We've been blown away with Sony's press conference about their new HDNA products, and they still have a lot of ammo to feed the waiting presses. Sony presents the newer additions to their plethora of mobile gadgets, such as the cute Rolly and the new Sony mylo. More details in the full article.

Hot off Sony Ericsson's denial of the existence of a Sony PlayStation Portable-mobile phone hybrid, we've grabbed hold of what could be an early version of the Sony Mylo. Feast your eyes on that baby!

This image is a mockup of what the next Mylo will look like as supplied by our source who's close to Sony. The word right now is that the Sony Mylo will supposedly provide some features that the Sony PSP has once it's incorporated with the PSP software. As for gaming though, our source says the Mylo's processor is too slow so it won't be able to handle that. And if the Mylo ever gets gaming integration, the Mylo's price would become too steep.

We must say that this one's a startling revelation indeed if it holds any water. The new hardware could open up a lot of possibilities into expanding Sony's fan base with the inclusion of mobile phone enthusiasts. Updates are set to come, so keep it with us for more on the PSP-Sony Mylo rumor.

We've gotten a few interesting bits of information on the new Sony mylo from sources close to the company. These are all unconfirmed, though, so until we hear anything official, we're tagging this report as a rumor.

Anyway, the biggest feature that we hear is coming to the second-generation Sony mylo is the possible integration of PSP software. So, will it be able to run PSP games or will it be limited to PSP firmware and applications? Whatever the extent of integration, it seems the PlayStation brand is spreading onto other Sony devices.

Another interesting tidbit is that Sony seems to be angling to get Sprint as a carrier for the new mylo. Of course, if Sony does get Sprint as a carrier, the mylo's price point could also go up as the original used WiFi networks to reduce connectivity costs. Here are more updates about the new mylo that we got from our sources:

• New E727 Half-mini card negotiation with Novatel (in-progress)
• Widget development activities (in-progress)
• SDK development (in-progress)
• Developer Program and Developer Community Website.
• RF technical support (in-progress)

Please keep in mind that these are all just rumors for now. We'll be sure to give you guys more updates as soon as we get them so keep checking back here.

You might think I've gone bonkers. But bear with me here, I'm not kidding. A lucky find by my friend MaTiAz seems to point towards some form of VoIP functionality in upcoming firmwares. This reference to Skype is hidden in the decrypted version of vshmain.prx from Firmware 3.10, basically the latest firmware if you don't count 3.11. Nobody has yet checked the presence of its reference in the latest firmware (3.11) but it's most probably there since not much has changed between the two firmwares.

Anyways, I did get a look at the decrypted version of the prx and as expected, this string pointing to a non-existing prx was present. To save you guys the hassle of having to do it yourselves, I've taken a screenshot which shows the same. If you're interested in finding it yourself, the reference is present as a string at offset 0x000344C4 in the decrypted vshmain.prx.

Checking the dump, there was no actual PRX by that name which means that the actual functionality is still being worked upon at this stage. And I don't think anyone's bluffing either. There have already been cases of Camera, GPS, and POPS PRXes being in the firmware long before the functionality was opened up. In the case of Camera and GPS, references can be found as far back as Firmware 2.70. POPS references were found in Firmware 2.80 dumps.

While this is all good to hear, the question begs to be asked - "What happens to the Sony Mylo?" You know, the PSP's sibling which came out a while ago with features like VoIP and Google Talk support. Is Sony thinking of burying the Mylo and making the PSP into "a lot more than a handheld" whose main functionality until now has been gaming? After all, the Mylo never quite took off in the same manner as the PSP, which itself has been lagging far behind the DS. We don't have any figures to back us here, but the Mylo was, in my opinion, a complete failure.

So while killing off the Mylo might not sound so good, it's probably a good move by Sony to move over a lot of its functionality to the PSP which still has a firm ground to stand on with over a few million users. It's all speculation since Sony hasn't announced anything yet, but then again, would you expect an official announcement from Sony about this?

The hardware in the PSP is good enough to handle the extra additions and the feature set of the Mylo was pretty much a subset of what you found on the PSP, plus a few additions. As for the firmware features, my opinion is that you should see some of the Skype functionality coming out in Firmware 3.50 or thereabouts. This would give Sony at least a couple of months to fine-tune everything and integrate it with the rest of the stuff already there. Stay tuned, we will have the latest on this as soon as we know more! A big thanks to MaTiAz for telling me about this find!

The Sony Mylo, Sony's personal communicator, looks really nice at Sony's official site, but we have to admit that studio-treatment product pictures can't compare to actually seeing it out of the box and in your hands. We've posted a video of the Sony Mylo in action before, so here's a little something extra for your taste buds - shots of the Sony Mylo straight out of the box.

   

Read on (click on the Full Article link below), and see shots of a Sony Mylo Prototype, its components, what it looks like side by side with other phones, how bright its LCD screen is, and most importantly the fancy raver lights.

