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Television On Your Cell Phone
XopherMV writes "MobiTV is billed as the first streaming service to broadcast real-time video to cell phones. Offered by Sprint, it costs an additional $9.99 monthly, is adding new channels, and supports various handsets. My phone features 21 channels, some of them typical broadcast channels like Fox Sports and MSNBC, while others are designed for the mobile environment, such as NBC Mobile. What's it like to watch TV on a cell phone? The TV junkie in me says it's great. I really like the idea that I can pull my cell phone out of my pocket and catch up with the latest news and sports scores in an instant. Read on at MSN."
I do wonder what the impact on people's driving will be.
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm
and what is wrong with the internet (from your mobile) for getting the latest sports scores and news?
$10 a month for low-resolution TV! Hooray!
Sure this is going to be aimed more at people wanting to catch up on the latest news and sports, but personally, this is not a service I would pay for. If I'm looking for up to date news/sports/stocks etc. I'd be more likely to want a phone with wireless Internet. I would want the information now, and want to be able to drill down to my own intrests as opposed to waiting until the TV finally gets to the little bit of information I actually want to hear. Lets face it, you're not going to "see" very detailed pictures on your cell phone.
I can think of at least 30 different WML / J2ME / SMS applications that will already give you news & sports scores through a wireless device. I suspect this would be used more often to keep up on Friends reruns...
Its great that companies are able to offer TV on cell phones, but it is really necessary? I for one have a camera phone with wireless internet and most of the features on that phone go unused. Internet enabled cell phones are usefull for stock quotes and news, and mabey checking mail. Having TV on the phone would not only drain the battery but people would have to watch the news for 10 minutes to get to a story that affects them instead of having it on demand like the internet. Thanks, but no thanks, i'll save my battery life for making calls.
I give it 10 minutes before the first phone Luditte who comes complaining that nobody makes good plain phones anymore gets modded up.
I'm running low on power... lemme get back with you when I find a charger :)
The screens are too small for good TV watching.
TV programs that take this into account would work, but even so, I think radio is a Bigger Win.
You can augment radio with things like instant polling, charts, hyperlinks, and other goodies.
Here's an idea:
24 hour traffic and weather reports tailored to the cell towers you are closest to.
Gee, I hope nobody tries to patent "sending video signals over a wireless device." There's a wee bit of prior art on that, and I'm afraid our poor beleagured patent office might miss it.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
really like the idea that I can pull my cell phone out of my pocket and catch up with the latest news and sports scores in an instant.
I've been doing that for decades. l use a radio. It's free.
has had streaming TV for 2years so this is hardly "a first"
honestly reading about cellphone technology in America is like stepping back in time, its getting better but the reading material in my bathroom is fresher
My kingdom for a cellphone that concentrates on 1 thing PHONE CALLS...Oh yea and this includes coverage quality and battery life.
I may be a technogeek -- but I discovered that my last 2 cellphones sure have had lots a little gadgets and cost oodles of money, but were sorely lacking in the old business of using as a phone.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
Great, something else I can do with my cellphone to distract me from that boring morning commute! Other drivers, beware!
With a screen small enough to fit in the phone, you could have a radio instead. I can't think of this as anything more than just a geek toy - it may _sound_ cool to have one, but you probably won't _see_ much.
we can only imagine how crappy TV can become... with the current incoherent and pathetic state television programming is in, combined with the highly developed yet second rate connection a cell phone provides, i am sure this will be beyond irritating...
technology yet again takes bold a step forward...
and the show must go on!!
~slashdot are my only freinds ):
How much bandwidth does this use up? Can the network really support it if more people start using it? It should be technically possible to fit a real tv tuner in a decent sized phone these days (dunno about the battery tho)..
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
3G networks have a much higher bandwidth (384 kbps) compared to previous technology such as GSM.
Most of the 3G phones have two-way simultaneous video chat as well.
...I can pull my cell phone out of my pocket and catch up with the latest news and sports scores in an instant.
I'm sick and tired of the instant-info-internet too. I'm moving back to TV where I have to watch for 20 minutes to see the sports scores or news that I want.
