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DT501HS PC Card handles DVB-H and HSDPA
If you've ever wondered just how much functionality could be crammed into a single PC Card, it seems that Onda and Siano are out to give you an answer. Deemed the "world's first combined DVB-H / HSDPA card" for Italy's TIM, the DT501HS enables users to suck down mobile TV and internet content in one fell swoop, but we've no idea if / when this thing will be made available on any other carrier(s). Notably, this device relies on Siano's wee PCB-mounted SMS8021 antenna, which means that you won't find any external protrusions here. As for pricing, we weren't able to locate any hard figures, but those parked in Italy should be able to snap one up anytime now in TIM stores.[Image courtesy of Cellular]
Say goodbye to productivity, Kenya: Nairobi gets DVB-H
Thanks to South Africa's DMTV Limited, Kenya this week became just the seventh country in the world to launch a commercial mobile TV service based on DVB-H, Europe's standard of choice (and a standard we might eventually enjoy in the US if MediaFLO doesn't snuff it out). Launch channels include mega-hits like Africa Magic, Africa Big Brother, and SuperSport Update, with a grand total of 10 stations at launch running 1,000 Kenyan shillings (about $15) a month. DMTV has committed to rolling out the service to all of Kenya's carriers, though it seems that coverage is limited to Nairobi at the moment.[Via mocoNews]
Deutsche Telekom scores Germany's DVB-H spectrum -- all of it
Germany wasted no time doling out licenses -- or license, in this case -- for its DVB-H airwaves following the EU's decision to standardize on the technology for mobile TV. Deutsche Telekom's T-Systems unit is the lucky recipient, a logical move considering that the company has apparently had a DVB-H trial running in Berlin since 2005. The build-out is expected to start in early '08, with all of Germany's state capitals getting the hookup by year end; the remainder of the country's going to take a good long while, though, with 90 percent of the populace getting covered by 2015 (geez, how do we know DVB-H is even going to be relevant by then?). It apparently hasn't been decided yet who's going to be building the network, but... well, something tells us T-Systems is going to play a role in there somewhere.[Via mocoNews]
Hiwire's Las Vegas DVB-H trial reviewed
RCR had the opportunity to fiddle around with the live, fully functional DVB-H trial Hiwire is running in cooperation with T-Mobile in Las Vegas, and if the phrase "ready for prime time" is any indication, it sounds like they liked what they saw. Using an LG U900 for service, RCR ran around Sin City comparing Hiwire's efforts to Verizon's MediaFLO-based VCAST TV -- a service that's been live for much of this year -- and found that the two were pretty much a wash for user experience. Hiwire's 24 channels of mind-numbing entertainment bests VCAST TV's lineup by a wide margin, but VCAST TV took significantly less time to switch between those channels (2 seconds compared to about 5); interestingly, though, VCAST TV seemed to be about 5 seconds delayed behind Hiwire, so it's a tradeoff. Of course, as RCR points out, Hiwire suffers from the same fundamental problem as VCAST TV -- subscribers would be paying for pretty much exactly the same content they're already paying for on their home televisions, albeit on a heck of a lot smaller screen -- so even if the service looks ready for commercial launch, is anyone ready to buy?
Clearwire, ICO hook up for US DVB-H trial
MediaFLO's clearly the overwhelming favorite in the nascent (or is that nonexistent?) US mobile TV market, having already bagged two of the four national carriers while the other two -- Sprint and T-Mobile -- spin their wheels in trials. On the other side of the fence, though, lies DVB-H, the Europe-wide standard that has inexplicably found virtually zero carrier love in States despite broad manufacturer support. Presently, the US' meager DVB-H efforts are represented by Hiwire's trials alone now that Modeo's slipped its mortal coil and gone to that Big HTC Foreseer in the Sky; that could be about to change, though, with ICO and Clearwire announcing that they'll be bringing a DVB-H trials Raleigh, North Carolina and Las Vegas early next year. Two DVB-H supporters is clearly better than one in the effort to better balance the Qualcomm juggernaut here, but we still need a carrier deal or two to lock it all up. Best of luck, fellas.
