Switched On: The TV is personal again
By Ross Rubin 
posted December 3rd 2009 7:30PM
posted December 3rd 2009 7:30PM
Ross Rubin (@rossrubin) contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
The short history of digital content includes several examples of on-the-go services like Audible and Slacker that were started out on own devices before expanding to others, But FLO TV, which started its service on handsets from Verizon and then AT&T, has gone the other way. After being stalled by the digital TV transition delay that held up spectrum it needed to launch and expand service in several markets, FLO TV has launched a dedicated $250 device, the HTC-branded Personal Television, even as it seeks to expand the number of handsets supporting its receiver.
Like a Kindle, iPod nano, or Flip camcorder, the pocketable Personal TV has a straightforward, optimized purpose. And for technophiles who live in a world of Hulu, TV-on-DVDs and Apple TV, it recalls a simpler time when TV content and device were an integrated pair. Turn on the device, press a GPS-style safety disclaimer, and you're watching TV. Apart from power and volume/mute controls, it has only a single front-mounted button brings up the electronic programming guide, which can be navigated by touching and swiping its 3.5-inch touchscreen. A laptop battery-style power status button lights up a series of LEDs to let you know how much charge is left in the device.
But in an age when iTunes and other services allow one to download just the shows they want for a small fee, not all of Personal TV's limitations are so charming. Like other wireless products, it won't work on underground trains or planes, and there's no way to record video, or even perform tricks less objectionable to copyright holders such as pause or instant replay. Fortunately, the Personal TV's screen is quite watchable outdoors. And, unlike the analog portable TVs of yore and the digital portable TVs that will come to market in 2010, FLO TV is a subscription service. The company includes six months of free service with the device, but then it is $15 per month, the same rate that AT&T charges for the service on its handsets that support it. And unlike in shows downloaded from iTunes, there are plenty of commercials.
But for the price, you get access to a significant selection of programming that would require a pay TV subscription at home, including Fox News Channel, CNBC, MSNBC, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, ESPN, MTV, and Comedy Central. FLO TV also programs a channel with a range of seasonal programming and specials. And while there is no recording capability, FLO TV offers the next best thing, which is time-shifted
programming; watching during the day will enable you to catch up on some primetime and late-night programming instead of being confined to the latest output from the Oprah factory or the judge du jour show.
FLO TV's service quality has benefitted greatly from the spectrum capacity to which it now has access, but it still sometimes stutters and pixelates. It seems particularly vulnerable when the channel guide is invoked or it is moved. But overall the quality, convenience and breadth of FLO TV's content make the Personal TV a contender for those who want a simple way to be casually entertained on the go and would trade the exactness of selecting the shows they want for the expedience of having about a dozen broadcast and popular cable channels on tap. And for for now it's one of the few mobile options for delivering live video of news and sports.
For a dedicated device, Personal TV's unique combination of time-shifted and premium programming addresses a void at a time when free over-the-air broadcast is in transition between now obsolete portable analog TVs from Sony and Casio and a new generation of mobile digital televisions based on the mobile ATSC standard that should launch next year. Both that standard and FLO TV also have a bevy of screens to target beyond cell phones, including notebook PCs, portable DVD players, digital media players and rear-seat in-vehicle systems. For now, though, Personal TV provides a simple, programmed experience for those willing to shoulder what will often be a second TV subscription.
Ross Rubin is director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
Like a Kindle, iPod nano, or Flip camcorder, the pocketable Personal TV has a straightforward, optimized purpose. And for technophiles who live in a world of Hulu, TV-on-DVDs and Apple TV, it recalls a simpler time when TV content and device were an integrated pair. Turn on the device, press a GPS-style safety disclaimer, and you're watching TV. Apart from power and volume/mute controls, it has only a single front-mounted button brings up the electronic programming guide, which can be navigated by touching and swiping its 3.5-inch touchscreen. A laptop battery-style power status button lights up a series of LEDs to let you know how much charge is left in the device.