Japanese phones have had the ability to receive broadcast TV (via the internal antenna, not a re-packaged pay-to-view version) in several phones for a while now. Have a look at this Vodafone NEC unit.
It's not about the extra abilities in my phone, it's the disabilities that are newsworthy. The TV phone linked above has ridiculous DRM - you can save video clips and screenshots, but not transfer them. The powers that be fear losing what control they've got that you can't transfer the images or video clips you make with your phone, not to your computer. They're locked on the phone. Java apps are locked to the phone, if you have to replace the phone you're f**ked, unless you can transfer them to the SD card - if the phone has a slot - and even then only if your new phone is the same manufacturer and the same phone number. The phones are locked to the carrier, there's absolutely no way no how to use a Vodafone on DoCoMo's network, end of story. You can play music files, but only ones encoded by the locked-down software app, so they're useless to any other music device.
On the bright side, mine has a 2megapixel camera that does pretty nice work, so it's mad handy when I don't want to lug around the real camera and see something neat.
Where was I... Oh yeah: More features are good, but please - make these features useful and not more restrictive than the alternatives, ok? Anyone listening?
nope...
Something that I can do in class. Now instead of being bored out of my mind during lectures on the nature of Legumes and why Shakespear matters in my daily life, I can enjoy a rousing game. Although I do have a tendency to get into what I am watching. That could be bad. Standing up and cheering as I hoot. Yeah, pretty less effective. Yup.
The views expressed are mine own and do not express the views of my employer.
even the demo got that bit right
and they are selling this as "cool" hahah
Just curious, but did Sprint have the integrity to put a star next to the word 'first', and then have the words 'in America' printed in text so small most folks couldn't read it, or did they just flat out lie again?
TV and movies have been available in Japan on cell phones for nearly two years. When I left in February, no one really cared all that much unless something important was going on. I would bet that tons of commuters are watching the olympics while riding the JR to work and back. The picture quality is actually pretty darned good. I personally never bought a FOMA phone because the 3G coverage in my area was still in the works. And the way they switched email from being directly on the phone to being through a web portal was kind of annoying when you were already used to just pressing a button and being inside of your INBOX on their 50x series of phones.
With all the political BS going on in the media, I swear I'd donate money to the first 527 group who titled themselves "Disillusioned Cell Phone Users for a President Who Will Make The Cellular Companies Leave The Dark Ages and Stop F&^%ing Over The Public With Overpriced Used Technology".
I've dirtied my hands writing poetry, for the sake of seduction; that is, for the sake of a useful cause. --Dostoevsky
In Japan, Vodafone offers something similar on their phones. The content isn't specially tailored to mobile viewing, but it's simply able to pick up the 10 or so free channels offered to the Japanese public (plenty for most people considering very few people here actually have cable). The only problem is, as one would expect, batter life is insanely short.
than Ad in your Slashdot? I sure hope so, because these ads disguised as "stories" are getting a bit old.
-eric
I've seen this offered almost a year ago. The phones also seem to be able to receive at least some ordinary ground-based telecasts. Not first, in other words.
That said, I saw no possible reason why I'd want this, and apparently, neither do most other people here.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
I usually go for no cost, i.e. home or work or friend's place, although I could check using the cellphone... but it's just too cumbersome and slow. In short, inconvenient. And this even though I don't pay for my phone bills!
The "services" and whatever, those are just too difficult and cumbersome to use or start using.
I do not moderate.
This just seems to never end. I have no argument with technology of any kind- I think it is great. But the way people use the technology gets on my nerves.
This is just another tool for people to act like asses- now watching TV on their phone while you're eating dinner with them or catching sports scores while in a staff meeting. People already walk around in a complete daze while on cell phones, seemingly unaware of anything around them. I wonder why people can't just enjoy themselves doing whatever they are doing? I guess I just don't understand the need to always be glued to a blackberry or cell phone. What stock quote is so important or what conversation is so critical that it has to take place while you're getting checked out at the supermarket? Or during one of a thousand other inappropriate times.
I understand in a society of instant gratification TV on a cell phone could be cool.
But how often do you turn on MSNBC or Fox Sports and get the news you want right then without having to wait for the top of the hour news or ticker scores instead.
