Television on your telephone: Tell a friend?
05/31/07 01:16 PM
By ED BARK
Test-driving the new V CAST Mobile TV phone can be quite a leap for someone who grew up with a cumbersome, hard-wired manual dial version available in the decorator colors of black, black and black.
You have to be adaptable, though. And this thing is pretty cool if you've got the time, inclination or money to actually use it.
Newly available in just 19 TV markets, including Dallas, the V CAST has a 2.2-inch flip-up screen that so far carries various around-the-clock offerings from NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, MTV, MSNBC, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. The upfront cost is $199, minus a $50 rebate. And it's an extra $15 a month to get the full TV menu.
So is it worth it? Maybe so if you spend a lot of time riding the rails, car-pooling (as a backseat driver), waiting in doctors' offices or multi-tasking to the point where you can handle seeing Late Show with David Letterman live on V CAST while watching The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on a conventional TV. Or vice-versa.
During the time I had the phone, you also could view NBC's Heroes or Friday Night Lights in real time. Other networks on the system, such as ESPN, offer ESPN Rewind instead of live sports events. That's still a drawback, but better deals probably are in the works.
V CAST also has a time-of-day menu similar to what you'll find on cable and satellite TV providers. You simply choose a program airing at the appointed hour and then click on it. A mini-antenna attached to the phone is needed for optimum reception. And the pictures indeed are crystal clear when everything's in working order. A headset lets viewers to tune out the rest of the world.
It's still an open question whether many consumers will want to pay the price of further immersion into anti-socialization. Could we actually reach a point where people will spend more time looking at their cell phones than communicating via text-messaging or old-fashioned audio verbosity?
Meanwhile, one wonders about the basic shelf life of a V CAST phone. Will it seem primitive a year -- or even a month -- from now? Is it someday destined to be rendered obsolete by a light-as-a-feather Jumbo-tron phone that can be strapped on and watched from distances of two feet or less? Great for walking the dog -- while watching Animal Planet.
We don't really know. Do we?
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