Sony mylo at a glance: COM-1 and COM-2

Whenever an upgrade to an existing device is released, many consumers are faced with a confusing purchasing decision: buy the new model at full price or pick up the deeply discounted original?

If you're experiencing this quandary over the Sony mylo (COM-1) introduced in 2006 and the new mylo 2 (COM-2) launched at CES 2008, I've put together a specs comparison chart and a round of photos of the two personal communicators to help make your choice a little easier.

	Sony mylo COM-1	Sony mylo COM-2
Launch Price	$349.99	$299.99
Current Price	About $150	$299.99
Colors	Black, white
Storage	1GB internal + Memory Stick Duo slot
Dimensions	4.8" x 2.5" x 0.9"	5.1" x 2.5" x 0.8"
Weight	5.3 ounces	6.8 ounces
Display	2.4" TFT (320 x 240, 64K colors)	3.5" touchscreen (800 x 480, ?? colors)
Connectivity	802.11b	802.11b/g
Browser	Opera (no Flash support)	NetFront (with Flash Lite 3)
Messaging	Google Talk Yahoo Messenger Skype	Google Talk Yahoo Messenger Skype AIM
Camera	None	1.3 megapixels w/macro
I/O Ports	Speaker, microphone, mini USB, proprietary headset
Keyboard	39 keys	45 keys, backlit
Audio	MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM, ATRAC, WAV	MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM, ATRAC, AAC
Video	MPEG4/AAC (30 fps, 384/768kbps)	MPEG4-SP, AVC Baseline (30 fps, 384/768kbps)
Photo	JPG, PNG, BMP
Extras	Text viewer, file manager	Text viewer, file manager, widgets, photo editing, RSS, upload/download content
Battery	Removable li-ion (3.7V 1200mAh)
Estimated Runtime	Audio: up to 45 hours Video: up to 8 hours Web: up to 7 hours VoIP: up to 3.5 hours	Audio: up to 20 hours Video: up to 7 hours Web: up to 6 hours VoIP: up to 6 hours

Stay tuned for a similar post pitting the mylo 2 against the Nokia N810 Internet Tablet later this week. I'll include website load times in that one, as both units have 800 x 480 displays and support Flash.