At a press event in Norway last August 23rd, Opera revealed that Sony's Mylo will operate using their browser and further discussed details about their partnership with Sony.

Scott Hedrick, Executive Vice President of Opera Software, said "A communication tool such as mylo requires a browser that can deliver full Internet content in a seamless and easy to use manner. Users surfing while on the go want their information fast and reliably delivered. With Opera's extensive experience in providing the full Web to mobile phones, it has proven to be the best choice for mylo."

for those who don't know, mylo communicator is a Wi-Fi enabled entertainment and communication device. The embedded Opera browser makes it possible for mylo users to surf through Web sites, check their email, etc. Opera's ERA (Extensible Rendering Architecture) makes surfing easier for mylo users by eliminating horizontal scrolling in the screen. What does this mean? Opera automatically adjusts the web content to fit Mylo's 2.4-inch colored LCD screen.

"The mylo personal communicator puts the fun parts of a computer in the palm of your hand," said John Kodera, director of product marketing for personal communication devices at Sony Electronics. "It's ideal for people who want to stay connected to their online friends and family, but not be weighed down by a PC or buffeted by charges for IM and texting on cell phones."

Sony Mylo will be available in the United States in September, and will reportedly be sold at the price of $350.

When we wrote about the Sony Mylo, we described it as a 802.11b WiFi personal communicator that puts the fun of a computer in the palm of your hand.

But can you add your own applications to it? Sony's been very quiet about whether you can add software to it or if it's meant to be a closed system (maybe Sony doesn't want to relinquish control; remember the legal issues with PSP homebrews). But even if they don't want you to tinker with it, you still can.

There's a version of embedded Linux available (the popular opinion is it's a version from Wind River); the graphics framework and user interface are provided by Trolltech's Qtopia platform; and, there's support for Java Virtual Machine.

What does this mean? As long as Sony hasn't put in too many security measures, homebrewers can run with the Mylo, and that might make it more appealing to its target market.

There's been some concern that its high price ($350) would turn buyers off. Also, it doesn't have mobile phone capability, although you can make calls through Skype's VoIP service. It has support for instant messaging from Google Talk, Skype, and Yahoo!, but it won't support AIM and Windows Live Messenger. Also, while it boasts of multimedia fun (like support for MP3, WMA, MP4, ATRAC) and almost 1G of file storage, there hasn't been any clear word on whether it will have gaming or other 3rd-party support.

The Mylo is a wonderful device. I do wonder how it would have been even more useful if it had incorporated WIMAX, EV-DO, hsdpa or any another wireless broadband technology along side its WiFi support. Aside from this minor flaw, the Sony Mylo is an interesting little handheld that packs quite a few features.

With a thumb wheel on its face to help navigate the screen, and the Opera browser to get you online, the Mylo should be a competent Internet device. It's also a very competent portable media player with a high resolution screen. While details about the unit's specs are scarce, I would imagine that Sony would make it powerful enough to compete with today's handhelds.

While not exactly an equitable comparison, I couldn't help but take a quick look at how Mylo stacks up to competition. From what I have seen of the device so far Mylo does not beat the iPod. The iPod's enormous storage capacity makes it very hard to beat. But, the functions available with the Mylo are actually far superior to those coming from current-gen iPods.

Overall, the Mylo is a decent and fun-looking toy that is indicative of what we might see in the near future. Hopefully, we will soon see a Mylo actually hit the market that does everything as advertised. Until then enjoy this video from Gizmodo that details exactly what Sony's new Mylo can do.

We earlier reported about Sony's new contraption - the Sony Mylo. Just to refresh your memory a bit, Mylo stands for "my life on line" and from there, you'd already have clear picture of what this thingamajig does. Basically, it's a wireless, handheld device mostly aimed at younger people who use instant messaging to stay in touch with their circle of friends and to scare off their enemies.

It has a September 2006 release date and to prep up for its arrival, Sony just unveiled the Mylo's website which will cater to all the specs and info you will ever need. It will come in two variants - the mylo personal communicator COM-1/W and COM-1/B. With a price tag of $350, you'll need all the info for you to decide if it's worth that much or if you would just buy something else.

Sony is set to release a wireless, handheld device mostly aimed at younger people who use instant messaging, named Mylo (which stands for 'My Life Online'). The pocket-sized gadget features a slide-up 2.4-inch screen with a QWERTY keyboard underneath, VOIP capabilities via Skype, web access (to browse the internet and send emails), media playback capabilities (including music, photos and videos), 1GB flash, and a memory slot. This device will only be available in the United States. The instant messaging feature will use Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk.

Mylo will be available in black or white, does not require computer setup or a monthly service contract, hence it cannot be used for mobile telephone calls. "The mylo personal communicator puts the fun parts of a computer in the palm of your hand", explains director of product marketing and personal communication devices at Sony Electronics. "It's ideal for people who want to stay connected to their online friends and family, but not be weighed down by a PC or buffeted by charges for IM and texting on cell phones."

Mylo will be available in September 2006 and will retail for US$350.