What I would actually use on a cell phone is some kind of customized RSS feed, but more than what exists today. I'd think there has to be a way for a Fox Sports or an ESPN to create an RSS feed every 15 minutes with the latest scores. Let me subscribe to that over a cell internet connection, and let me pick the feed (for example NHL, NBA, NFL, MLB etc) or do the same for customized news.
This way you can avoid televesion commercials and have some content on your phone personalized for what you want instead of taking what the big media companies give you.
You know you watch too much TV when as examples of broadcast channels you list nothing but cable networks.
I think i'll be the first on the block to have one. wait i got one from rat shack about 10 years ago for $49.
still works great. hell next thing you know they'll have watches that display tv!!
lol.
Something tells me that's going to play hell with the battery life on cellphones everywhere. :-)
:-)
It's almost as practical as having a TV Screen right smack dab in front of you while you're driving your SUV, Truck, or whatever
Join the TWIT army now!
great review thanks, shame those in USA are still stuck holding bricks to their heads and thinking its cool
My name is WhiteRanger99x and I am a phone luddite...not by choice necessarily, but by the fact that I just cant afford the latest phone/PDA/Ginsu Knife/Toothbrush that's out there :)
:P
I do however like to think that my cell phone is actually fairly modern (ok, it doesn't have a camera, but it serves it's purpose)
Join the TWIT army now!
The PDF about the V402SH describes one such phone...
Of course, on the one hand it is different from the service mentioned above in that it is not a streaming service but rather a built-in tuner, but on the other hand it has no additional cost...
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
It has to be asked:
WHAT, NO Pr0n?!?!?!?!
Seriously, there are times this could be useful. Though, I would prefer streaming from my PVR...
if not, then it's overly expensive to use.
besides, I was watching fresh tv news streams a little over a year ago already.. but the bandwith isn't really there in gprs and for higher quality it would get too expensive quite quick even if the speeds were up to it(becaus of data rates).
well, 3g and cheap datarates and then it's maybe time to make a personal box that encodes tv realtime into a stream(or streams divxes or whatever)..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
the best way to get up to date on news on a mobile is _not_ watching a video stream.
when the info is available in text much easier and cheaper from webpages(browsable from phone)..
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Readers of slashdot aside, most folks want to see (usually pretty) pictures and be told what's going on rather than have to do actual reading ... because thinking usually follows reading!
And we can't have that now, can we?
Crap, there goes my opportunity to mod this discussion.
I talk about stuff.
What's it like to watch TV on a cell phone? The TV junkie in me says it's great. I really like the idea that I can pull my cell phone out of my pocket and catch up with the latest news and sports scores in an instant.
1 17178,00.asp
Looks a little familiar? Cause the text is right here on this PCWorld review:http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,
If you're going to plagiarize, make sure it isn't the first Google result.
... I dunno if you've got the 3G operator "three" in your area. But at least where I live, they provide free sports scores (and video for charge, not live though). I really prefer to browse my news etc in a text-based enviroment... Plus I don't have to use earphones to do that.
Just my 5 pence.
has just became that much easier, despite the grossness factor.
Sorry, I am not into sports too much.
But here in Turkey, www.turkcell.com.tr and www.telsim.com.tr gives those services for 2 years at least.
Turkcell even sends goals (soccer) to their subscribers via MMS.
Also, for broadcast people, channel 55 is available. Tune in, you get scores as that happens. That one is going on for 5 years.
"I really like the idea that I can pull my cell phone out of my pocket and catch up with the latest news and sports scores in an instant."
I've been doing that forever. You don't need a television on your phone to be able to do that. T-Zone!
"Instant gratification takes too long." - Carrie Fisher
From PC Magazine review:
Video quality isn't as good as on your television set. In general, 15 frames per second (fps) is the minimum required for humans to perceive continuous motion, and 30 is the goal. Idetic currently aims for 1 fps
How the heck can anyone put up with 1 fps? I get annoyed watching streaming video on the net that isn't fluid. I understand its cool and all, but isnt this a stretch?
Aint capitalism great?
eat shiat and bark at the moon
...when I could only drive, eat, smoke, drink, listen to the radio and talk on my phone at the same time. Now I can watch TV, too! Stay off the sidewalks, folks.
