A Whole New Lifestyle?
Sony executives may be a bit miffed that the Apple iPod unseated the Walkman as the king of portable entertainment, but the company is fighting back with a new device that combines music and video with something we all do: communications.
Tuesday is debut day for Sony's newest product: the mylo communicator (stands for "My Life Online"), being announced to the world now and going on sale in September for $349.95. The handheld device, about the size of a medium-sized cell phone, lets you talk on the phone, exchange instant messages, surf the web, exchange email, listen to music and watch videos.
Like the Blackberry, Treo, Sidekick and many other popular "smart" phones, the mylo has a QWERTY keyboard and a small color screen but there is a catch. It doesn't have true cell phone capability in that it can only communicate only when it is within range of a wireless (WiFi) network.
And, unlike the makers of those other devices, Sony isn't even trying to impress the professional crowd.
As for that popular music player from Apple, Sony marketing manager Liz Eller says the introduction of the mylo is really "not about chasing after the iPod. It's about coming out with a whole new product, a whole new kind of lifestyle for people. This is really about communication as entertainment."
"It's aimed at the 18 to 22-year-old market," she explains, "students who are using a lot of IM and it's their main form of communication."
The theory is that most tech-savvy kids of that age have easy access to a WiFi network at home or on campus and that this group is not likely to want to pay the relatively high-cost of cellular data services, which typically up the cost of cell phone service by about an additional $40 a month.
I tested the mylo from a coffee shop with a free and unencrypted WiFi access. The device also works with T-Mobile and other pay-as-you-go and subscription services as well as through encrypted services that require you to type in an access code
Click here to hear a podcast interview of Sony's Liz Eller, who is speaking to Larry Magid using a mylo communicator.
If you want to make or receive a call, you can use Skype. That's free if you're talking with another Skype user on an Internet-connected device. Or you can use the "SkypeOut" service that allows you to call any landline or cell phone at very low rates.
Currently Skype-out is free to any phone in the U.S. but even when it's not free, it's only 2 cents a minute to call cell phones or landlines in the U.S. and landlines in most western countries. Prices are higher when calling overseas cell mobile phones (where the caller pays airtime) and they vary by country, but they're generally a lot cheaper than using a traditional phone service.
There is a built-in speaker and microphone as well as an external microphone/headset. You can also listen to music through the built-in speakers as well as headphones and ear buds. The included Sony ear buds are quite good.
The mylo has a web browser that lets you visit any website, including email sites from Google and Yahoo, which has been optimized for the small screen.
Because the device uses WiFi, the Internet speed is generally a lot faster than what you'd get on a Blackberry, Windows Smart Phone, SideKick or any other device that uses a cellular network. The device's (*802.11b) WiFi adapter is capable of communicating at up to 11 megabits per second. But your actual speed is determined by the Internet connection, which is typically about 1 to 4 megabits per seconds – still a lot faster than cell phone-based services.
Mylo has a media player that can play MPEG4 videos that you can transfer to the device from a PC using a USB cable. The mylo can also play a variety of music formats including MP3, Windows Media and Sony's ATRAC format.
Windows Media files can be purchased from most download sites including Napster, Rhapsody and Yahoo but you can't use Apple's popular iTunes music download service for the mylo, due to incompatibilities with Apple's proprietary digital rights management system.
You also can't use the mylo to purchase music. You need to transfer the tunes of your choice from a PC.
The device can also be used to display photos in the standard JPG format.
The keyboard folds under the main unit, so you can use it without the keyboard and fold it away when you don't need it. It measures 4.9 inches by 1-inch by 2.5 inches and weighs 5.3 ounces, according to preliminary specifications from Sony.
With so little heft, does it have what it takes to get the job done for serious music lovers?
They can keep listening for quite awhile, according to Sony, which says the mylo comes with a gigabyte of memory which - depending on the compression method used - is enough for about 16 hours of music, assuming that you're not using the memory for anything else.
And that's just for starters. Mylo-ites can expand their memory capacity, by adding a Sony Memory Stick.
A 1-GB memory stick goes for about $50. Not big enough? There's always the 2-GB memory stick, which sells for around $75.
A syndicated technology columnist for over two decades, Larry Magid serves as on air Technology Analyst for CBS Radio News. His technology reports can be heard several times a week on the CBS Radio Network. Magid is the author of several books including "The Little PC Book."
By Larry Magid