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Mylo No Go For Oz |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Thursday, 10 August 2006 |
 As you look longingly at the digital cool of Sony's new Mylo
handset, or dream of music downloads to your brand new Microsoft Zune, forget
it. You're much more likely to find satisfaction with Nokia, Motorola or Sony
Ericsson. Why? Well, it's the Wi-Fi. Both the Zune and Mylo are targeted
at young, urban trendiods in highly populated countries, not the likes of our
wide, brown, sparsely populated, girt by sea continent.
We just don't have the numbers here to support the
ubiquitous municipal Wi-Fi installations that are planned for other countries.
How many Wi-Fi hotspots do you know of? Yeah sure, there are plenty out there.
You can go into just about any McDonalds and hook up to Telstra's
network, then there's the airports and um, well, um, there's a few café's
around that offer Wi-Fi. Face it, it just ain't gonna happen.
While the rest of the world is forced to cram millions of
people into the size of an average Aussie suburb, we're blessed with space.
Plenty of it.
Getting decent 802.11 signals that could provide the sort of
useful metro area cover required to make Mylo or Zune worth while, would
involve a mesh network of epic proportions. It just ain't gonna happen.
They sure are pretty though. I can imagine why you want one.
Perhaps you could sign up with a 3G mobile phone network or wait another three years
for ubiquitous WiMax.
Sure the Skype functionality sounds like a great idea, but
you're more than likely paying for the Wi-Fi access in the first place and in
our highly competitive cell phone industry, talk is cheap anyway. And is your
average Wi-Fi hotspot really up for that anyway? Oh, and this thing runs
802.11b, please!
You can do instant messaging, which it cool, but it only
becomes cool if enough people are doing it and if you are connected to a
network. The rise and rise of SMS messaging on phones pretty much keeps the
likes of GoogleTalk and Yahoo!Messenger out of the mobile picture.
Besides, the device doesn't play games, which your dumbest
smartphone will handle. But, on the upside, it will play digital music and
MP4s.
Wow, an iPod alternative with crippled connectivity and
virtually useless Skype & IM functionality for only US$350 (about the price
of a video iPod). Give me a break.
Give yourself a break. Don't wait for Zune or a Mylo; spend
the money on a decent 3G music phone on a capped plan, then get on with your
life.
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