New Sony Ericsson handsets looming?
We aren't insinuating that you should attach any level of truth to these rumors just yet, but the boards of Esato are alive with murmurs of a few new SE handsets that could be launched as early as tomorrow. Amongst the mobiles that we could hear more about (officially) in the coming day is the Cyber-shot-branded "Victoria" -- which will supposedly be 14-millimeters thick and sport a 1.9-inch QVGA screen, five color options, and a 128MB M2 card bundled in -- and the still elusive "Veronica." Additionally, we could also be treated to the W350, a Cyber-shot clamshell / Cyber-shot slider, and new "accessories" to boot. Best of all, though, is that you've just a single day left to find out if there's actually any substance to these whispers, but if it does prove true, it certainly won't be the first time.[Via PocketPicks]
Crown Castle leases Modeo's airwaves
With AT&T and Verizon both selecting MediaFLO for their mobile TV needs, T-Mobile unable to make up its mind, and Sprint backing off, hopes seem to be fading that DVB-H-based Modeo will secure a deal with one of the national carriers here -- and accordingly, parent Crown Castle is looking to stem its losses. The company has announced that it has leased Modeo's bandwidth -- you know, the stuff it needs to actually offer a mobile TV service -- to two venture capital firms for $13 million a year, with an option to renew the lease for another 10 years or acquire the spectrum outright in 2013. How the firms intend to use their new found airwaves remains unknown, but unless Hiwire stays in this thing, there's a very real possibility that Qualcomm's going to be running unopposed in the mobile entertainment race this side of the pond.
EU finalizes official selection of DVB-H for mobile TV
As if it wasn't official enough already, the European Union has put its final stamp of approval on DVB-H -- already Europe's most prevalent mobile TV standard -- and has started asking countries and companies to help it enforce the ruling. As the EU's telecom commish points out, Europe is now to DVB-H what it did to GSM years ago, pushing an open, homegrown solution at a time when others (MediaFLO, hint hint) are trying to make inroads, so "wait-and-see is not an option." Of course, other motivating factors to get this fleshed out now are the Beijing Olympics and the European Football Championship, both events that many Europeans would probably like to have the option of catching on their phones. How exactly this all dovetails with the EU's recent DMB efforts in China remains unclear, but hey, at least they've set a course.[Via mocoNews]
EU poised to select DVB-H as mobile TV standard
Making official what already appeared inevitable, the European Union says that it intends to add DVB-H as the standard of choice for mobile terrestrial broadcasts across its lands. For all practical purposes, the choice was little more than a formality; despite lobbying from South Korea for adoption of T-DMB, DVB-H was already gaining ground as the de facto protocol across most European countries (Germany being a notable exception), and it certainly helps when Nokia and the EU itself have both poured money into its development. Qualcomm's MediaFLO appears to have come in a distant third place, having being eliminated early on by the EU for representing a "proprietary solution." Someone want to clue in Verizon and AT&T on that bit?[Via mocoNews]
Samwell shows off Ruggedbook PC657 UMPC
Joining the slew of other handhelds computers that surfaced at Computex is the Ruggedbook PC657 from Samwell, which does indeed pack a beefy shell to protect the innards from whatever comes its way. The seven-inch UMPC includes a 800 x 600 resolution touchscreen, a 1.2GHz VIA C7M processor, Windows XP Professional, a PCMCIA slot, SDIO / MMC slots, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a fingerprint scanner, and an integrated camera. Additionally, it'll handle up to 1GB of RAM, offers up your choice of 30, 60, or 80GB 1.8-inch hard drives if you're not kosher with the built-in 2GB/4GB/8GB flash storage option, and allows you the luxury of slipping a DVB-H tuner or GPS module into the PC Card slot if you so desire. We hope you weren't counting on a price or release date directly from the show floor, but do click on for a few more hands-on pictures.
