T-mobile launched Hotspot @home which is a pretty cool idea. But it seems that the majority of the task is still done through traditional cell phone networks. I blogged about it earlier but the article wasn't one of my best. So I won't link you to it.
Nowadays, there are a few kinds of cell phones that we normally use. Orthodox cell phone (cell phones that have all the "cell phone features" but nothing special), I-phone, Blackberry, sidekick.
Having a traditional cell phone is like having a traditional TV. Things cannot easily go wrong and you just pick up and call people. I-phone has an impressive interface. Blackberries are good at their operating system. I easily installed some dictionaries that was designed for some other portable devices.
However, technology is ever changing. Internet based cell phone will take over. The idea of a WiFi phone or internet based cell phone (terms that I'll use interchangeably) is that they connect to the internet through a wireless internet coverage. There are already a decent coverage of wireless internet if you haven't notice. Your neighbor probably has one. You probably have one at work or at school and they exist ubiquitously at public places like a starbucks and the airport.
A friend once asked me, then who pays for the internet. Don't worry, if Starbucks charge you $5 for a cup of coffee, they'll afford it. And even though some are not, but most of the home used wireless connections are encrypted so you can't use your neighbors' if they're not generous enough to offer you a password. With wireless, you can sit in your living room, kitchen or wherever and have internet. So the WiFi phone picks up the signal and utilizes the already existant and expanding wireless internet and call through some other services like Skype. You essentially connect to Skype's server and they will connect you to another telephone or a computer with Skype installed etc. You save money this way because you are using the already built internet. For example, to call everyone in the US or Canada for 3 months, it costs $9, much cheaper than your phone subscription huh.
But the WiFi devices are just developping. Sony Mylo is one of the first to offer that and it made an impact on the market.
(Disclaimer: I don't own one. I don't get anything from writing this. It is fully out of my own interest. )
Le'ts check out its specifications.
1. QWERT keyboard. Starting from my last blackberry, I resolved to buy no other phone than one with a QWERTY keyboard. It is very useful when you actually want to input. I read reviews say that the orange buttons with an orange background and the absense of a back light is not appreciated.
2. Sony uses its memory stick which isn't quite fantastic but I can live with it. As you can see, I like compatible stuff. Because compatibility will always bring in competition. Some products uses its obvious advantages to cover the compatibility issue. And that deprives the customers of the ability to choose. But as it is said in my movie quote post that i haven't been able to expand a lot, the world is not Disney... But I won't make too much of a deal out of the memory stick because it is widely available and common enough.
3.Haha, Sony's ATRAC format appears again. I own a Sony Hi-MD whose charger I just washed and won't afford the replacement for a while. The format is not actually bad. I consider it part of the competition to mp3. This is good. And it supports mp3 and wma anyway. So...
4. Security WEP, WPA-PSK (TKIP) . This is a crucial thing. If you are looking for a phone for hotspot or with Wi-Fi support, the security feature is the most important because if it doesn't fully support the wireless protocols, you will not be able to use it. When you buy a communication electronic device, the bottom line is that it is compatible with the industry standards.
5. Case. I have not laid an eye on the case, but I think a case is quite important for the protection and carrying of the cell phone. Let's just wish it's good.
6.Battery life is crucial. It supports 3.5 hours of internet phone. It can be better but I think that's already impressive. You can make more than that long of course but wireless calls require much more energy and I think this is the longest a phone can make up to this point. So if you need to do longer than that, just wait. Improvements will come up. But that seems quite enough for common people.
7. Battery type: Finally something removable. I'll look around and see if it's actually cheap to replace too. If so, battery life is even less of a problem because you can always have a backup battery.
8. Browser : opera. Opera is a very good browser. I have it on my blackberry and in Windows. They are both the best you can get I believe. In windows and Linux, we have other great browsers like Firefox but in the mobile field, opera is like the only mature one. And in fact, even in Windows and Linux, opera stands out with a few of its special features. I find its shortcuts especially convenient. In Windows Mobile, I think it's the only browser that supports tabbed browsing.
9. For communication: Skype, google talk, Yahoo messenger, Ad hoc application (share files between Mylos) are provided. The provided softwares are all nice. But one question is extensibility. At the end of the day, most people want maybe their own IM like MSN, AIM. There are some softwares that run on portable devices. The most important is whether the device provides such compatibility. Blackberry, to my experience, succeeds in a way because you can add software to it. Technology and communication change day by day, so I don't think you can just rely on built-in stuff. Maybe only the built-in timer in your toaster, other things have to be extensible. The higher the flexibility, the more it will even work like a laptop and the easier it is for the big tech community to figure out cool stuff to do on it. I think the majority of the buyers of such a device are adventurous youngsters like myself. I hope it enables such a possibility.
Overall, Sony Mylo is in the right trend of cell phone business, long term because it's WiFi ability. If WiFi coverage continue to grow, then some day, we can really enjoy cheap WiFi cell phone services with good cell phone capabilities and also various other services. You can control your fridge, over, microwave or any other home appliance over the internet for sure in the future. So if your phone is on the internet, then that'll enable much remote control ability.
There are rumors about second generation Sony Mylo. I recently had an adventure to use Dell Axim x50v as a WiFi phone. From a WiFi phone's perspective, (because later on, I'll talk about the rumored PSP features.), Sony Mylo uses Linux. I can't really say that it is an advantage at the moment, but I certainly don't think it's an disadvantage. The phone will likely to run much more efficiently, stably and enable much more configuration possibilities. From what I read, it appears to me that the phone targets the younger technological generation (which I am one of), so such an operating system will appear appealing. The engineers should definitely keep the phone as flexible as possible. I think one of the reasons Apple won over Creative Technology who created the first hard disk based mp3 is that they offered much more accessories. When people get to choose what they want and put in their own creativity, it will bring the product to a whole new level.
Second generation Mylo is rumored to incorporate more PSP features. I mean of course, it would be nice to have new features. I would trust the sony engineers to balance between the incorporating of new features and the importance of simplicity and efficiency. Windows Mobile already kind of response slow with Dell Axim x50v and I think the cool hunting, fun loving 17-24 group's first reaction to a phone that need to "think" more than they do is surely "crap!".
My thoughts on what the second generation should do besides being cool.
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