How far we've come. From people watching the very first tv on tiny screens in public places, to people watching tv on tiny screens in publ... er...
Yes, but now, you can help a monopoly (not to mention a corporate criminal) by watching MSN(BC) instead. What's not to like? ;)
At this point people like you are paradoxicaly so disconnected from reality. I mean you are surrounded by people but speak to someone that's not there with you in the crowd, then use your cell to watch TV on it just to make sure you forget you surroundings (the day I'll see a moron driving while watching TV on his cell isn't far then, how sad...), it's like travelling with your house on your back, your "personnal bubble" cannot be bursted. At this point you shouldn't get out of your home; use delivery services, get cable and satelite, do business with escort services and it seems you'll be in paradise... fake land unlimited awaits you.
The biggest problem with people like this is that while they manage to forget their surroundings, their surrounding cannot forget them, they bump into people, slow dows traffic, cause car crashes, are systematicaly in the way; one has to think about those people who stop doing anything when answering their cell phones, like walking while being in a doorway for example. Some people just cannot walk and answer the phone at the same time. Imagine the person watching sports and stopping everytime the game becomes intense because he/she doesn't want to miss anything. They make noise, talk loud, make gestures to bodily explain what they are saying even though the listener doesn't see them (now imagine the sport fan getting emotionnal in the restaurant with his earphones on...), actually, they make their godamn best to disturb the shit out of you, but they do not realize it so they feel good about it and think they piss you off just because you are jealous of them...
Not just in Boston, but all of New England will be extremely unproductive during day games.
With mini hard drives coming to cell phones (Google cache), the cell phone "TIVO" can't be far behind.
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
I am a sprint customer and I tried MobiTV. I cancelled after the first day and got a refund. In my mind it is a totally retarded idea for the following reasons:
1. It is way to small to make anything out.
2. it isn't loud enough coming out of the tiny little speaker on the back of the phone. Sure you can put in a headphone to hear it better but I don't have one with me at all times.
3. The backlight goes out after a couple of seconds so it is hard to see again... of course I could set my phone to always leave the backlight on... then I should be able to watch a 30 minute show before I have to charge again I guess.
4. The channels are beyond rediculous. I couldn't find anything worth watching.
5. This "TV" on the cell phone is more like a slideshow. There is no motion. At 9.99 this is an absolute ripoff.
Being of the crowd that thinks cell phones should primarily be for making and receiving phone calls, I find there are several (perhaps semi-facetious) convergence questions yet to be answered:
1. When will we be able to record movies with cameras built into cell phones?
2. Why doesn't my portable video recorder have a built-in cell phone? wireless?
3. When will consumer digital cameras have a built-in wireless?
4. Can we trade pr0n images and pirated movies without using the I^hinternet (ad-hoc or bluetooth)?
5. ???
To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
Correction, MSNBC and the various Fox channels (other than the Fox Network which is Channel 10 here in Phoenix) aren't broadcast channels... they're pay channels (cable or satellite).
At least the rabbit-ears on my set can't pick them up.
My television has a knob, it works and I'm not afraid to use it! (Click, click, click)
Watching pr0n on such a tiny screen while wating for my girl to call for a date. After the date, she dump me complaining i'm not horny enough by her and I told her it my cell fault. Next thing i got sms spams for penis enlargement from nigeria. Hmm..exactly how large a penis gotta be on a tiny screen?
So how long until we get Synapse now? hehe
If you cannot keep politics out of your moderation remove yourself from the Mod Lottery.. NOW!
...has been available on mobile phones for ages... in Japan!
Could you do this yourself, and set up a base station at home with a TV tuner card and then use your portable device to tune to either a live channel?
Or to watch something you've recorded on Myth or Tivo? What are the technical hurdles to prevent us from doing this right now?
Why do I need a sig? I never post.
...are the video headphones/goggles. We've shrunk storage, bandwidth, and cpu to pocket size, but the darn screen either remains big to the point of sacrificing portability, or gets small, sacrificing quality and usability.
Where are we at with video goggles that let you jack into your phone/pda/ipod and see the video at a quality/size level that makes it worthwhile? This would revolutionize portable computing and enterainment.
