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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
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.
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.
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!
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 ):
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...
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
than Ad in your Slashdot? I sure hope so, because these ads disguised as "stories" are getting a bit old.
-eric
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.
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!
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
- Tiny, pixilated, herky-jerky picture (worse than video for windows 3.1 on a 286)
- The demo crashes (at least in firefox) when it tries to change a channel (shade of twilight zone: "Don't touch that dial. We control the horizontal. We control the vertical"). That's okay thugh - I certainly didn't want to listen to C&W this early in the day/week/year/lifetime.
All in all, much easier (and cheaper) to buy the fm tuner headset that motorola sells for my cell phone.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.
has just became that much easier, despite the grossness factor.
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?
...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...
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.
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.
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 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.
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