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Orange, T-Mobile UK announce TDtv trials, mobile TV standards now number one bajillion
Still struggling to figure out a way to turn a profit on the whole concept, carriers and infrastructure suppliers apparently have no bones about continuing to go full speed ahead on mobile TV R&D, trials, and deployments. NextWave Wireless' TDtv standard has one key advantage over competitors like DVB-H, DMB, and FLO, though: because it utilizes unpaired UMTS spectrum, it makes use of frequencies and technologies that carriers already possess. On the flipside, it has taken considerably longer for TDtv to come into its own, while DVB-H has secured a deathgrip on Europe and FLO has done the same in North America, so it's unclear at this point just how much impact it'll ultimately have. Anyway, Orange and T-Mobile apparently have shown enough interest to find out for themselves, with both carriers committing to TDtv trials in the UK that'll have West London customers receiving up to 24 telly channels and 10 digital radio stations when the system launches in the second half of the year.
PacketVideo brings Mobile TV to any WiFi device
PacketVideo has a new receiver which can pump mobile TV over good ol' WiFi. PV claims the device will ultimately ship before the year is out in versions supporting over-the-air DVB-H and MediaFLO broadcasting as well as TDtv and WiMAX streaming. Although it's presumably compatible with any WiFi device, they specifically cite support for the iPhone, N-Series Nokias and HTC devices while demonstrating the device with an iPod touch at Mobile World Congress. The 6.4 x 1.8 x 4-cm block is powered by a lithium-ion battery of unspecified capabilities. Although it's not stated, we assume the received television can be shared with multiple devices over that wireless link -- else why bother with WiFi? [Via Slashphone]
Sprint's mobile TV service to be called VUE?
Last time we checked in on Sprint's SPH-M250 DMB phone from Samsung, we met the swiveling clamshell head-on with a fair dose of skepticism that it'd ever see the light of day in these parts. Our bad; rumor has it that a handful of Sprint customers are now receiving invitations to participate in a market trial for the service, which is now apparently named "VUE." As a refresher, the M250 holds its own as a decent flip phone, packing a microSD slot, Bluetooth, voice recognition, and of course, that rare-in-the-States swiveling display. We're still not sure we entirely understand which multicast tech is being used on the M250 -- DMB, TDtv, or some proprietary concoction -- but if this invite is legit, we don't really care what tech they're using, as long as we can get our mobile TV on post haste.[Via SprintUsers, thanks Jaime]
Sprint's mysterious SPH-M250 TV phone
We hate to get our hopes up, since so far we haven't seen a lot of desire from US carriers to offer advanced services to their apparently podunk customers -- especially not something crazy as mobile TV -- but the FCC just unveiled what could be Sprint's big move into TV land. The phone is Samsung's SPH-M250, which looks to be a version of Sammy's SPH-B250, a DMB phone for Korea (2 megapixel camera, 128MB memory and Bluetooth if you're keeping track). The interesting thing about the phone is that it is only approved for the 1900MHz band, unlike other Sprint phones which are dual-band. So while it's possible that the phone is just for watching EV-DO movies in the comfort of that swivel screen, Phone Scoop thinks it more likely that there were antenna issues with Sprint's 2.5GHz mobile TV tech. They've already been running tests on TDtv technology, a method that uses 3G spectrum for live DMB-esque TV channels up to QVGA resolution, and this SPH-M250 could be for more testing, or to maybe even launch their TV service. We won't hold our breath.[Via Phone Scoop]