Is it a question of technique or technology? Both?
I work in a vendor call center for a major US cell carrier. And theoretically we are supposed to support MobiTV. It is just a fast slideshow with audio, and it's pretty crappy.
Besides the way the network works. Emergency calls take top priority, regular voice calls next, and data is dead last. During peak times of the day your data rates are going to suck. So why are they trying to overload the networks with limited bandwidth?
On another note. I don't know why people aren't using black & white streaming video and mono audio. It would be geat for dialup connections.
Folks like myself riding the train to/fro work would shell out an extra $9.99 for the service as it'd give a huge boost to plain ol' internet+phone usage. Plus it'd be a bit more entertaining than reading flat text news/sports/whatever. If I weren't on the train so much - I don't think I'd think twice about picking up this service.
The Japanese cell phone carrier Vodaphone started rolling out phones with TV abilities by integrating a TV tuner into the cell phone itself to pick up over the air TV signals. This past spring they've rolled out a new line of phones from Toshiba to expand upon their previously released phones from NEC. I first saw advertisements for these new phones on Japanese Drama shows.
More information on these phones can be found in the translated URL below. Granted though, this tuner cannot pickup Digital Signals over the air, hence no HDTV ready.
Link here.
I really like the idea that I can pull my cell phone out of my pocket and catch up with the latest news and sports scores in an instant.
catch up with the latest propaganda, you mean. And pay for it too..
If you want to catch up with the latest news, better use a simple RSS feed reader on your mobile and tune in to the alternative media. Real News, and alot cheaper too.
The rest is history....channel.
I can understand that someone, somewhere actualy WANTS this functionality on thier cell phone, but not me, or anyone I know personaly. So WHO? Where? lets take a little mini survey; Who are you? Where are you? Why do you want/need TV functionality on your cell phone? I consider "becuase it's cool" to be an invalid reason and all replys using that excuse will be smacked with a large, fresh, very cold Trout, or ignored, whichever comes first.
A Call For A New Slashdot Moderation Level!
there is an update to MobiTV together with the new Samsung MM-A700.
Was announced last week. http://www.i4u.com/article1930.html
Now I can get brainwashed by FoxNews 24/7 !
I've got Sprint on my spiffy Treo600. That means CDMA2000 1xRTT, which should mean up to 140Kbps on the smartphone. But "up to" means "less than", and I get averages of about 58Kbps over most 1-5 second windows, and about 100Kbps averaged over most minutes. But it's so bursty that even 64Kbps shoutcast audio streams rebuffer every minute or so. And at least one day a week, many hours leave the phone unable to connect through their gateway to any website. Then there's their narow coverage and weak signals - last night I was roaming in hometown NYC, so I wasn't even on their network!
Sprint is claiming they're rolling out their next-generation EV-DO network starting this Fall. That promises 150-300Kbps Internet service. But Sprint promises are cheap, and their actual service is expensive, out here in the real world where the phones have to actually work.
--
make install -not war
"I can pull my cell phone out of my pocket and catch up with the latest news and sports scores in an instant"
And you can't do this with text, or even still images?
I want off this planet now. Yes, Mr. conductor throw me off the universal train ride. This is so stupid and wrong I can't believe I'm even posting.
I thought destroying arcade machines was wrong. I thought crushing CDs in the middle of the street was moronic. But now... I could for a round of golf with one of these gadgets on the tee. Cue Bush: Watch this drive. Uncue.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
their only claim is that they're the first global cellphone based television network. can you deny that? i really can't, to be honest.
The cell phone companies have a (one tiny little) problem to solve: how to make and market the device that I really, really want.
* cell phone
* play music (OGG, MP3, etc)
* play movies (MPEG, AVI, etc.)
* 120 GB + of data (video, music, pictures) storage
* PDA (so I can SSH/VNC to my home Debian GNU/Linux box)
* satellite cable TV
* headphone out
* projector (to project to wall etc. for parties, I think hologram projector is asking too much)
* be able to hook up external (BOSE?) speakers
* output to connect to "real" home stereo, TV, etc.
* picture camera
* video camera
* charge lasts one month +
* Linux based
* bio-signal monitor
* heck, throw in radar detector!
