Much as early reviewers rued the Nokia 770's lack of cellular phone capabilities, USAToday's appraisal of Sony's Linux-based Mylo (“my life online”) reprises the “there's no phone” theme repeatedly. The review ultimately questions whether the device offers enough to entice users to carry yet another device.

The USAToday review reverberates especially closely with a Nokia 770 review published by the Washington Post; reviewers for these mainstream publications just can't seem to wrap their heads around the concept of the small, expensive electronic device that's not a mobile phone.

USAToday's other gripes with the Mylo include:

• Not only isn't it a phone, there's no camera, either
• It isn't even a Blackberry
• “Unsatisfying” web-browsing, due to horizontal scrolling and small fonts
• No touchscreen
• Stiff keyboard
• No AOL or MSN chat

The reviewer does admit that the device “has promise,” however. Grudging points of praise include:

• It isn't a PC, but it can run Skype
• Movie playback
• Battery life of 45 hours when listening to music, or 8 hours watching video

Mylo's cool-sounding (to us, at least) ad hoc wireless media streaming rates only a “what's the point?” response in this cynical reviewer.

The complete review can be found here.

More technical details about the Linux-powered Mylo handheld gadget can be found in our earlier coverage, here and here.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.