Watch E.T. Phone Home On Your Phone?

[Brad Adrian]

<a href="http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=581&e=3&cid=581&u=/nm/20030319/tc_nm/leisure_wireless_dc">http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=581&e=3&cid=581&u=/nm/20030319/tc_nm/leisure_wireless_dc</a><br /><br />As higher-speed mobile phone connectivity becomes more widespread, it's not surprising that people are finding creative ways to take adavantage of it. The idea, for example, of watching movies on your mobile phone has been around for a while, but this Reuters article makes it sound like this idea's time has finally come.<br /><br />"The more advanced Interment [sic] access mobile phones are capable of receiving streaming video, necessary to watch the mini-movies. But the issue is whether the public wants to receive mini-movies over their mobile devices."<br /><br />The article goes on to describe some of the movies unveiled at a recent "film festival." Now, I've always liked using my Pocket PCs to watch full-length movies on long airline flights. Streaming movies to the smaller mobile phone screen may be an entirely different proposition, though. I suppose <i><b>IF</b></i> the price were right and <b><i>IF </i></b>the video quality was decent and <b><i>IF </i></b>the choice of movies was broad enough, I might be tempted to give this a try. What about you?

[Bob Anderson]

I can't, for the life of me, see any reason I'd watch a feature film on my cell phone! Good grief, that's ridiculous!

Now, I would, use my cell phone to display clips of short movies I made, so that I could easily demonstrate to family and friends what video I have access too...

I suppose the costs, both in real $'s and in battery life, of doing video on your cell phone would be prohibitively expensive as well.

No thanks!

[Gen-M]

Why would anyone want a SMALLER screen to watch video on?

[malcolmsharp]

Feature movies? No.

News stories, short interviews or short films and cartoons? Yes!

I'd love to watch something on my phone while stuck on the bus or waiting for something.

[axe]

I can't bring myself to watch movies on my iPAQ's Tiny screen for more than a novelty, much less a smaller screen.

I agree with malcolm though, watching short new stories would be fine. The problem is, once that is opened up, guess what? COMMERCIALS! :roll: "You have to pay for the content some way", they'll say. And I can't see people paying for that service. I have NO desire to provide yet another venue for Wheaties or what's happening on the next Survivor!

Unless the newsreels are truly free, I can't see even loading a viewer one the off-chance I might use it -- I wouldn't.

Axe

[sub_tex]

The problem is, once that is opened up, guess what? COMMERCIALS! :roll:

Amen to that.

I think movies on the phone would be pointless. A PDA screen, in my opinion, is the smallest i'd want to watch any movies.

And since our PDAs do that so nicely now, why bother with the small cell phone screen?