Verizon Wireless V CAST review
posted February 15th 2005 2:38PM
One minute episodes of 24 on our cellphone? We're so there, which is why we harrassed Verizon Wireless into sending us LG's VX8000 cameraphone so we could check out their new V CAST wireless video-on-demand service. Read on for our impressions.
First unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show last
month, Verizon is pimping V CAST as a new multimedia service for the high-speed EV-DO wireless network they're
currently rolling out in different cities across the country. The basic service costs $15 a month, which is a bargain
compared to the $79.99 it can cost to get flat rate EV-DO. The catch is that for eighty bucks you get unlimited
Internet access, whereas V CAST is more of, how do you say, a walled garden.
(By the way, the phone we're using to test the service—LG's 1.3 megapixel VX8000 cameraphone—is solid, but to be honest, silvery flip-phones are a dime-a-dozen these days, so we're not gonna focus on it at all. This review is all about V CAST, ok?)
So V CAST works exactly as promised. Less than a couple minutes after cracking open the box we were watching the video
for Faith No More's "Epic" (yeah, we know). There's a little lag time switching between menus, but it's pretty easy to
get around the user interface and find what you're looking for. You just pick the video you want, decide whether you
want to pay the fee (anywhere from 99 cents to $3.99, though there are plenty of free clips, too), and then stream it
to your handset. If you've already paid for a video clip once you don't have to pay for it again, but you do have to
stream it all over again, which is almost as bad.
The actual number of video clips available was greater than we'd expected, but it breaks down into four general
categories: News, Entertainment, Sports, and Weather. Videos ranged anywhere from 45 seconds to just over five minutes
in length, and it usually took about 10 to 15 seconds of buffering before a video would play; anyone expecting
instantaneous action is going to be disappointed, but it seemed perfectly acceptable to us—it's not really any
different from watching a video on the Internet (EV-DO speeds hover around 300-500Kbps).
The quality of the videos we watched was pretty good. The resolution of the clips could be a little higher, and
occasionally there'd be a bit of jerkiness or the audio would be out of sync with the picture (like it was on the Faith
No More video), but otherwise it was as good as anything we've ever seen on a cellphone (keep in mind that it was hard
to capture the actual quality of the screen with our camera), except, of course, this was being streamed in real
time.
News
News highlights from CNN, NBC News and MarketWatch, these also tended to be updated more frequently than the clips
in other sections of V CAST.
Entertainment
Tons of stuff here:
Cinema Electric - Fashion, Movie, and extreme sports clips
V CAST Showcase - This one has a bunch of sub-categories, including:
- V CAST Live: A roundup of what's new each week on V CAST.
- T.V. Time - Clips from Jimmy Kimmel Live, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Trading Spouses, Simple Life 3, Alias, Soap 41, and a recap of Lost.
- Mobile Shows - This is where you'll find the one minute episodes of 24, as well as clips from some shows we've never heard of called Love and Hate and Sunset Hotel.
- 9 current movie trailers and 2 new DVD trailers.
VH1 - No VH1 Classic, but clips from Best Week Ever and Live@VH1 (live videos of Fountain of Wayne, Rachael
Yamagata, and Jet).
E! - Clips from Celebrity Extras, Gossip, E! News Live, and E! TV Highlights.
Comedy Central - Highlights from The Daily Show, as well as quick hits from a few other shows.
Music Videos
Part of the Entertainment section of V CAST, the selection of music videos is incredibly disappointing—just ten clips from Warner Music Group artists like Green Day, Sean Paul, Simple Plan, Lilix, Michelle Branch, and yes, Faith No More (the only "classic" clip in the bunch). There is no way to access a wider catalog of videos, and you just have to wait until Verizon rotates a new slate of clips in (which happens weekly).
Sports
The Sports category has four channels: ESPN (ESPN College, ESPN News, ESPN Original, and ESPN Fantasy—that lost one
sounds a little dirty, but it's stuff like fantasy baseball), NASCAR.COM TO GO, NBA TV (highlights from a handful of
games), and FOX Sports.
