mylo includes a slideshow feature for pictures. Picture quality is excellent on the fine LCD screen, and video playback was smooth.

Mylo's Opera Web browser is very good; we had no trouble bringing up all our favorite pages and webmail interfaces. Navigation on the small screen, however, can be problematic. But this is true of all phone and PDA browsers. A handy Fit-to-Text box option makes it much easier to read news stories and other long text items on a page.

One other application the mylo has built-in is JiWire's Wi-FI Hotspot Locator, an offline database that lets you pull up a list of free and paid hotspots in your area, by location type (stores, cafes, hotels, etc.). You can't put in an exact address, just the city name, but the location categories help narrow things down. You can customize the cities and countries you want to maintain data for (the entire worldwide directory of 20,000-plus hotspots would take too much space).

Battery life is average for this type of wireless device, but still pretty short. You'll get about 3.5 hours of Skype calling, 7-8 hours of wireless communicating, or up to 45 hours of music playback only. You can recharge the replaceable Lithium-ion battery two ways: via the included AC adapter, or when connected to your computer via USB.

Neither PDA, nor cell phone, nor dedicated music player, the mylo nevertheless encompasses many of the most compelling features of each of these devices: Skype VoIP calling, instant messaging galore, and versatile media playback on a crisp color screen. The best part for many students will be that it doesn't require monthly fees, like the T-Mobile Sickekick aimed at the same crowd. Now that most schools and colleges offer Wi-Fi, in classrooms and public places, it's a great student machine. You won't even need to pay for monthly T-Mobile Hotspot access, at least for the first year.