Tonight at the FLO TV launch event in New York, we got to see FLO TV in action and play around with FLO TV’s new Personal Television device. FLO TV is a brand new service that offers high resolution streaming television to compatible cell phones and portable devices. Their flagship hardware is the FLO TV Personal Television. The device is a touchscreen handheld system that weighs 156g and is a little bigger than an iPod Touch, and it features a convenient built-in kickstand.
The TV scheduling interface on the FLO TV is very clean and well done. I was able to scroll through TV listings, iPhone App style. You can even set reminders when your favorite shows are on. However the device doesn’t have any DVR functionality, but FLO TV says that they plan to offer DVR functionality down the road. Currently the station selection with FLO TV isn’t limited to just a couple of channels including MSNBC, MTV, NBC, Nickelodeon, CBS, Comedy Central, Food Network, X Games, Discovery Channel, Fox News, NBC 2Go, ESPN Mobile TV, and CNBC. FLO TV says that they will be expanding with more stations as more networks get involved.
Video playback on the device was very smooth, I didn’t see any stuttering, or digital static. The capacitive touch-screen screen on the device is also bright and colorful. However, I was testing it in Manhattan where coverage is generally good for just about everything. Interestingly enough, FLO TV operates on its own wireless network, which can either be a very good or bad thing, since FLO TV doesn’t have coverage everywhere and you should check their coverage map before signing up. Battery Life on the FLO TV is also pretty good at up to 300 hours standby and 5 hours watching video.
FLO TV’s Portable Television retails for $250 with 6 months of free service. After 6 months, the service will cost $8.99 a month. On the cellular front, AT&T and Sprint will both be offering FLO TV on certain handsets for $15.00 a month. What is especially cool about using FLO TV on a phone is that unlike with 3G, you can make phone calls while watching TV. The FLO TV Personal Television PTV 350 is available for pre-order, and will be released today.
Pushkar Reader
Hands on with FLO TV’s Personal Television http://bit.ly/2N9eUI
Laura Gaines
Hands on with FLO tv's Personal Television: By Chip Chick Tonight at the FLO TV launch event in New York, w.. http://bit.ly/1sglIZ
Glenda T
Hands on with FLO TVs Personal Television: http://tinyurl.com/yc8cmc9
FloTV Coming to iPhone via a Mophie Battery Pack
[...] FloTV is a relatively new live TV device by Qualcomm. It is already revolutionizing TV on-the-go. You may recognize FloTV because it’s incorporated into various cell phones such as Verizon’s V CAST, or AT&Ts Mobile TV. Live television is broadcasted straight to the FloTV device or your cell phone through dedicated airwaves. This means it’s not streaming and hence no buffering is involved. It also means all devices that play FloTV need a FloTV chip inside of them to receive its signal. FloTV service and the FloTV device are really neat, and we will have a hands-on review coming soon. Meanwhile, they have made an announcement that they will be bringing Flo to the iPhone. To make this possible FloTV will be incorporating a chip inside of Mophie’s juicepack for the iPhone. So you can watch TV and charge your iPhone too—Win-Win! There is no word on price as of yet. [...]
FloTV on Iphone via Mophie | TheGadgetGuyColumn.com
[...] FloTV is a relatively new live TV device by Qualcomm. It is already revolutionizing TV on-the-go. You may recognize FloTV because it’s incorporated into various cell phones such as Verizon’s V CAST, or AT&Ts Mobile TV. Live television is broadcasted straight to the FloTV device or your cell phone through dedicated airwaves. This means it’s not streaming and hence no buffering is involved. It also means all devices that play FloTV need a FloTV chip inside of them to receive its signal. [...]
FLO TV Personal Television PTV 350 Review
[...] Touch with a convenient built-in kickstand. We where initially very impressed with the device when we first got to check it out, but now that we finally got a chance to put our review sample through its paces, we can recommend [...]