Weather
Lastly, there's also weather news from AccuWeather.com. The clips are free, and the line up includes "Breaking
Weather News", national and regional weather news, as well as local forecasts for 39 different cities across the
country.
Conclusion
So is it worth it? That depends. Is it worth it to you to cough up four bucks to watch a three and half minute music video? We love T.I. as much as the next guy, but for us $3.99 is simply too much to pay for something so disposable, especially on top of the $15 V CAST already costs per month. Thankfully there are still plenty of video clips that don't cost anything extra (Daily Show highlights are free, thankfully), and there's nothing like a quick hit of Jon Stewart when you're waiting in line at the post office. And because it takes advantage of a high-speed EV-DO connection, this is easily the best multimedia experiences we've seen on a cellphone to date, but the larger issue is whether the average person will be satisfied with what's offered. There is a trade-off in that you pay a lot less for V CAST than you would for unabridged Internet access, but if there's one thing AOL has demonstrated, it's that the walled garden approach can only work for so long. It'd be hard to convince anyone with a 3G-enabled smartphone that they shouldn't be able to download music and video from anywhere they please. If you dig the idea of watching video clips on your phone, then fifteen bucks is a fair price for what you get, but in a few years, when cellphones get smarter and the price for 3G comes down, it's going to be harder and harder to justify paying for something like this instead of (or on top of) just regular Internet access.
Did you guys try using #777 to see if regular internet access was enabled? I use that right now with my v710 and my pda, but am waiting for the e815, so I can use bluetooth with evdo. And if I don't have to subscribe to anything more than that, I'd be down for $15 a month.
Four bucks to watch a music video? What are they smoking?!?!? There's no way on earth the average wal-mart shopping american is going to think that's worth it. Give me a useful service (hint - not minute-long clips of tv shows) at a fair price (not $3.99) and it might be a different story.
VCAST....another over priced money grubbing POS that Verizon will try to convince every one they need. How about lower the damn price of your unlimited data plans and dumping GIN?
Ohh, EVDO...
I wish it was affordable. I'd so ditch my cable modem at my apartment and just run off of that.
Even without a monthly fee I wouldn't be willing to pay $4 for a music video. I like music videos as much as the next guy, but gimme a break. Likewise even if everything was free, I don't think I'd be willing to pay $15 for the content that's on there. Maybe. I'd consider it, but not too likely.
Combine them both and geesh. Cell phone companies seem intent on running themselves into the ground. If anyone ever opened up a provider that actually respected their customers and didn't make me feel like I was being taken for a ride and milked like a cow for every last drop I was worth every minute I was using their service, I'd switch in a second.
My god what a rip-off! I can tell that rich teens who actually buy this stuff are enough to make these wireless providers a grundle. And shouldn't music videos be free??? After all they are made to promote the artist and song.
No way not interested in watching music videos or video clips on my phone and pay for it.
This service will not take off.
I keep mental tabs on how many SMS messages I receive, and verizon charges me 2 cents per. I can't even imagine paying 3 bucks for a Faith No More video, of all things.
I found myself overly connected these days anyway. 3 silent minutes zoning out in a line at the post office is Nirvana.
I think it's pretty cool to be able to watch a minute or so of clips of the news highlights, weather and sports stuff. The $$ is a tad off, but I'm sure it will drop to an acceptable rate sometime in the next decade. Before you know it - people will be cell-casting!
The real miracle is that 3G is actually here. The services and rates will only get better with time.
For now it's just great to have 3G...
I'm in the tv news business... and it would seem that people would appreciate more local content... local weather(not Accuweather guessing), more local news, and sports, and then maybe some feature stuff ... highlights of local city attractions for out-of-towners that are visiting the city and asking themselves... what can we do, here.
Streaming live weather during severe weather events would be nice, too.
Vcast is "okay", but it could be much better, AND CHEAPER. You can tell immediately that it's just another method to get the consumers money. I could see if it was maybe an additional $5 bucks a month for unlimited service, but $4 for a measly music video. Who are they kidding??? And Verizon rate plans are already incredibly high as it is, with no free incoming call plans!