I can't possibly be the only one that wants one of these!
It amazes me how American marketing and tech companies present something to us as if we saw it first or had it first.
h tm
I can't READ Japanese, but I can see pictures in magazines (when I visit Kinokuniya). I have a Japanese friend whose cell phone makes me green with envy. The features, removable mem card, solidity and balanced weight of the phone, the color, reflectivity, texture of the phone, and more, ALL impress me. It even has a color screen, video playback of images shot from the camera's phone, and more.
But, what I told him next made him laugh: My brother was stationed in Atsugi (I think) back in the late '80s. He later wanted to buy a console game, and ended up getting a Panasonic REAL 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, model FZ-1, and at the time he got it it wasn't even available in the US.
http://www.trhonline.com/obscure/3do.htm
http://www.computercloset.org/PanasonicREAL3DO.
http://www.computercloset.org/FAQ.htm
It cost him some SERIOUS money when he bought it in Japan (on a Sailor's pay, many things can be expensive; I burnt a lot of money on cameras, film, processing, and rental cars on my $800 or so net per month...), but it would have been more expensive in the US were it available. (I possess it/am custodian of it, and I don't think his unit's been used since maybe 1992. And, now it's only worth some $20 vs the FZ-10 which, on E-Bay, seems to command over $250-$300...).
The part that made my friend laugh was my brother's conclusion as to why such a console was not (at the time at least) distributed in the US, as still is common practice:
(paraphrase) "The Japanese are NOT going to let us have access to ALL of their BEST electronic goods. They think we won't APPRECIATE the electronics and the quality, nor do we DESERVE them."
I think we need an international liaison for some of these matters. A "international" balancing moderator would be really nice, one who quickly and accurately corrects distorted memories about things like this.
The cell phones we think are cool and expensive here in the US and which are locked into insane, greed-based service plans are cheap and routinely changed out on the order of 8-14 months in Japan. They're INEXPENSIVE, cool, feature-laden, constantly improving, and are fare more impressive than the stuff here.
Anyone, please enlighten me as to why we let our domestic marketing and retail outlets deceive or dupe or rip off consumers (other than sheepish Americans, "what the market will bear", or "gotta make a profit")
Does it boil (or oil) down to "Profit is its own reward", or "The reward or profit is profit"?
At least we're starting to get the ability move our phones around with number portability. Now what we need is a break on the insane 1 and 2 year commitments and the stupid early termination fees, the monthly contracts and such. It would be nice to see more MetroPCS service expansion, even from a competitor to MetroPCS, where consumers have the expectation and the right to NEVER be hit over the head or rooked in the butt by malodorous, malfeasant, greed-based contracts contracts.
David Syes
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
5. ???
5. Will it make and swap studio-grade pr0n?
6. Will the (forthcoming) Teleconjugation Act of 2005 converge with the Telecommunications Decency Act?
7. Will TeleConjugation on the packed subway give new meaning to "The Shame Train"?
8. Will reception be "DIGital" or "ANALog", or "microWAVE", and will PSK69 be part of the "package"?
9. Will accessory "buddy buds" or "butt buds" give a new meaning to "I got 'cho numba" or "Ring my behh-ehh-elll, Ring-ma- behhl. Ding-dong, deeng-deeng-deeen-dong..." (and, will those buds have remotely changable ring tones, giving rise to a new "sound/hear cANAL"?
10. Can the product be called "VibrAnal" (sounds like a new pharmaceutical med or health gizmo)?
11. If the service is extended would it legally be "a bummer" or "a bumm deal", giving a new meaning to "bummed out"?
12. When the government issues roving wiretaps on those bumm budds, will that alter the government's status of "buggers"?
13. How long will it be before a government could play "Telephon" (as in the movie from the 70's) on targets and ultimately "kill them in the 'end'"?
14. ???
Sorry I wrought havoc to your first 4 questions, but I couln't resist! As 7 of Mine, ummm, 7 of NINE said, "Resistance is FUTILE".
David Syes
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
So now I can spend 20 minutes out of every hour that I am away from my Tv watching ads just like I do when I am in front of the tv...oh wait I bought a ReplyTv to AVOID watching commercials. Any word on Tivo/Replay for my phone?