Sharp crafts chip with T-DMB and DVB-H support
One of the most fragmented up and coming technologies in the mobile segment appears to be mobile TV. Europe's converging on DVB-H, Korea likes T- and S-DMB, Japan does one-seg, and the US seems to be moving toward MediaFLO. We can't necessarily expect a single device to support reception around the globe any time soon (if ever), but two in one is a good start -- and that'll soon be a reality thanks to a newly-developed chip from Sharp. The so-called VA3B5EZ915 (catchy name, if we do say so ourselves) supports both T-DMB and DVB-H while at the same time setting a new record for minimal power consumption. Theoretically, we guess this means travelers could get reception in both Europe and South Korea, though we're betting the more immediate application will be to unify Europe's few deployed T-DMB networks with the more popular DVB-H format without needing different lineups of phones for both. No word on when we might see the new chip in production handsets.
MobiTV closes UK office, cuts off 3 and Orange
The king of mobile television content, MobiTV, has shut down its British office to focus squarely on the burgeoning U.S. market. While mobile TV still is in its infancy here in the U.S., we'd think there was more immediate potential across the pond. Guess not. MobiTV is shuttering services it provides to UK carriers 3 and Orange, along with jettisoning the J2ME app that makes mobile TV possible on the Orange network (according to reports). Hey, at least MobiTV still loves Windows Mobile, right?[Via mocoNews]
Nokia and Samsung working to standardize mobile TV
With DVB-H and MediaFLO both having a presence in the quest for mobile television (which is getting better), Nokia has announced that it will be working with competitor Samsung to further open mobile television standards involving the company's platform of choice, DVB-H. Hmm -- it seems that handset makers are realizing now more than ever that agreement on a standard and moving forward is the best way to eventually land paying subscribers at carriers' doorsteps. With DVB-H, DMB and MediaFLO all competing for the same piece of the pie, both Nokia and Samsung DVB-H handsets will soon work using the OMA BCAST standard for mobile carriers.[Via textually.org]
Italy to get first DVB-H PMP courtesy of 3
Italians have been getting a taste of that sweet over-the-air digital TV since last year, with tiny phone screens being their primary and possibly sole method of content intake. Well that won't be the case for too much longer, as mobile carrier 3 has announced a partnership with manufacturer Quantum that will bring a dedicated, 4.3-inch portable DVB-H device to the TV-mad public. Called the QTM 1000, this PMP will be able to pull down 12 live stations including Sky, RIA, and Mediaset, and is said to function as a navigation unit as well (details on that aspect of its functionality are slim to none, however). Also no word so far on pricing, but perhaps we'll learn more as the scheduled release window of "this spring" gets closer.[Via PMP Today]
Nokia N77 passes FCC -- DVB-H and all
Not to suggest there's any... oh, you know, "service" you can subscribe to in these parts that rocks mobile TV over the DVB-H airwaves, but an FCC approval is always a good sign -- and the presence of an upstart service provider working its rear off to get picked up by a carrier always helps, too. The 3.5mm jack-sportin', S60-havin' N77 from Nokia is the latest DVB-H equipped handset to get signed off by the FCC, and while we don't have any word of a GSM 850, UMTS 850 / 1900 version floating around, we can't help but hope that an eventual Modeo success could lead to phones like this magically gaining bands; until then, we'll just be tooling around with our Foreseers.
