TV for your Treo 650 & 700w with MobiTV & SmartVideo

I strongly believe that 2006 will be the year when Mobile Television begins to make a big splash and our Treo(s) are already gearing up to be at the center of this action.

For starters, since last September, Treonauts have been able to enjoy the benefits of MobiTV service and its continuously updated 27 live channels of news, sports, weather, kids, music, entertainment, technology and politics.

As I briefly pointed out previously, my own testing of MobiTV revealed an absolutely excellent and very clean interface combined with good audio and video quality (I recommend using a separate wired hybrid headset) which offers and undeniable Wow! factor on every occasion that I have to demo it.  In fact, I would argue that MobiTV should be considered one of the best applications to have been released for the Treo 650 in 2005.

The only two drawbacks from the MobiTV service are that a) because the data connectivity of the Treo 650 is limited to 40–100kbps the overall audio and video quality is still a bit choppy and b) there still isn’t a ‘view full screen’ option.  Aside from this MobiTV is nonetheless a terrific service which any Treonaut on the go will undoubtedly appreciate.

Finally, although MobiTV is currently only available for the Treo 650, the company told me at CES that a Windows Mobile version for the Treo 700w will be forthcoming soon. 

In the meantime though, there is another live streaming video service provided by SmartVideo that is now available for the Treo 700w which makes the most of its high speed EVDO data connectivity (where available) delivering stunning audio and video quality (see full size images on the right below) – after changing my connection in ‘Settings’ to ‘High Speed’ I experienced near flawless audio and video in full screen mode.

The SmartVideo application is definitely not as elegant or polished as MobiTV.  All that the SmartVideo program really does is launch a protected page in Internet Explorer from which you can click links to view streaming content in Windows Media Mobile – the Treo 700w’s 240x240 screen resolution is surprisingly not an issue.

SmartVideo offers 3 subscription packages: $12.95 monthly, $7.95 for 1 week or $2.50 for 1 day.  There are 4 live channels such as CNBC and MSNBC plus 14 on-demand channels which include iFilm and E! Entertainment as well as 3 premium channels (at an additional cost).  A nice bonus if you don’t want to subscribe is that SmartVideo offers one completely free live music video channel called DMV which you can listen/view at any time.

Overall I consider SmartVideo to be a little expensive for only two good live channels compared with MobiTV’s much richer lineup but if you own a Treo 700w you should nonetheless check it out.  I am definitely looking forward to MobiTV becoming available for Windows Mobile and also for a Treo 700p with 3G high speed data connectivity for better audio and video quality on a PalmOS device.

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Treonauts always want to have the latest TV…