Helio Mysto Review

Camera:

The Mysto comes with a basic 2MP fixed-focus camera with flash, which is located on the back, and the phone must be slid-open for it to be used. Pressing the dedicated camera button on the right side will bring up the camera menu, which will also show options for launching the video recorder and picture album. The actual camera application itself takes 5 seconds to load. Pressing the center d-pad button will capture the image in 2 seconds and saving it will require another 6 seconds. This comes to about an 8-9 second turnaround for taking pictures, which is about average for this type of cell phone. It is unfortunate however that the overall image quality is lacking and is quite poor when compared to most other 2MP camera phone. Images taken outside look dark and underexposed, with poor color representation and auto white balance issues. Inside images fair much worse, with colors not being reproduced properly and a lot of grain being shown. Lowlight images are nearly impossible to come out right, despite of the flash, with the tendency to be over-exposed and out of focus. Because of the poor quality of the camera, we can only recommend it for fun quick shots, and not capturing your family’s vacation photos.

Available Camera Options include:
Resolution: 1600x1200, 1280x960, 640x480, 320x240
Quality: Super Fine, Fine, Normal
White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent
Lighting: Normal, Spotlight
Effects: Color, Grayscale, Sepia, Green, Aqua, Negative
Set Frame: No Frame, Frame 1-20
Save Location: Internal Memory, External Memory
Mode: Still Shot, Series Shot, Divide Shot
Viewing: Full screen, Actual, Guidelines
Self Timer: Off, 2sec, 5sec, 10sec
Flash: Off, On

Videos can be recorded for MMS (short) or normal (long). Choosing the “normal” mode will allow you to record video up to the available memory limit. Options include: resolution (320x240, 176x144), white balance, frame rate (14fps, 7fps), lighting, effects, and save location. It is no surprise that videos also suffer from poor quality, and because of their low resolution, they look even worse when played back on a PC’s larger monitor.




Audio & Video Multimedia:

The built in Music Player allows playback of MP3 and AAC audio files that can be stored in the internal memory or on the microSD card, but lacks WMP support. You also have the option of purchasing MP3 files with the Mysto at the online Helio store. When the player is activated, it will categorize music by Recent, Playlists, Artists, Albums, Songs, and Genres. Once a song begins playback, the screen will show the current track name across the top. Pressing the Left Softkey will allow you to apply sound effects (none, reverb, 3D, and 13 preset equalizer settings), as well as visual effects (6 default skins, spectrum view, default view). We prefer no sound effects, but do enjoy the spectrum view, since it shows a real-time graphical EQ.

Audio is played through the earpiece speaker, which greatly limits its quality and volume. It is lacking in bass and sounds thin. Luckily, the Mysto comes with a pair of stereo earbuds, which connect to the proprietary jack and provides for better music quality. Another option is to use a Bluetooth Stereo headset, which will provide wireless connectivity while listening to music. Despite which way you choose to listen to your favorite tune, you cannot multitask, such as sending a text message or using the web browser.

Video playback is limited to your own personal MPEG-4/H.264 collection, or by going to the http://m.youtube.com web site. For watching your own videos, the quality will vary and depends on how good the original video was, but for watching Mobile YouTube videos, the quality is always lacking, with low resolution and slow frame rates, due to it being streamed over the EV-DO network. If you are a person that is looking for higher quality video streaming, you might consider Verizon’s MobileTV service, which requires one of their specific phone for use, but you are capable of receiving channels with 30fps and live TV feeds.


Software:

Like all other Helio devices, the Mysto supports Java software applications and several game demos are included (My Pet, Brain Challenge, Midnight Pool 3D, 3D Homerun Derby, Slide N’Loop, and Super Boom Boom). There are also 7 included applications (Google Maps, Obopay, Buddy Beacon, Garmin Mobile, H.O.T., MySpace, and Tellme). Additional games and applications can be downloaded for a fee. Google Maps is a free application that will use GPS to pinpoint your location on a map. From there, you can manually move the map around, zoom in and out, or use it for driving directions. The Garmin application is available for a $10/month subscription and is similar to Verizon’s VZNavigator, which will provide you with voice guided directions, as well as displaying them on the screen. Regardless on which one you choose, they are very useful while on vacation, on when traveling in an unfamiliar area.