Modeo smartphone unboxed
It's amazing how short a distance we've travelled since we first spotted Modeo's DVB-H smartphone in April. Sure, now we know that it's just an HTC Foreseer under those orange accents, but after months of promises, the phone is only just now making it into our hands in boxed form. There's live DVB-H service lighting up NYC, but only six channels to watch, and no sign of a commercial launch in sight, as we mentioned yesterday. Luckily, the phone feels good in the hand, and while it might be bit large for an EDGE device in this day and age, it still looks and feels proportional in hand. The screen is quite sharp and general performance is snappy, especially video, thanks to the NVIDIA GoForce 5500 GPU under the hood. TV performance is great, at least as far as we've tested it in Manhattan and Brooklyn -- we'll revisit this in a week or so and let you know how we're doing -- but CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Sports, Discovery Channel and E! get old fast, and the eight audio channels are about as basic as it gets. We'll give you our full impressions once we've had some more time to soak it all in, but for now you can peep the unboxing gallery below, along with our hands-on pics from last night's event. Modeo smartphone unboxed
Modeo boosts signal power, shows off DVB-H SD and mini-PCI cards
Modeo hosted a little shindig tonight to unveil some of its future DVB-H plans and show off some kit. The big news is that the FCC has approved Modeo's request to boost signal power by 10 times in urban markets and 20 times in rural areas, giving the company a much easier path to coverage rollout and better signal quality. Modeo also mentioned that while it's currently testing service in NYC only, it has designs already in place for moving into the top 30 markets in the US. We also got our hands on upcoming DVB-H SD and mini-PCI cards, with the SD cards up and running in a myriad of Pocket PC devices, and the mini-PCI card running smooth -- though rather pixelated -- video on a Dell laptop. The next move for Modeo is to get channel changing time under 2 seconds, continue to improve video quality, add PVR and mediacasting capabilities, and stick interactivity into the programming. Modeo's software partner Penthera already had most of those capabilities up and running on demo units, as you can see in the gallery below, so it looks like most of this stuff will be all ready by the time a commercial launch happens. When that might be is anyone's guess. Modeo is still looking for a retail partner, and they made it pretty clear that Qualcomm's MediaFLO model of hitching onto mobile providers is exactly what Modeo would like to be doing -- unfortunately for Modeo, nobody's signed up yet.%Gallery-1845%
Quantum / AvMap's QTM 1000 Nav handheld touts DVB-H and GPS
Quantum and AvMap are teaming up to produce what they dub the "world's first" DVB-H capable Pocket TV with SAT NAV functionality, and while we've seen a touch of DVB-H in handheld devices before, it's good to see yet another creation joining the do-it-all fray. Announced at 3GSM, the Linux-based QTM 1000 Nav boasts a 4.3-inch WQVGA widescreen display, 400:1 contrast ratio, 80-degree viewing angle, DVR functionality, 128MB of Flash memory, 64MB of onboard RAM, an SD card slot, dual stereo speakers, a four-hour rechargeable battery, SiRF Star III receiver, Tele Atlas maps, and USB 2.0 connectivity. Aside from playing back DVB-H signals at 25 frames-per-second, it also allows viewing / purchasing of Pay TV channels, and it plays nice with H.264, MPEG4, AAC, MP3, JPEG / GIF / PNG, M4V, and AVI files when not tuning in to a broadcast. Unfortunately, there weren't any details regarding price or future availability, but those kicking around in Europe should give this one some serious consideration if you're looking to consolidate.
Polymer Vision's Readius rollable display gets face time
Talk about a long time coming, as what is now Polymer Vision has seemed to finally put all the pieces together and produce an actual working product from the idea envisioned by Philips around two years ago. We knew the spinoff was looking to commercialize the product later this year, but after nearly 24 months of coming up empty, a bit of understandable skepticism begins to seep through. Nevertheless, the firm's rollable, pocket-friendly "Cellular-Book" was out and showing its stuff at 3GSM, proving that there's at least something there to put on store shelves. Although the unit on display was indeed a standalone device -- sporting 16 shades of grey, USB, "10-days" of battery life, 4GB of internal storage, and GPRS, EDGE, and DVB-H connectivity just like we'd heard -- Polymer Vision is actually hoping to integrate its e-paper technology into mobile handset displays in the near future. Sadly, there still didn't seem to be any hints of a release date for the nifty pocket reader, but be sure to click on through for the very long awaited pictures of the Readius in action.[Via Slashdot]
ZTE's F908 clamshell with DVB-H
If there are two things we can't get enough of in this world, it's mobile TV and OLED displays behind mirrored acrylic covers; put the two features together, and you've got yourself a little slice of heaven. On that note we present ZTE's new F908, a clamshell out of China that seems to do both with poise. In this case, the mobile TV tech in question is DVB-H backed up by a pivoting display that should make viewing a more pleasurable experience, while a 3.6Mbps HSDPA radio keeps data flowing at a nice clip; of course, we don't expect to see the F908 around these parts any time soon, but if you happen to be on the other side of the world, keep an eye out for 'er.[Via Engadget Chinese]
