Mobile Digital TV Starts Testing in Finland

[Filip Norrgard]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1101978778217' target='_blank'>http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1101978778217</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The world's first commercial testing of mobile phone TVs started on Tuesday in the Helsinki area. The purpose of the test is to find out how interested the Elisa and TeliaSonera operators' 500 test clients of various ages would be in watching TV programmes on their mobile handsets. The test users were given - until midsummer - the new Nokia 7710 media phones with an accessory device attached to the back cover to enable television viewing."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/7710_01.jpg" /><br /><br />I saw this phone-TV-combo in action on the news and it did look promising and definitely better working than the old analog pocket TV viewers from the last century. Personally, I wish I could be one of the lucky testers and I'm eagerly awaiting the spread of mobile digital TV. Especially for those Formula 1 and other sporting events that I want to watch live - not recorded - also in places outside my home.<br /><br />How many of you would be interested in testing mobile digital TV?

[Phoenix]

I'm interested in digital TV. Sometimes, live TV just can't be replaced.

People have their TiVos and a few on-demand shows from premium channels like HBO, and ways of getting some of these things onto their handheld devices, but true on demand TV really doesn't exist yet (if it ever will). And even if it did, sometimes there's an energy that exists with watching TV programs when they first air, that simply doesn't exist with recorded shows or video.

Not to mention, I don't always want to record everything I wish to watch or spend the time and go through the trouble of doing so. I just want to watch the show when it airs and that's it.

I love convergence, and I like to watch TV now and then, so the fewer devices that I have to lug around while allowing me to partake in the technologies that I love, the better. Digital TV integrated into a handheld of my choice would be an added plus.

But of course, whether this particular technology finds its way to the States remains to be seen.

I'd love to have access to it!

[jizmo]

I'm afraid this won't be too popular. Why? People don't like getting stuff that is forced down their throats.

Same thing happened with digi-tv, we were targeted by hundreds of ads saying we have to get one. All that money went to waste, no-one was interested.If they'd just put out the technology in quiet and handed the digiboxes to retailers, people would've discovered it by theirselves. Getting one because an ad tells us does not work.

And again here, they should just make the technology happen, spread it to cheaper devices and let people discover it by theirselves.

"Hey, what's this TV option in my phone? Wow! Cool, I have to give it a try."

/jizmo

[sojourner753]

This design looks reminiscent of the n-gage console.