When you say: "The part that made my friend laugh was my brother's conclusion as to why such a console was not (at the time at least) distributed in the US, as still is common practice" ... You are taking into account the fact that the 3DO was an American system, right? As far as I remember it came out first in the US, but since it sucked, who cares?
Something to keep in mind is the US video game market is far larger than the Japanese one; a lot of Japanese game companies treat the Japanese market as a kind of proving ground, and the games released in North America usually have a number of improvements and tweaks made to them. The game market in Japan is at once loaded wtih bizarre and amazing things that never get released in North America, and a wasteland of half-baked shit that shouldn't have been released anywhere.
As for the cellular phones... My phone cost me $0.00, and the only requirement is that I pay $4 / month for three months for a warranty plan. Which paid off when I fried the camera installing a speaker killswitch. =)
Phone prices in Western countries are absurd, it's no wonder these things aren't popular or as advanced.
Need Tivo on my Cell Phone. Someone should start writing Tivo software for cell phone TVs. I know I don't want to watch 15 minutes of commercials while trying to watch 1 hour of TV.
-- No sig for you!
Smoooooth pun.
Lets face it, you're not going to "see" very detailed pictures on your cell phone.
That's why I'm going to wait for the High Definition version.
It's in currently in testing - I saw the Sprint test geek walking down the road muttering "I can see it now ... I can see it now ...". He didn't look happy though - that 60-inch screen must be a bear to carry around all day.
Sigs are bad for your health.
It is what it is; a luxury item that will attract a lot of buyers for various reasons. From actual usefulness - to ego/status bolstering. (though i'd guess the latter to be the prevailing motivation)
If the phone mfrs really want to do something usefull they ought to look into integrating a hands free set right into the phone with a retractable cord. What ever happened to retractable cords anyways? I remember an old vaccume cleaner with a mile long cord that disappeard into the machine when tugged just so. They used to be common place on mobile equipment, but now that we have shitloads of mobile equipment everyone seems to have forgotten about the good ol retractable cord. To hell with SMS mobile e-mail and portable television, I'm not buying any of their crap until it's got a retractable cord. Period.
What's stopping us from routing our cable TV feed into our PC? We could use a high-bandwidth connection via a cell phone with a good video screen to log into our own personal TV server and watch anything we care to: streaming live TV, DVD's, MP4 video, video phones, webcams... why does everything worthwhile require us to pay through the nose? This tech is nearly free. If the cell companies weren't in the content selling business, they would't restrict what we can do with the phones so tightly. As I used to say back in the ZD PCmag.com forum days, pipe owners shouldn't be selling water. Choose one or the other. Otherwise, you get situations like this, in which the communications company has a heavy interest in monitoring what you do with your connection.
On the Other Hand!
Vigilantism can become the law of the land. Anybody laughing and cheering while viewing a man-made disaster, i.e. 9/11, on his phone can be judged, juried, and executed on the spot!
The only thing new in this world is the history that you don't know.[Harry Truman]
This technology stuff just keeps getting better and better. Now, we can have full-motion video transmitted to our cellphones over thin air! What will they think of next? ...broadcast television?
Why don't they just put a TV tuner in the phone? (Because) That doesn't cost $9.99 a month.
Fucking greedos...
What an amazing concept. Of course the idea was first thought of in 1938ish.
The Rabbit Ears Guy.
Anthony Klatch is a pump and dump scammer that keeps spamming his groupshares scam.
The quality is really crappy. I'd say it's about 1-2 frames a second. Fine for watching a newscaster, but worthless for anything else. I also cancelled after fiddling with it for a couple of hours.
Hey, this is a kewl response you gave. (I sometimes am arrogant and very opinionated, I suppose trying to wrest the world from the corrupt, so some intensity often if not occasionally will enter or pervade my writings.)
I think for a few seconds I once wondered if Japan was, like you said, "a kind of proving ground". I failed to re-examine the idea, but it seems to make sense. Consumer electronics need not cost nearly as much as they do.
