TV on a Plane : On the Road with Vu and T-Mo's 3G Service

Greetings from Milford, CT everyone. I'm on a road trip visiting family and friends here in the New Haven area, and also heading down to New York City for a few days. So the blog entries and videos will be a bit less frequent this week - but don't worry, I'm still working.

I've got the LG Vu with me so I can test out AT&T's Mobile TV service, and I've also got the Samsung t819 so I can check out T-Mobile's new 3G network. Both services are available in NYC but not yet back in the Bay Area of Northern California where I live. I actually was able to try out TV on the Vu in the Philadelphia airport during my long, rainy, much-delayed Sunday of travel. I watched a little tube in the waiting area and a little more on the plane while we waited to take off. Actually, the service works up here on the Long Island Sound, as well, which was a surprise.

So how is TV on the Vu? Not bad. The service launches quickly, the content shows up quickly, and the program guide works just like the one on my cable box - but smaller and touchable. Programs themselves generally look and sound pretty good, though pixelation is definitely noticeable - particularly during scenes with lots of black or dark areas on the screen.

Tv on a plane

11 channels for $15/month is, to me, more worth it for the novelty of the service than any sort of value -- I can see wanting to be able to catch the game on ESPN wherever I am, but that's about it. I've got a DVR at home (okay, two) and so don't really worry much about being home in time to watch shows - we just record 'em and watch 'em later. But live events like sports? Sure, it'd be cool to be able to watch those on the go.

Anyway, I'll test Vu out some more down in the City and also check out T-Mobile's 3G service for myself. And you know I'll report back (with videos, of course) just as soon as I can.

Meantime, I need to get some sleep and think about where to go for dinner in New York tomorrow night. Hey, there's more to life than just testing new gadgets, right? I've got one night in NYC - I gotta eat well!

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Joe M

Wednesday, May 14, 2008When are you going to do a full review of the Vu? And what do you think Lg Vu or Samsung Glyde?

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