After a few years of marketing
FLO TV through Verizon and AT&T, Qualcomm has struck out on its own to sell a standalone FLO TV, this here
FLO TV Personal Television. It seems like a bit of an odd choice in the current media consumption climate, and the price is certainly steep at $250, along with the $9+ monthly subscription fee, but Qualcomm naturally has its reasons. Basically, if people want a second screen to watch FLO TV on, or already have a non-FLO phone that they're happy with, this gives them the option, and then there's the all-important family car ride where you might hand this device to your kid, but wouldn't be so likely to toss them your own phone. Unfortunately, the lack of a hefty carrier subsidy means the $250 pricetag doesn't seem too in line with the quality of this device -- particularly the screen, which pales in comparison to those found on the similarly priced Zune and iPod touch (at least on the prototype device we played with). The touchscreen interface is pretty simple and reasonably quick, though touch detection isn't exactly first-tier, but basically this whole device is as straightforward and no-frills as it looks. Check out a quick hands-on video after the break.
posted October 7th 2009 10:12AM
Is this what portable TV has come to, paid subscription services?
Remember the old days, when you could pick up a crappy little LCD TV at Radio Shack and pick up the local affiliates? I mean, it wasn't the best technology, and depending on where you lived, you might get a station or two....but still, when are the portable TV's coming out with digital tuners? Is it not possible? Do digital tuners require that much juice?
Rock on!
It's not possible. Because of the way the antennas have to be above the interference of walls and other objects to get a strong signal. Unless they give it massive rabbit ears it isn't going to work.
@Templarian
your a dumbass. they sell portable digital tv's at radioshack now. They cost 149.99. They come with a built in antenna. They're branded under the enercell (radio shack) brand.
If this is the same thing as verizon mobileTV offers then its not even LIVE TV as we speak....I tried it before and the shows that air on TV are different from the ones in those devices...so it isn't really live tv.
Finally! A gadget that I may actually use. Just $250 bucks and it's mine! Oh....wait... $9 a month? $108 a year? Never mind. I'll Keep my Archos with my DVR dock.
Man, the UI seemed really laggy to me. Do the people that design these things actually use them? I wonder sometimes...
yeah, and they could put in some extraneous processor, and make it the snappiest thing ever, but you would have zero battery life, and when it comes to a tv that your going to use the menu system once every half hour, it's not that important.
Does this service have Bloomberg? I can hardly stand the mind-numbing dribble of most CNBC hosts.
i believe this is running on the 3g network, not the traditional broadcast towers. This is qualcomm and they are the one of the biggest players in the mobile chip market.
Not 3g...totally different tech
wait a year for the so called "Flo TV 2" to be announced... and the originals gets heavily discounted to pick up more subscribers. you'd have to be "dire straits" to just need this in your mobile gadget arsenal.
why not just use a slingbox and a sling client on your device... why would you pay for cable TV twice? with the slingbox you also have access to ALL your content at home as well not just broadcast cable...
yup, i'll stick w/my Locationfree TV setup and panel and psp :P
what a dumb idea, Qualcomm.
I have had Flo on my AT&T phone since January. I finally dropped it. The movie channel plays the same five (lame) movies over and over, and half of the channels are news based. The only saving grace was ESPN. If it's not a good deal as a phone add-on, who in the world would be stupid enough to buy a stand-alone device?
I agree. I've been using ORB with my PC TV Tuner and it's been awesome on all my Symbian and Windows Mobile smart phones.
I noticed the HTC badge on it.
They built it over their lunch break.
Is this really practical in the long considering that various smart phones are TV enabled? Man $250...Ummm. I'll skip it for now