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Sony is finally rolling out a new version of its mylo personal communicator...but will the enhancements be enough to make the product catch on?

Sony is quietly rolling out a new version of its mylo personal communicator. Originally launched in mid-2006, the mylo (which stands for "My Life Online") brings together Wi-Fi Internet access, a QWERTY keyboard for full-bore text messaging, VoIP capability, a built-in camera, and audio playback and video display…but omits standard mobile phone capabilities. The idea is to enable connectivity through Wi-Fi hotspots—and Sony inked a deal with T-Mobile to let mylo users connect to the work through T-Mobile Hotspots.

The new mylo 2 builds a bit on the capabilities of the original mylo, offering a 3.5-inch touchscreen, enhanced Flash-enabled Web browsing, a new selection of mylo Widgets that handle things like Google searches and notifying users of activity on their Facebook pagesm plus a 1.3 megapixel camera and built-in Skype VoIP capability. Now, the mylo 2 offers Wi-Fi connectivity via Wayport, which means users can tap into the Internet at more than 10,000 locations, including more than 9,000 McDonalds restaurants. Sony says the mylo 2 can handle up to 6 hours of Internet calling or Web browsing on a single battery charge, or up to 7 hours of video playback or 20 hours of music.

The mylo 2 still plays back video and audio (MP3, WMA, AAC, and ATRAC) and video (MPEG4 and WMV), offers 1 GB of memory and supports Memory Stick storage.

The mylo 2 should be available January 28 at a suggested price of $299.99.