I do recall that the likes of microsoft and other software companies highly value Japan, and Asia in general, but if consumers there are fickle or stringent, it may only be due to cultural or local practical reasons. I think miniaturization in Japan, for instance, came about due to lack of private or personal space to stow/store things. (I suppose there now might be Public Storage or the equivalent starting to pop up, but here in the US, sooo many of us are packrats, hanging on, clinging to shit that should be recycled, but we are humans...) In the US, miniaturization was probably partly the US nuclear submarine program during the cold war, the US reaction to Sputnik and the need to make capsules carry as much small equipment as possible, and possibly a reaction of American companies to Japan's own miniaturization progress.
I had a Qualcomm/Samsung phone that cost some $200 back in Feb 2001.. I clung to it until I could no longer afford to pay for the service plan, or maybe May 2003. It cost dearly to keep that damned verizon account alive. Now, I swear by MetroPCS, despite occasionally dropped calls, and despite that they are only in 3 or 4 major US metro areas. If I had a wand, I'd make go away ANY subscription plans that force consumers to sign up for 1 or 2 years and pay early termination fees. Some would decry me for interfering with business, but too many businesses treat customers as if they exist to GENERATE income for a business.. NO business has a RIGHT to profit, only a CHANCE to profit. BUt, most people are like sheep, non-discriminating, take-it-as-it-comes, pure unadulterated sheep, despite Popular Mechanics, Consumer Reports and the like.
ANyway, I have to get back to some things.
Take Care,
--------- (I haven't translated this, yet, but the beat is sounding better each time I listen to it... as are all the other tracks...)
(Mookatte masuka!!!!
Y,E,N (Money) nipponginkooken (Cash Money)
Y,E,N soreganakya hajimaranee
Y,E,N (Money) nipponginkooken (Cash Money)
Y,E,N sonotameni saa hatarake
Oremo onajiku down town oy shitamachine gaki
Sainooari shitato okuchino gakki...)
From Rhymster's Y.E.N. ~Zoku Gennama Ni Karadawo Hare~, track 10 on NeoJapan Series' neosoul, featuring:
Toshi Kubota, Sowelu, amon, CHEMISTRY, Crystal Kay, SOULHEAD, Miss Monday, Goku, MICHICO, Rhymester, SOUL'd OUT, Loop Junktion, and Ken Hirai)...promoted by "726 Promotions"
------------
David Syes
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
They've had this in Japan way before. And it it's free! I know, I live in Japan. Phones in the States aren't as good as the ones in Japan... but they are catching up...
Japan has had both streaming TV video and TV tuners for years now as has Korea.
Vodafone has generally had TV tuner phones where as AU has streaming phones. On AU, any of the phones labeled "WIN" are phones that can stream. They support 2.4megabit data reception and you can signup for unlimited use for $38 a month although currently only for use on the phone (video streaming, web, email). If you plug it into your computer then it's metered.
I live in India. I'm a suscriber to the http://wwww.relianceinfo.com/Reliance Network and as such I am able to get STREAMING LIVE TV on my mobile for FREE. They have implemented the CDMA technology. As far as some of you are concerned about the sound quality, Qualcomm recently http://www.pmn.co.uk/20040623qsound.shtmllicensed qsound which allows surround like sound on ones own mobile phones. This will soon be coming to this service I am assured. I agree the size of screen is small. But comeon guys it is worth looking into. And as slowly the picture quality on mobile phones improve I am sure this would become very common.
Australians who use the Optus network have been able to stream live tv from CNN, SBS, and ABC (australia), all for free since last year. Phones like the nokia 6600 support it, and the quality is reasonable and fluid if you're in a good service area.
There are Casio handheld LCD TVs for years, they only cost batteries (if you don't use rechargable)...
TV over GPRS, as I said we have it for years in Turkey but believe its waste of money and bandwidth.
This was available last year. Checked it out, video looked terrible, but the sound was solid. I used it for a couple of months before deciding that I just didn't need to pay $10/month for tv on my phone when I only used it for a few minutes a day at most. No time to watch. Overtime work and long commutes eliminated any free time I had.
1.Netcraft confirms:In Soviet Russia all your base welcomes a beowolf cluster of CowboyNeal overlords. 2.? 3.Profit!!1!