But in an age when iTunes and other services allow one to download just the shows they want for a small fee, not all of Personal TV's limitations are so charming. Like other wireless products, it won't work on underground trains or planes, and there's no way to record video, or even perform tricks less objectionable to copyright holders such as pause or instant replay. Fortunately, the Personal TV's screen is quite watchable outdoors. And, unlike the analog portable TVs of yore and the digital portable TVs that will come to market in 2010, FLO TV is a subscription service. The company includes six months of free service with the device, but then it is $15 per month, the same rate that AT&T charges for the service on its handsets that support it. And unlike in shows downloaded from iTunes, there are plenty of commercials.
But for the price, you get access to a significant selection of programming that would require a pay TV subscription at home, including Fox News Channel, CNBC, MSNBC, Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, ESPN, MTV, and Comedy Central. FLO TV also programs a channel with a range of seasonal programming and specials. And while there is no recording capability, FLO TV offers the next best thing, which is time-shifted
The quality, convenience and breadth of FLO TV's content make the Personal TV a contender. |
FLO TV's service quality has benefitted greatly from the spectrum capacity to which it now has access, but it still sometimes stutters and pixelates. It seems particularly vulnerable when the channel guide is invoked or it is moved. But overall the quality, convenience and breadth of FLO TV's content make the Personal TV a contender for those who want a simple way to be casually entertained on the go and would trade the exactness of selecting the shows they want for the expedience of having about a dozen broadcast and popular cable channels on tap. And for for now it's one of the few mobile options for delivering live video of news and sports.
For a dedicated device, Personal TV's unique combination of time-shifted and premium programming addresses a void at a time when free over-the-air broadcast is in transition between now obsolete portable analog TVs from Sony and Casio and a new generation of mobile digital televisions based on the mobile ATSC standard that should launch next year. Both that standard and FLO TV also have a bevy of screens to target beyond cell phones, including notebook PCs, portable DVD players, digital media players and rear-seat in-vehicle systems. For now, though, Personal TV provides a simple, programmed experience for those willing to shoulder what will often be a second TV subscription.
Ross Rubin is director of industry analysis for consumer technology at market research and analysis firm The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On are his own.
I remember those little 1.8" Casio TVs. They always seemed like the coolest thing when I was a kid.
Now, I just don't watch things when they air, with the occasional exceptions of sports or Jeopardy.
@chispito
yea, i actually saved my money as a kid and had a 3.5" casio tv. i was def the envy on the school bus and on trips :)
even hooked up my SNES w/a car ac adapter in the car. not the best view but did the trick :)
I still have mine... I wish it still worked!
@chispito My friend gave me an old black and white TUBE Walkman a couple of years ago. Yes, you heard me right, the first generation Sony pocket TVs, that had a spoon-shaped picture tube. The reception was terrific and It's really a damned shame it doesn't work anymore due to the switchover.
What's the difference between a car and a golf ball?
Tiger can drive a ball 400 yards!
@bigdonny
some call him cheetah now (heard it on a radio)
@bigdonny
I chuckled...then hated myself
What DOESN'T HTC make?
@ale
Diapers
Alcohol
Carrots
Linen
Nutter Butter
Cigarettes
Silk Ties
Milk Shakes
I could go on, but I'll leave it to you to figure out the rest.
@ale check out xda-developers...there was one topic about TV in touch flo 3d with download link and pictures..
@LiqwidZero
The best part about your list is half of those are probably codenames for new HTC Android phones
Love their stuff. Their names..... bizarre
@ale
Tesla Roadsters
@ale
Touche.
Finally, we can comment on this kind of stuff!
Anyway, the flow tv is a really cool idea, but for the price I think you'd be better off waiting for ATSC to be implemented. Although, that could take decades at the pace america seems to adopt new mobile technology.
iPod nano has a straightforward, optimized purpose?
AHAHAHHA I see infringement on hp's ad campaign
@Ha
Totally had the same thoughts.
looks odd if it's an htc device.
