David Carony, executive editor at CNET, has a lot to say about Sony, the PSP, and their newly announced mylo. Sony's attempting to market the device at a whopping $350, which is ridiculous when many, if not all of its features can be implemented in the PSP, or a PSP redesign. With the right accessories and firmware upgrades, the PSP can do every thing the mylo can... plus it can play games. And at $199, it would be a bargain for the consumer. Here's a list of what Carony believes will make the PSP better:

1. Skype support to make Internet (VoIP) calls (using the SOCOM headset).
2. Support for Slingbox (a competitor of Location-Free TV). Sony could make some bling by not selling hardware, but selling a Slingbox application.
3. Built-in IM applications, similar to mylo's support for Yahoo! and Google.
4. Better e-mail integration.
5. Keyboard accessory.
6. Video output for TV.
7. Stop making Connect so crappy. Where's the revamp?
   

These are all great, plausible and reasonable upgrades that Sony can provide. If Sony actually took these suggestions to heart, I know a ton more college students and business people would pick up a PSP. Let's hope Sony has the brains to follow through on some of this.

[Via PSP World]

Well, it looks like Stage One has been achieved, if only not via AOL itself. Thanks to a convenient little web-proxy, PSP users with browsing capabilities can now access their AOL Instant Messenger accounts wherever they have an Internet connection. AIMonPSP is free for use and looks to be supported primarily by Google Ads, and while we can't absolutely vouch for your security and safety if you do choose to use their client, we can at least confidently say that this isn't a bogus service. We'd go nuts having to type out our chats via the PSP's text message-esque interface, so we heartily recommend keeping an eye out for a PSP keyboard.

We talked about the potential of Instant Messaging for the PSP before, so we're pretty excited at what this could lead to down the road. And while this isn't exactly the first-party support we were expecting, the popularity of this free service could very well prove to AIM, Yahoo, or Google that Instant Messaging on the PSP could be a very viable option.

[Thanks, Dave, via The Raw Feed]

Will we see a phone feature appear on the PSP soon? Tom Keating of the VoIP and Gadgets blog seems to think it will. In fact, he considers this more an inevitability than mere speculation. He also suggests that companies like Google are in line to come up with some sort of VoIP service for PSP considering that intergration of IM applications like Google Talk are already headed for handheld devices. And since Google Talk, like the even more widely used Yahoo! Instant Messenger, already has voice built in, it's only natural to expect that a microphone peripheral (say the SOCOM headset) will take advantage of that avenue and allow for phone-like capabilities on Sony's prized portable.

Having a phone attachment on the PSP, especially a free one, is such a neat idea it makes me feel like donating to charity. Of course, several issues need to be addressed. One, the phone attachment needs to be reasonably sized so as not to make the PSP unmanageable. Two, power usage needs to be improved since the PSP's WiFi feature is notorious for its energy suckage. Also, if this development gets pushed back a a year or two, there's always the chance that Sony will do a redesign and integrate these enhancements. Come what may, we're just oh-so-happy that even if Sony isn't maxing out the PSP's abilities, other people are at least trying to on their own.

[photo via iceteks.com]