Helio Mysto Review

Messaging:

Messaging on the Mysto is set up like most other Helio devices. From the main messaging menu you can select to send a text or picture message, send an E-Mail, or access your text inbox. Sending a text message is nothing new and uses T9 predictive entry, or you can attach a saved image to it and turn it into a picture message. There are also options for logging into Helio Mail, Yahoo, AOL, Windows Live, GMail, and Earthlink. It is fairly easy and straight forward, since all that is required is your username and password. Access is also provided for AOL, MSN, and Yahoo Instant Messaging. We applaud Helio for including access to all these E-Mail accounts, but we would also like for them to provide an application to allow access of independent POP or IMAP accounts.

This is particularly useful for people who have business E-Mail accounts and want to be able to access them while on the go.


Connectivity and Data:

The Helio Mysto is a CDMA Dual-Band phone, which uses the 1900Mhz and 800Mhz frequencies. For data, it can connect using 1x or the faster 3G EV-DO network. Like all other Helio devices, it operates on Sprint’s network, including 3rd party roaming, but does leave some remote areas with no coverage.

Bluetooth version 2.0 is included on the Mysto, which provides for greater quality and distance over the older version 1.2. Support profiles include headset, handsfree, stereo headset, file transfer, object push, and printing. When used with our Jabra 250v headset, we were able to get up to 30 feet of static-free calls. For music playback, we were also able to get 30 feet using the Motorola HT820 Stereo Bluetooth headset. In fact, stereo Bluetooth music quality was better when using the Mysto instead of the Motorola V9m, which is only Bluetooth 1.2.

Even though the Mysto is not a Smartphone, it comes with an included HTML web browser. When the browser is loaded, the homepage displays links for Surf, Myspace, Facebook, YouTube Mobile, Yahoo, Google news, Where, and The TV Set. Choosing “Surf” will bring up even a larger list of preselected links displayed in categories. There is also the option to manually enter in a specific web address. Despite the small screen, we were able to view the PhoneArena site with no formatting problems, however there was a lot of horizontal and vertical scrolling. To avoid this, you can display sites in a column, but it will have more pages to view. Most HTML site take an average of 30-45 seconds to load while in a EV-DO coverage area, with smaller WAP site taking under 10 seconds.


Since a USB data cable is included with the Mysto, you can use the phone as a Mass Storage device and transfer files directly to and from your PC to the phone’s internal memory, but cannot use it to access the microSD card. Unfortunately, the data port on the Mysto is also proprietary, which means you can only use a Samsung USB data cable. Because of this, it is easier to simply use a standard memory card reader with the microSD card for file storage.