I nominate this as crap gadget of the year. I think $15 per month for limited programming on a 3.5 inch screen is not a good value.
I'd rather have a "personnal TV" that can receive free ATSC signals. And an SD card slot for playing your own media files is a better idea.
Japan's 1seg and Korea's DMB are pretty cool ideas that should be implemented in the States, now that we have all that available wireless spectrum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1seg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Multimedia_Broadcasting
@R
word, the monthly service is the killer part of the deal for me. no thanks.
i have my PSPGO and LocationFree TV base and does the trick just fine (sure i need to either tether data to my phone or use wifi.. but still)
It has ads according to this article. I'm not paying a $15 monthly fee for a device that has content that contains ads.
The $15 should give one ad free content. Ads are only acceptable if the device is free.
So where is this series of LCDs you speak of?
This is a great product. I always wondered why no one had invented a mobile commercial player. When I watch TV commercials at home I'm always like "OMG I have to go out and buy that" Now I can just carry this thing around and it will tell me what to buy and think. It's really cool it has MSNBC and Fox News too because I don't know anything about politics but if I repeat things I hear on there people think I'm smart. I just wish there was less talking in-between the commercials. Sometimes I have to wait like 5 minutes to see a commercial. That really sucks.
@(Unverified) Thanks for sharing, Andy Rooney.
wow who is this ross gartnbirg or michal rubbin i don't know
I'll stick to OrbLive on my iPhone from Orb Networks: It's all the regular channels I get at home through the tuner of my PC, all over the world as long as I have an Edge, 3G or WiFi connection...
honestly, who watches cnbc?
Problem with this service is the coverage for it is just for bigger cities.
http://www.flotv.com/whats-on-flo-tv/map
@Pherball66
Well it's that- UOOGH!!!!! I'm sorry, but your avatar made me forget my comment
"Apart than power and volume/mute controls, it has only a single front-mounted button brings up the electronic programming guide..."
Seriously, don't the engadget contributors and/or editors even read their posts before putting them up? I find mistakes too often.
HTC just recently launched a very impressive marketing campaign for their lineup of American phones. HTC has a big future in electronics. Just wait and see. Let's just hope they get some of their devices' quality up to par.
Hrm... ATSC FTW (or heck, maybe IPtv via WiMax through one of the cable providers), toss in maybe something akin to a mobile Boxee app. running on Android or a Mobile Linux foundation (with a built-in DVR), pair it up with some Flash memory for DVR recording (expandable via SD XC cards), let it record vids while sitting in the dock charging so people on-the-go can view recorded vids from the night before, give it enough space to drag/drop h.264 videos on it (whether MPAA likes it or not, people are going to rip their DVD and Blu Ray libraries, it's going to happen), something like this could be ahead of the game.
A subscription-based TV service with no frills, no signal underground (subways, hellllloooo?!?), inability to bring in OnDemand content (whether owned by yourself or streamed), etc? Pffttt... in the Wired/Tired standing, this is comatose Rip Van Winkle on Ambien. ZzzzzZzzzzzzZzzzzz...
Useless.
I have FLO TV through AT&T, and they recently lowered the price to $10 which is a decent deal. The content is pretty solid. ATSC sounds great in theory, but I found myself watching ESPN and Comedy Central mostly. The programming content is pretty good overall. Live News and Sports are a big reason to have this.
Television reception is crap where I currently live, and cable television an impossibility. I would actually consider purchasing one of these devices IF it would work in my area AND Cartoon Network is added to the list of channels. It'd be better still if I could choose cable networks a'la carte, which is what cable viewers have wanted for decades.
Personal again? since when TV where personal? -_-
Isn't this old qualcomm MediaFLO from 2004? They've been working on this for years.
Even with hi-res screens, unless you add an hdmi port, no one's going to be watching normal TV on these small devices. Hulu maybe, but not regular TV.
This appears to be just repackaging mediaFLO since Qual heavily invested in the technology and distribution network back in 2005.